PBC Essays

Seeing how we're supposed to be using these essays from the poetry boot camp to study for the AP Exam, I decided it would be a better use of my time if I wrote these essays in an AP test taking style. So each of my essays were hand written in the standard forty minutes, because my essays were hand written I will upload pictures of these essays with the feedback written on them at a later date. I figured they would be more helpful if I uploaded the pictures with the feedback on the paper rather than attempting to read my handwriting and then comment.

Seventh Reading

Mackenzie Greeley and I have gone over three poems in the English Augustan Movement. "Epitaph on Sir Isaac Newton" by Alexander Pope, "The Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope, and "Marriage A-La-Mode" by John Dryden. After reading these poems seven times the only difference I've found is that I have a better understanding of what I belief is being said and have been able to take things like the meter and rhyming scheme being used into consideration. Apart from that... I'm still lost on the subject of poetry.

Micro AP Test Feedback...

Hmm... Best way to put it. Time management needs work. I'm satisfied with what I did write in my very VERY short essay because I'd rather write three near-perfect analytical paragraphs than five barely mediocre paragraphs. So in the grand scheme of things, I could have done A LOT worse.

Response To Lit Circles...

The deed is done.

AP Overachievers UNITE!

Prompt (Revised to refer to BNW rather than The Spectator by Joseph Addison)

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World:  Analyze how the language of the passage characterizes the Director and his society and how the characterization serves Huxley’s satiric purpose. Consider such elements as selection of detail, repetition, and tone.

“I had the same idea as you,” the Director was saying. “Wanted to have a look at the savages. Got a permit for New Mexico and went there for my summer holiday. With the girl I was having at the moment. She was a Beta- Minus, and I think” (he shut his eyes), “I think she had yellow hair. Anyhow she was pneumatic, particularly pneumatic; I remember that. Well, we went there, and we looked at the savages, and we rode about on horses and all that. And then-it was almost the last day of my leave-then. well, she got lost. We’d gone riding up one of those revolting mountains, and it was horribly hot and oppressive, and after lunch we went to sleep. Or at least I did. She must have gone for a walk, alone. At any rate, when I woke up, she wasn't there. And the most frightful thunderstorm I’ve ever seen was just bursting on us. And it poured and roared and flashed; and the horses broke loose and ran away; and I fell down, trying to catch them, and hurt my knee, so that I could hardly walk. Still, I searched and I shouted and I searched. But there was no sign of her. Then I thought she must have gone back to the rest-house by herself. So I crawled down into the valley by the way we had come. My knee was agonizingly painful, and I’d lost my soma. It took me hours. I didn’t get back to the rest-house till after midnight. And she wasn't there; she wasn't there,” the Director repeated. There was a silence. “Well,” he resumed at last, “the next day there was a search. But we couldn’t find her. She must have fallen into a gully somewhere; or been eaten by a mountain lion. Ford knows. Anyhow it was horrible. It upset me very much at the time. More than it ought to have done, I dare say. Because, after all, it’s the sort of accident that might have happened to any one; and, of course, the social body persists although the component cells may change.” But this sleep-taught consolation did not seem to be very effective. Shaking his head, “I actually dream about it sometimes,” the Director went on in a low voice. “Dream of being woken up by that peal of thunder and finding her gone; dream of searching and searching for her under the trees.” He lapsed into the silence of reminiscence. 

“You must have had a terrible shock,” said Bernard, almost enviously. 

At the sound of his voice the Director started into a guilty realization of where he was; shot a glance at Bernard, and averting his eyes, blushed darkly; looked at him again with sudden suspicion and, angrily on his dignity, “Don’t imagine,” he said, “that I’d had any indecorous relation with the girl. Nothing emotional, nothing long-drawn. It was all perfectly healthy and normal.” He handed Bernard the permit. “I really don’t know why I bored you with this trivial anecdote.” Furious with himself for having given away a discreditable secret, he vented his rage on Bernard. The look in his eyes was now frankly malignant.

Practice Test 1 MC Answers

1. E
2. A
3. E
4. C
5. A
6. A
7. D
8. B
9. D
10. B
11. A
12. E
13. E
14. D
15. C
16. C
17. A
18. E
19. D
20. C
21. B
22. B
23. B
24. B
25. C
26. D
27. A
28. C
29. E
30. C
31. D
32. A
33. B
34. D
35. C
36. D
37. E
38. C
39. D
40. C
41. B
42. C
43. A
44. C
45. C
46. D
47. B
48. D
49. A
50. D
51. B
52. A
53. C
54. E

Crime and Punishment MC Questions (Part 1)

These first nineteen questions are mostly comprehension and analysis based questions. I will follow up with more passage and literary technique based questions as soon as my group finishes the last of our novel. We are scheduled to have it done by the end of this week. Until then, I will update and add more questions as they come along. I also would like to thank the several other resources I used in helping me create these questions. 

1. Based on the author’s description and elaboration of Raskolnikov’s thoughts and Alyona Ivanovna death, which word best describes Raskolnikov’s why killed Alyona Ivanovna?

a)      Entitlement

b)      Anger

c)       Apathy

d)      Resentment

e)      Somnolence

2. With what instrument does Raskolnikov commit the murders?

a) A knife

b) Poison

c) A gun

d) An axe

e) A sword

3. Which word best describes the symbolism of the axe in the murder of Alyona Ivanovna and her sister?

a) Resentment

b) Apathy

c) Entitlement

d) Both A and C

e) None of the above

4. Early in the novel, how does Raskolnikov describe himself?

a) As a student

b) As a teacher

c) As a laborer

d) As a pilgrim

e) All of the above

5. Raskolnikov has a horrifying dream in which an animal is brutally beaten to death by its owner with the assistance of a crowd. What does this dream represent?

a) Guilt

b) Shame

c) Terror

d) Both A and B

e) All of the above

6) Raskolnikov initially believes that he is among a special class of people who are superior to others and for whom any crime, even murder, is acceptable if it assists them in reaching an ultimate goal. At which point does Raskolnikov feel this sense of superiority?

a) Prior to the murder

b) During the murder

c) Immediately after the murder

d) Both B and C

e) Both A and B

7) With whom does Raskolnikov say he identifies?

a) Napoleon

b) Alexander the Great

c) Genghis Khan

d) Pontius Pilate

e) None of the above

8) When Raskolnikov receives his mother’s letter about his sister’s impending marriage, Raskolnikov

a) Rejoices that she is engaged

b) Fears she is in a dangerous marriage

c) Suspects she does it to save him from

poverty

d) Worries that his mother will be casted

out by the fiancé

e) Regrets that he has not yet met her

fiancé

9) Raskolnikov commits murder for several reason except

a) He is deeply frustrated by how

impoverished he is

b) He plans to use the stolen goods to

support his mother

c) He believes he’s being led towards

murder by a series of coincidences

d) He has formulated a theory that

some men have a right to kill

e) He wants to prove himself capable

of taking decisive action

10) In their investigation, the police first suspect _________ of the murder; they later believe the false confession of ___________.

a) The painters; a pawner

b) Raskolnikov; the painter

c) The painters; Raskolnikov

d) Men visiting the pawnbroker; the

painter

e) Raskolnikov; a pawner

The following five questions will be in regards to the passage below.

“Raskolnikov himself is in the scene himself, and his speech is not presented normally, attributed to his irritability. There are ellipses quite often between many of the words he says. Certainly, this is an indication of some type of inability to express thought clearly, whether Raskolnikov is unable to think clearly at this time, or he is hesitant to say them, or maybe is struggling to find a way to communicate the explicit message in the most subtle manner possible. For example, Raskolnikov’s dialogue has two ellipses in the following sentence: “Perhaps . . . I will come . . . if I can” (Dostoevsky 265). It really does not seem necessary to take those pauses. Nevertheless, no matter the real reason for such speech, it does hint at Raskolnikov’s unnatural mental state, and from information about Raskolnikov derived from other parts of the book, it would be accurate to conclude that he is bothered. Another aspect of the dialogue besides the overuse of ellipses in Raskolnikov’s speech is the abruptness of the manner in which he speaks as well. He says a few things to his dear friend Razumihkin, and ends with a simple “Good-bye!” (265). Raskolnikov attempts to cut this line simply in this simplified, undignified manner. As an extension of his abrupt speech, his actions are likewise. By singling a certain line out by creating it as an entire paragraph, the narration gives special emphasis to the fact that after declaring his goodbye, Raskolnikov neglects to even shake his friend’s hand. While the omittance of these traditional courtesies may contribute to Raskolnikov’s complicated character, the importance placed on this raises the possibility that Raskolnikov may have intentionally not offered his hand, as the narration’s style is assumed to reflect Raskolnikov. Thus, it can be further seen the extent of Raskolnikov’s attitude towards life.

After Razumihkin has made the realization of the dark secret that Raskolnikov was the murderer, their actual parting is hasty as well, emphasized once again to create Raskolnikov’s character. Raskolnikov repeats one last time “Go back, go to them [Raskolnikov’s family]” (265), after which he “turned away and hastily left the house” (265). It is emphasized that Raskolnikov forced the situation to be this way, to be concluded without rites. Once again, this speaks to his character, what he desires as far as isolation goes.”

11) Why does Razumihkin grow “as pale as a corpse”?

a) He realizes that Raskolnikov hates his

family

b) He realizes that Raskolnikov is the

murderer

c) He realizes that Raskolnikov is a

cheater

d) He realizes that Raskolnikov is in love

with his own sister

e) None of the above

12) What is the purpose of the many ellipses in Raskolnikov’s speech?

a) It emphasizes that Raskolnikov is in an

irritable state of mind

b) Because of his recent accident,

Raskolnikov experiences difficulties in

Speech

c) Raskolnikov is intoxicated, and thus is

speaking incoherently

d) It emphasizes that the narrator holds

little respect for Raskolnikov

e) It emphasizes the daunting appearance

for Razumihkin

13) What is meant by, “In a word, from that evening Razumihkin became a son and a brother to them?”

a) Razumihkin is able to assume a familiar

role in Raskolnikov’s family that wasn’t

being satisfied by the latter

b) Razumihkin had Raskolnikov

excommunicated from the family on

behalf of the mother

c) Raskolnikov has fallen deathly ill and

asks that his friend, Razumihkin, has a

watchful eye over his mother and sister

d) Raskolnikov, wracked with guilt and

paranoia, abandons his family and leaves

Razumihkin with the obligation of

taking care of his family

e) None of the above

14) What does Razumihkin realize in the corridor?

I. Raskolnikov has become

“extraordinary”

II. Raskolnikov is the murderer

III. Raskolnikov needs to go correct his

wrongdoing, thus leaving his family

a) I

b) I and II

c) II and III

d) I and III

e) None of the above

15) Raskolnikov insists that Razumihkin not “leave them”. What does them refer to?

a) Raskolnikov’s pets

b) Raskolnikov’s brothers

c) Raskolnikov’s sister and mother

d) Raskolnikov’s loyal servants

e) Raskolnikov himself

16) When comparing the method of murder of Alyona Ivanovna and her sister, there is a clear discrepancy in the murders themselves. Which words best describes the discrepancy in feelings that were exhibited in the murder?

a) Loathing; Panicked

b) Determined; Indifferent

c) Calculating; Surprised

d) Angered; Distressed

e) None of the above

17) Which of the following words best describes the symbolism of the axe in regards to Raskolnikov’s personality?

a) Brutality

b) Apathetic

c) Loathsome

d) Desperation

e) Both C and D

18) Fyodor Dostoevsky structured Crime and Punishment in a way that allows his protagonist, Raskolnikov, to intermittently and almost sporadically have internal thoughts that interrupt or distract the reader from Raskolnikov’s surroundings. Which word best describes this literary technique?

a) Stream of Consciousness

b) Anaphora

c) Simile

d) Shift

e) All of the above

19) If Raskolnikov were to be divided and then defined in its mother language, “raskol” being the first part and “nikov” as the second part, the name would mean split nickname. Which literary term best describes the definition of the name?

a) Anaphora

b) Metaphor

c) Voice

d) Allusion

e) Both C and D