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ForewordThis is a collection of timed writings I have written in my senior year of high

school for my class for AP literature and composition. All of them are typed as they were

written in class, so they are filled with a number of errors. The order they run in is the

order in which they were written. The foundation for this writing comes from what I

learned in my previous class. My writing has been improved by what I have learned in

this year and can been seen reading the works from the earliest to the most recent.

I feel I have learned to become more analytical with the pieces of literature my

class has looked at over the course of this year. It helped me expand my line of thinking

to look at the hidden meanings behind the pieces I read in order to decipher the author’s

purpose. Going back over these pieces I learned that I have improved significantly when

bring up a point and being able to support it analytically, but there are still times where

the support is weak or nonexistent. This is a problem I still struggle with and need to

work on. Another issue in the writings is the length. I have issues writing at any length

when constricted by time. I think, if I start to add in the support needed by making sure

that the line of thinking that is in my head is on the paper, then the essay will be an

appropriate length and of higher quality. I realize that length does not always reflect on

the quality of work, but with a few tweaks in style, my essays would be better. In addition

to detail and analysis, I need to focus on improving my diction and sentence syntax. This

will allow my papers reflect my true potential and level of thought.

I know these papers, being timed writings, are not suppose to be my greatest

works. I know these papers show that I have many things to learn and work on. I know I

need to work harder, focus more, and read back over more carefully on my future timed

writings, but I think these are a good starting place and show my ability to reason.

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Table of Contents

The Things They Carried v Slaughterhouse V.......................................4

Short Story..............................................................................................6

Frankenstein............................................................................................8

Poetry.....................................................................................................10

Whitman v Hughes................................................................................12

Helen......................................................................................................14

The Pawnbroker.....................................................................................16

Obasan....................................................................................................18

Violence..................................................................................................20

College Essay….....................................................................................22

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The Things They Carried v Slaughterhouse Five

An ending can make a book great or ruin the book completely. It depends on if

the conclusion flows with the rest of the story. In two books The Things They Carried by

Tim O’Brien and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the endings are extremely

unique to the books. O’Brien’s ending complements the book and makes sense of any

confusion about the way the book is written. On the other hand, Vonnegut’s ending adds

more confusion to his storyline, but this fits the spirit of the story, which makes it an

appropriate conclusion also.

O’Brien chooses to write a conclusion that ties the story together with an

epiphany. “I realize it as Tim trying to save Timmy’s life with a story” proclaims

O’Brien. This line gives insight to the motivation of the author for this work. He is trying

to preserve the innocence of his youth as it was before and as it was as he entered

Vietnam. He does this by weaving fictional tales base on a grain of truth. He portrays

them in a way that brings understanding to the actions of the soldiers in the war. He

creates a world that is easily understood and sympathy is the only thing that can be felt

for the American soldiers. This ending is an appropriate one. It makes the sympathy grow

to the strongest level, which makes the book feel complete and heartwarming.

Vonnegut’s ending creates a very incomplete story line. The very last word of the

book is a bird singing “Poo-tee-weet?” This only serves to enforce the ambiguity that

surrounds the entire storyline of the book. It is designed to allow for several conclusions

to be drawn about several situations. The creativity behind it is the fact that it does not

twist the main point of the book. The reason for this book is to display the bombing of

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Dresden as Vonnegut saw it and to give insight to the inexperience of the soldier fighting

near the end of World War II. These points are the clearest in the book. Everything else

the book touches on is for personal amusement and interpretation. The ending follows the

rhythm of the book, which makes it an appropriate one.

An appropriate ending does not have to be a satisfying one. Tim O’Brien has one

for The Things They Carried, but Kurt Vonnegut Jr. does not for Slaughterhouse Five.

Despite this, both endings are appropriate conclusion for both books. To follow the same

spirit from beginning to end in a story makes it worthwhile, regardless of how outlandish

or unbelievable it may be. It makes a book a worthwhile read and truly gets an author’s

point across.

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Short Story

Many authors try to emphasize a theme or display a true aspect in society. In “The

Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Conell, the purpose of the story is to demonstrate

that man’s mind is always evolving and changing, seen through the point of view and the

characters in the short story.

“The Most Dangerous Game” is narrated by a limited third person view. The only

character that is fully revealed is the main character, Rainsford. In the beginning of the

story , Rainsford reveals that he believes that the prey he hunts as a hunter has no feelings

or knowledge of what is going on in the hunt. This soon changes when he himself

becomes prey. As fear of death sets in, he starts to know exactly how the things he has

hunted have felt near the end of the hunt. This could only truly be observed by the point

of view in the story.

Richard Connell uses his character to help create an environment that would

foster the main point of the story. Rainsford is the protagonist who changes and matures

in his thinking, while General Zaroff is the antagonist that forces the change. Both

character view hunting in the same way until it comes to using humans as prey. Rainsford

is a moral man who cannot stand the thought of intentionally harming another man. He

takes up the same position as his frien Whitney took earlier in the book when the two

where discussing hunting a jaguar. On the other had, General Zaroff is used to the idea

and finds no problem with it. In fact, the “sport” satisfies a lust in him that no hunt before

was ever able to do. It is also morality that makes this change a permanent one. It is only

through the trials set up by Zaroff that makes this possible. Through the character, Conell

is able to display his purpose.

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The easier it is perceive the more likely the work is received well by the general

public. Some authors take this into consideration when developing their work. Others

build the entire work around it. Conell makes his purpose easily known in a way that is

appealing and well developed.

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Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a book that demonstrates several characteristics a

human can have and how they can be perceived as strong but in reality lead to ruin.

Victor Frankenstein is the main character whose traits are shown best when he is

interacting with the foil characters. One of the best foil characters to Victor in the story is

Henry Clerval. Being Victor’s best friend, at one time his nurse, and his traveling

companion, Henry brings out Victor’s true personality, resolve, and motives.

To bring out some one’s true personality one must get close and befriend the

person. Henry is the only childhood friend that Victor has outside his family. Their

manners are quite different from each other’s. Henry is quite and contemplative, while

Victor is obsessive in his studies. Victor has a tendency to follow a subject and then

fixate on an idea to a self-destructing point, such as the creation of the monster. Henry

also has interests that vary extremely to Victor’s. He is interested in humanities and plans

to study eastern (oriental) languages, while Victor wraps himself in natural sciences.

They both are good students, demonstrated by being able to join and succeed in a school

in Ingolstadt. However, Henry is more focused in his studies, while Victor is easily

dissuaded from his passions after the blunder of creating the monster and turns to follow

Henry in his studies when Henry starts to study at the school.

Before Henry is able to start his studies, he must nurse Victor back to health. In

this time, more of Victor’s personality comes to life. Henry is caring and dedicated to

help in the healing of his friend. His is passionate about the job at hand, but he does not

neglect his duties to his family, friends, and self as Victor did while creating the monster.

This also goes to show that Henry is more selfless, while Victor is more selfish. Henry

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cares for others and looks out for their safety without snooping forcibly into their lives

and problems. Victor tends to be centered around himself and thinking only of the short

term results of his actions, and he is never looking ahead to see all of the possible effects

or negative consequences of the choices he makes. This selfishness is seen when the

monster warns, “I’ll be with you on your wedding night.” Victor takes this warning as the

monster will kill him, when in fact it is obviously a death threat on his bride because the

monster had promised not to kill Victor, but he would make him as miserable as possible

and rue the day of his own birth.

Being miserable, Victor dampens his journey with Henry to England. Henry tries

to stay upbeat and point out and take in the beautiful scenery. Victor chooses to ignore

his efforts and stay gloomy for most of the journey. When they travel in England together

Henry is willing to let Victor do as he wishes, but Victor dampens Henry plans without

any apology or effort to make up for it. Victor’s tendency towards obsession appears

again when he only seeks out men of stature that Henry would like to meet that help him

towards his goals. This time Victor’s obsessions cause fatal harm to the innocent Henry.

Only thinking of himself, Victor makes the decision to tear up the female and end his

obsession at the cost of the lives of his family members and friends. He loses Henry, his

wife, and, most likely from the stress of recent events, his father.

Victor’s work-a-holic tendencies lead to obsessions that lead to deaths. His

studious behaviors soured into the creation of a monster that became the bane of his

existence. All of this is possible to see by the interactions between Victor and Henry. Not

everything is as it first appears. Innocent personality traits can lead to fatal consequences

and unhappy destinies when compiled together.

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Poetry

Sadness and regret are common themes within poetry. A prime example is “A Hymn to

God the Father” by John Donne. In the poem, he express regret for sins through the use

of rhyme, meter, and word choice.

The poem has an alternating rhyme scheme in each stanza; the odd numbered

lines rhyme with each other and the even numbered ones rhyme. The rhyme and meter is

simplistic and plea-like. He wants people to understand him and easily pick up on the

meaning of his poem. This meaning is regret for past transgressions and the plea for a

forgiveness he truly can believe in and understand.

Understanding comes from Donne’s word choice I the poem. The vocabulary

consists of very easily understood words. “Wallowed” in line 10 is the most difficult

word written in the entire poem. He chose to write this way so that everyone would

understand him. He wanted to warn people about his own mistakes such as leading others

to sin by his sins, and regrets. The way the poem is worded it sounds like a plea to God

for foregiveness, even though he knows he is insignificant. In the last stanza he talks of

the Sun shining after his death as it did long before his birth. This could allude to Christ

being as before Donne’s death as He is after. This would go to prove the insignificance of

people’s lives in the grand scheme of things. It is a picture he wants everyone to see. It

does not matter how he acted because to God his life is really nothing. This image goes to

show God’s power and appealing to wanting to be with God in forgiveness than without

Him in sin.

Forgiveness is something Donne craved. He wanted to be assured it was his too,

writing this from an illness in 1623. He showed this through his rhyme and word choice.

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Donne’s plea is easily seen in the poem, and it is a common plea shared by several. This

plea is an important one that will continue to show throughout the ages.

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Whitman v Hughes

Whitman wrote “I hear America singing” and Hughes responded with “I too sing

America.” Whitman writes the poem with an observant attitude, pointing out and giving

equal credit to various jobs. Hughes’ attitude is hopeful. Both display their attitude

through their titles, speaker, and themes.

“I hear America singing” reads as an observation, while “I, too, sing America”

reads as some one hoping to gain recognition. Whitman takes various jobs and uses them

as the singing. Each job has a different sound. When combined, the sounds are America.

Hughes suggests some group was left out in Whitman’s poem. By writing the poem,

Hughes tries to bring attention to it and give the group the attention it deserves. He hopes

America will consciously start including the African American minority in the singing/

unity of America.

Each poem has a different speaker. Whitman’s speaker is a third party observing

the different jobs and noting when and how they sing. The speaker for Hughes is a man

speaking of his role in society. He talks of his treatment currently is to be hidden from

public eye. He states he has had enough and eventually it will be impossible one day for

him to be treated as such. It is here he truly becomes hopeful. He wishes society will be

ashamed and give him the treatment he is due.

The themes of each poem differ to each attitude. Whitman’s theme is that

the unity of America comes from all the various types of people that live and work there.

The theme results from his observance of the many jobs. Hughes’ theme is that minorities

are often overlooked, but they are also a part of the unity of America. This reflects a hope

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for America to finally recognize everyone as true equals. Everyone regardless of race or

job is apart of America and lends their voices to the song of its unity.

Both Authors show their attitudes through the same techniques and

devices. It is the way they use the toold and depict the differeing attitudes of observation

and hopefulness. It is the ability that helps poets to depict their true feeling toward a

subject.

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Helen

Euripide’s Helen translated by Rachel Hadas is a true dramatic masterpiece. It is a

well-written drama that follows Aristotle’s elements of drama. The main elements seen in

the play are characters and theme.

The characters in the play are unique and help to demonstrate its drama. Each of

the major characters or minor groups with a good deal of speaking portray themselves

differently. They each posses different personalities that guide the decisions made and

opinions held. The play revolves around Helen, who is taken to Egypt by Hermes for the

entire Trojan War. Her personality is that of a noble Spartan woman, who is dutiful to her

husband. She believes, even though she knows she is only a pawn of the gods, that the

war is still her fault. She blames her beauty as the cause of the war with a stubbornness

and vanity typical of a Spartan. She also, as a Spartan, puts faith in the gods and their

prophecy that states she will live with her husband once more. This governs her

interactions with the now Egyptian King Theoclymenus, his sister the prophetess

Theonoe, and the chorus in way that is easily perceived and understood. She begs

Theonoe to give her word on her husband and not disclose what she knows to her brother

out of fear the king would kill her husband to wed her. Another major character, Helen’s

husband Menelaus is one that can easily be related to. He is a man torn by the war he has

gone through and the seemingly betrayal of his wife. He has been blown onto the beaches

of Egypt with his ship destroyed, and him and is crew disheveled. Menelaus’ fatigue and

sense of duty as husband and commander control the decisions he makes and stories he

believes. He is able to believe the truth Helen speaks and help get his wife and crew back

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home eventually. It is the aura of reality and familiarity of emotions that surrounds the

characters that allows the moods of the play to come forth and the drama experienced.

The whole theme of Euripides’ Helen is misconception and its effects. It saturates

the world at every stage of history. Many wars have been started throughout the ages

based on misunderstanding, cloudy beliefs, and unfounded facts. The cause of the Trojan

War is a ghost made by Hera. Even though the queen of the gods fashioned the

apparition, its appearance and personality contain flaws that under close inspection

reveals it to be a mere copy. It is man’s jealousy, rage, and lust that blur these flaws and

allow the myth to be believed and the war to commence. When it is over, Troy is

destroyed and many Grecian soldiers are dead. This lost cannot be accepted and

something must be to blame. This is the second main misconception of the play. No one

can accept that most of the blame should rest on the shoulders of the governing kings.

The decision was theirs to make: go to war or try more diplomatic approaches? Everyone

believes the leaders of the land to be right in every decision they make. It is only after the

effects of such decisions become visible that the public decides to give praise or scream

for blood and a scapegoat is made. Public opinion can always be swayed with a

misconception based in reason and presented with the right emotion.

Helen follows the elements of drama when it comes to character and theme. Each

major character or group is unique and brings the story to life, while the theme of

misconceptions helps to serve as a warning to the world.

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The Pawnbroker

“The Pawnbroker” by Mxine Kumin is a poem that depicts how she viewed her

childhood. Using title, diction, and symbols, the author places physical and emotional

meaning behind her father and his life as a pawnbroker.

Kumin chooses to title the poem “The Pawnbroker” to convey how she truly feels

about her father. On the surface, the title seems to show that Kumin feels isolated from

her father. He seems a distant figure in her life that barely knows or cares for. The poem

gives a different light to the title. In the poem, Kumin calls her father, “father.”

Throughout the poem, she connects her father’s hardwork at the store with the love and

support he gave his children. He wants them to be all they can be and have the best.

Kumin realizes this and loves her father for his dedication. She respects her father and

loves him even though all he could provide her was “secondhand.” This is all that he

could provide even though he works for 50 years and works long hours. The portrait

Kumin paints of her father is one of love.

Through Maxine Kumin’s diction, she portrays her emotions towards her father

and his job at the pawnshop. The diction is simplistic, which highlights the fact that

Kumin came from poverty. Kumin states that it hurt her father that his family was poor.

The pawnbroker worked long, hard hours to provide everything that he could for his

children and was disappointed when the children would not wear their shoes. The

pawnbroker disapproved of his children looking poor when he was working so hard to

provide for them. Kumin emphasizes the commonality of death by repeating

“sacrament”: a ritual that is done over and over. The use of the words “white”,

“precious”, and “pearl” evokes the feeling of innocence, fragility, gentleness, and love

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growing slowly. Along with the meaningful diction, Maxine Kumin utilizes symbolic

references to enhance her memories of her childhood.

The main symbol in this poem is feet. On the surface, the word feet means the

impoverished means by which the family is suffering. Beneath the surface, however, the

word feet describes a journey. The father’s journey covered his work as a pawnbroker

trying to provide for his family. He would stand behind the counter every day selling

items in his pawn shop. By the weekend, his feet would hurt from the long hours he had

put in, with little to shoot for it. The pain he felt is also a symbol. ON the surface, it is the

physical pain of standing up for many hours daily. Beneath the surface, the pain can also

mean his sadness and anger for unrequited work. He cannot provide enough for his

family no matter how hard he works. “The sight of his children barefoot gave him a pain-

part anger, part wonder-as sharp as gravel inside his lisle socks” (ll. 9). He did not want

his children to look or seem poor, but he could not change anything about the life they

had.

Relating her experiences from her childhood, Maxine Kumin shows her true

emotions abour her father on the physical and emotional level. Unfortunately, Kumin

does not write this poem in time for her father to read it, because the end of the poem

reveals he is dead. She does not realize how much she lovers her father until he is gone.

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Obasan

The passage of Obasan by Joy Kogawa is an interesting piece that shows the

harsh reality of the internment camps. Kogawa uses point of view and selection of detail

to show the harshness of the journey to the internment camps. She paints a portrait of

troubled innocents getting read to endure an unfair sentence.

Using first person limited, Kogawa places herself in the writing and makes it

personal. From line 1 to 22, “We” is used over and over. It makes it look like an entire

group is speaking. It is a collective conscience with the same basic feeling of

abandonment and injustice. It then shifts to only her. She has the limited mind of a child

who does not understand what is going on around her. Her perspective is now narrowed

and simplified. She only knows what she sees and hears. She is the innocent on a journey

to a place with others, and she does not understand the pain of other around her like the

woman with only a baby and no other possessions.

Kogawa’s selection of detail is very unique when the thinking of the internment

camps and choice of story. The beginning (lines 1-22) centers around the Japanese on

their way to the camps. The second half makes the analogy they are like Christ, because

they did nothing wrong to deserve to have themselves taken from society and have their

eyes filled with “mud and spittle.” They were treated unfairly and cruelly because of

what they were. Later in the passage Kogawa choose to tell the tale of her meeting a

woman on the train with nothing but her child. It depicts the cruelness of the world that

cast these people aside. The world decided that because this woman was Japanese, she

could be taken out of the hospital with her premature born baby without any chance of

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collecting her belongings. The story accomplishes the goal of proving how unfair the

camps were by shoing the treatment in getting there.

Joy Kowaga feels a bitterness toward the internment camps. In the beginning, she

says every Japanese from every walk of life was treated unfairly on the way to the camps

even though they never resisted violently and were blameless of anything negative. She

proved this through point of view and selection of detail. The innocent will always be

blamed for something regardless of their status in life.

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Violence

Violence is a familiar concept in today’s world that always has some meaning or

lesson. In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brian, the violence that surrounds

the deaths of Lemon and Kiowa hel convey the truth of war. O’Brian uses these fictional

deaths to prove that war is violent and scars the solders in it especially the Vietnam War.

Lemon’s death destroys the morale of the company with the horrible

circumstances behind it. He is fine one second and gone the next due to a mine. It shows

that war will take a life at any time regardless of the combat status. It will take the lives

of many young men in the most horrible of ways, including being literally blown to

pieces and landing in the trees. O’Brian introduces Lemon for a short time before his

death, and creates an environment for a bond to form for him the same as the company

has. After the death, shock and mourning are felt in a way that is similar to the company.

The feeling is on a lower level, but makes the company’s feelings understandable.

Kiowa’s death is difficult, because different members react in differend ways.

Cross becomes withdrawn from the rest of the company, Bowker desperately searches for

Kiowa’s body, and the young soldier looks for a picture of his girlfriend that he lost

during the fire fight. Cross and Bowker blame theselves for the death while the young

soldier blocks the death from his mind to look for the unimportant. This shows the

different forms shock can have on the body. It also explains the mindset of soldiers in a

war; some believe it is always their fault and others distance themselves and do not

acknowledge the incident or the peron’s existence at all. Each reaction is made believable

understandable, and sensible. Each member will never forget the fight or the search in

that mud field by the village.

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Violence always has a purpose, whether it is just to teach a lesson or obtain a

material prize. O’Brian uses violence to show the truth of war and its effects on people.

He makes the stories realistic and gives insight to war only soldiers feel to help them by

understood by others.

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College Essay

The ancient Grecian Plutarch once said, “The very spring and root of honesty and

virtue lie in good education.” I have to agree with him. Education is what will determine

your place in this world. It will set you apart from others, put you on their same level, or

put you below them. Because of this, education makes up a crucial part of my personal

life and my professional goals.

Education is one of the most important things in my life. I always wish to present

myself in the best light in everything I do. Education has helped me fulfill this ambition

and my college education will help me to fulfill it to a greater level. I always want to

show people that I am very knowledgeable and capable. I wish to show others that my

opinions are supported with logical reasoning and facts. The classes I have taken and aim

to take help sculpt this reasoning and reinforce my knowledge that I retain outside the

classroom. Challenging courses and academic extra curricular activities, such as mock

trail, global ethics, and academic superbowl, also help improve my thinking skills. This

higher level of thinking aids me when it comes to problem solving and giving advice. My

thinking skills also allow me to identify when I make an error and understand why it

occurred and how to correct it. I wish to build on my thought process and logical

reasoning skills through a college education. I am grateful for what I have now, but I

realize that I need a greater education in order to but these skills on the level I will need

in order to thrive in this world.

My professional goals are dependent on my college education. My ultimate

professional goal is to become a pathologist. I have always wished to something in the

medical field and pathology has captured my attention the most. If I wish to see this goal

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fulfilled, then I am going to need a good college education. I will need a rigorous class

schedule that will force me to improve upon the skills that I currently have in order to

pass the MCAT and be able to successfully navigate medical school. Skills I need to

advance are my study habits and time management skills. All these skills need to be

advanced from what I have acquired from high school. Medical school is different than

high school; requiring a higher level of dedication and perseverance. I believe that a

college education will facilitate obtaining the level of skills and knowledge that I will

need in order to become a pathologist.

Life is a wonderful gift that I do not wish to squander. I want do become the best I can

be. The only way to do this is by obtaining the best education I can. I want to do all that I

can to accomplish this. I will do all that I can to make any and all of the strides it takes to

receive the education I need to achieve my goals in my life