ap english literature essay

ap english literature essay

The Power of Symbolism in AP English Literature Essays

1. Introduction

In toning the students to understand and describe imagery, Thomas R. Arp focuses on the internal sense more than the other four. This form of knowing the world around us “lies in their minds and reflects the feelings that the images suggest to them.” Writers can use words not only to create memories but “also to recall the sounds that accompanied them.” On the AP’s Free Response Essays—especially the second one— it’s not the obviously outer associations that will fetch students the highest marks. It’s those internal vibrations that remain with readers after the external trappings have ceased to impress them. Often, the writer of a piece scored with the top grade will have focused at length on several symbols rather than on many. And she has put these vivid vibrating images into broad contexts that take into account not only characters and things but also the role of the writer, the work’s intended audience, or the author’s time and place.

In order to be successful on the AP English exams, students must learn about the power of symbolism. This theoretical concept requires going beyond illusions and really getting inside the heads of the writer, characters, and speakers. The use of these senses is an important aspect of writing about literature in the AP English classroom. The importance of symbolism is universally recognized but often is not effectively presented in the secondary English Language Arts classroom— in many instances because the teacher herself does not know how or where to really look for the inner vibrations with which great writers communicate with their readers.

2. Importance of Symbolism in Literature

When critics rank authors, they tend to favor writers who have a sense of metaphor, simile, and symbol use. Authors that use these literary devices are seen as having a heightened sense of ability to write, a rounder creativity, and great depth of meaning. Authors can choose to have the symbolic meaning of something either automatically understood by the reader (for example, in original fairy tales for young children by Grimm or Aesop, murkiness of purpose is removed effectively and words used are clear) or knowledge that’s grouped over time (in most works). Understanding symbols in works of literature gives the reader focus, a way to identify the theme in literature, and a jumping-off point to contribute in articulate imaginative exercises. The AP Spanish literature student, after reading “As I Grew Older” by Langston Hughes or A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry has learned valuable American concepts as well as shared in a literary text filled with reference points that serve to validate and substantiate the human struggle. The AP English student further can use these literary references in an analytical response as a resource that serves as a factual example to further illustrate their point. Understanding the symbolism used in literature invites the reader to probe deeper in the search for meaning.

Imagine studying the discipline of literature without ever gaining an understanding of symbolism. This is very near impossible because almost every work of literature employs the use of symbols to drive the point home. Symbolism can be an image, word, phrase, character, or object that’s used to represent something else other than what it actually is. Because symbols have been used to deepen the meaning of actual events and figures throughout history, it’s important that you’re able to classify these literary devices. In uses figurative language to AP® guide students toward a high level of proficiency in his or her ability to read. When a student has a high level of proficiency reading, a student possesses the ability to analyze meaning in literature, compose it if necessary, or turn it into something of their own.

3. Analyzing Symbolism in Selected Works

The drums were also very important in the Igbo society. When they were worshipped and used in rituals, the men, a race always brave and crafty, rose with new life and strength. The drums traveled a long way and began to urge the warriors who were decorating their bodies in round, fiery war paint. Orolo, whence the drums came, was not far from the forest where the missionaries were hiding, began to poison the truth in their wives’ hearts. The fact that the Igbo people worshipped the drums suggests that they, in actuality, worshipped the message they portrayed, whatever that message was. If the Igbo could worship the message of the drums so greatly, then it was a simple thing for the missionaries to abuse the drums’ symbolism and use the men’s love for power to manipulate them.

Many lives and much property had been destroyed, and the army was reaching that comatose fatigue which always follows a great battlefield or a forced march. Here, standing soldier to soldier and barking orders at each other were Faizal and Chike. In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the presence of drums is valued by the Igbo society. As their importance to the society increases, so do the drums’ symbolism in the story. When the missionaries discover the power of the drums, they stealthily manipulate Igbo beliefs and customs.

4. Impact of Symbolism on Literary Interpretation

Writers embed unfamiliar words and gaps in the world, which readers agree to gloss over, like masks. This serves the immediate purpose of getting the reader into the story as quickly as possible, and it doesn’t abate our ability to feel the situation may contain something mysterious and riveting in a way that could be very important for oneself. If it is mystery, something only the writer truly knows, why then we cannot have a private space or dialogue opened, that lets us indulge the hope of understanding the mastery of this great creator. It is these engaging séances that novels have over readers, because they blend symbolism and literal meanings, character drives and crisscross, events and their possibilities happening as signs that together form the unknowable world, this act of sensing-integration that heightens the chemistry of artistic sensibility between writer and reader.

Symbols have great power in literature, both for representing the themes or message of the story and for causing personal reactions or interactions with the work. Writers and readers alike sense their importance. Exemplifying this, a writing prompt for a Level 5 AP English Literature and Composition exam instructed students to pick a central symbol of a novel from a selected list. Instruction to the student included directions to carefully avoid plot summary and “to demonstrate your understanding of the implications of the novelist’s use of that major symbol,” a level three challenge. Instruction on the teacher’s version of the exam required that the present question arise from examples on which students had already tested in previous exams.

5. Conclusion: Harnessing Symbolism for Effective Essay Writing

Essential questions are asked to guide the thoughts of students because they often help in nurturing the student’s journeys in reading and writing. There are always lessons assumed to be taught that help students to express their thoughts that are peculiar only from a student’s point of view. Communicating as individuals rather than adherents to a strict set of guidelines can turn out to be very powerful. Writing with identity ensures that a careful examination of symbols is near the top on every AP checklist. If you will embrace symbolism, understanding its power before even picking up the pen is essential. The ability to view those choicest of symbols should be achieved before even writing on them. Students may then boldly create their very own powerful voice.

The power of symbolism in AP English Literature essays – Abstract: An abstract question (EQ) inference at 8th grade demonstrated the power of symbolism in a visual text. The successful interpretation of everyday symbolism, in the form of an ancient narrative art form designed to tell visual stories, points to ancient artists’ ability to understand the depth of visual symbolism. An understanding of a visual equivalent metaphor demonstrates the importance of and its role in English essays. This paper introduces symbolism in detail and then applies the art form’s interpretation methods to the meaning of common visual simulations. The goal of translating visual metaphor interpretation methods to literary work is AP English Literature essays that communicate from students’ unique perspectives, not strict guidelines.