Regina Zbarskaya

Ms. Nichole Wilson

AP Literature and Composition
28 May 2014
Personal Reflection
The reason I chose the novel Ulysses by James Joyce was because I was curious to
observe how Joyce was able to incorporate a multitude of different writing styles within one
novel. Starting with the prose passages, I selected the passages that I considered interesting based
on the language that Joyce utilized. Then I created charts organizing the passages into linguistic,
semantic, structural and cultural parts in order to ease the process of writing the essay that
analyzed the passages. For the multiple choice questions, I followed the standard format given by
the rubric, but also adjusted my questions to fit my prose passage. For my poetry safari, I
selected a poem that related to the cultural crisis occurring within the main character of the
novel. I decided to pick a poem that we had already discussed in class, particularly one that
related so strongly to the central theme of my novel. Then I utilized two organizational charts to
outline my essay, before finally writing the actual essay itself. For the research paper, I analyzed
at least seven different criticisms on Joyces writing, each describing a completely different
aspect of his writing. I ensured that each specific detail was discussed within my research paper,
particularly as it related to the novel Ulysses. I really wanted to incorporate the stream-of-
consciousness style of writing and the alteration of it in order to develop the different minds of
different characters. In addition, I focused on the allusion to The Odyssey, that brought the text
its universality.
Personally, I think I waited too long to get started on the research paper, so as a result I
think my work was slightly rushed, but still managed to convey my observations of the novel. I
was prepared for the presentation, which is why I felt I delivered a strong description of Joyces
writing style to my classmates. The extensive research I did in the beginning of the research
project allowed for me to quickly form my opinions and express them clearly through my
research paper. However, I felt as though I failed to include the overall style of Joyces writing
and focused too specifically on the particular devices utilized in Ulysses.
One thing I wish I had done differently is incorporate direct quotations from the novel
and the poem into my presentation. It would have aided in further proving my analysis of Joyces
writing style. I liked that other presentations were able to incorporate direct quotations without
making the PowerPoint too muddy; I was afraid that the more full length sentences I
incorporated, the more messy the PowerPoint would be.
Next time, I would want to focus less on the historical influence on the authors writing
style and more on clearly and effectively communicating my ideas to the audience through the
presentation. In addition, I believe that my presentation was very rushed; next time I would want
to focus on completing my papers in an orderly and timely fashion so that a lot of it is not left on
the last couple of days before the presentation. I did not expect that my papers would take as
much time as they did and I was disappointed in the fact that I was not able to effectively
manage my time. I thought I had planned for enough time to complete all of my papers in a
timely fashion, but I was wrong.
In terms of the AP Literature exam, I thought that analyzing the different works of one
another and writing multiple essays on them, as well as comparing the different authors writing
styles was good preparation for the exam. Once the authors writing style has been identified, it
is easier to analyze a new text from the same author, since we are predisposed to the authors
style of writing. However, I felt that this was not enough to be completely ready for the AP
Literature exam. Studying poetry forms, and motifs and symbols in literature would have been
the final step necessary to prepare for the AP Literature exam.
In conclusion, I was very satisfied with the novel and author I chose and found great
delight in analyzing the way he used language to his advantage. I felt I gave a good presentation,
especially because I practice multiple times before, but there were many areas for improvement
in particular the addition of direct quotations into the presentation and reducing the time spent on
historical influence.














Chelsea Shi AP Open Question Prompt
http://faulknerism.blogspot.com
I enjoyed your presentation very much; it was focused and the idea of hope and hopelessness
within Faulkners works was expressed very clearly. From your AP Open Question prompt, I
was very interested in your discussion of the effects of environment on identity, particularly as
the horrible environment that Joe Christmas grew up in predisposed him to terrible actions later
in his life. Your piece reminded me of the analysis that I brought up, of how initial culture
predisposes the individuals later thoughts. I thought it was especially interesting that you
mentioned how others reacted to Christmas past; that they assimilated with the norm and chose
to treat him the way his environment predisposed him to be treated. As you said, the traumatic
experiences he underwent, both in childhood and later years as he was rejected altered his
state of mind. From this viewpoint, it is interesting to see the negative outlook Faulkner has on
life, but it is also interesting that you point out that he still manages to find hope in these
hopeless situations

Stephanie Liu Research Paper
http://kingsolveraplit.blogspot.com
I loved your presentation, particularly the end! It was interesting that you interpreted the
different narrative perspectives as being adaptable to each individual. This is similar to the idea
that I presented in Ulysses, where the different narrative perspectives also give a glimpse into
similar but different reactions in accordance to specific events. It was also interesting to note the
historical accuracy of your novel stemming from the authors own experience with the historical
events. It is interesting to note that all authors seem to be inspired by the environment around
them: Kingsolver was inspired by what she saw in the Congo while she was there, and Joyce was
inspired by what he saw in Ireland as he inhabited its borders. I was also surprised by the
historical accuracy of the novel, considering most novels that are based off of historical events
tend to unfortunately have little accuracy. I am very interested in your book and the topics you
presented about it; Ill definitely read it over the summer!

Ian Campbell Research Paper
http://aplitliamblanceonupdike.blogspot.com
Your presentation brought up many interesting topics from your book and was delivered in a
very delightful way! You brought a smile to my face through the use of your jokes and
connections to the things we had already learned in class. In particular, I was impressed by your
authors decision to write in a realist point of view and especially his writing of ordinary objects
in a beautifully type of way. I was also interested in your authors predisposition to having
negative feelings of the past and also the way he incorporated this viewpoint within his novel
particularly in the way Rabbit is unable to move away from his past and is unable to move
forward at the same time. Although Rabbit is stuck between his past and future, I did not expect
John Updike to connect both past and future through his use of free indirect discourse. Its
interesting that he uses the same technique as Zora Neale Hurston in portraying the character of
Rabbit.




Richard Wu Prose #1
http://mobydickwu.blogspot.com/
Your presentation was very well done, although a bit too slow and slightly sparse for my taste. It
was interesting that the conflict within Moby Dick occurred when the death of one of the
characters brought about the beginning of the others journey. It is ironic that one must die in
order for the other to begin living. I was very interested in the prose passage, particularly in the
way the environment had a large impact on the character. It brought to mind my presentation,
which also dealt with the way environment has a large impact on the individual. I was surprised
by the fact that the passage was written in a journalistic method of writing and was still able to
incorporate elaborative language and intricate convolution of events. It seems almost a
contradiction that Melville is able to portray such a multitude of things through such a sparse
way of writing.

Zoe Storch Research Paper
http://zoeandcharlesaplit2014.blogspot.com/
I was very impressed by your presentation, especially because I had heard a lot about Charles
Dickens, but never really knew what the hype was. You explained very clearly and decisively
what it is that he exactly did which was criticize the Victorian era through his use of flipped
characters. I never imaged that Dickens would flip traditional roles to demonstrate that fairy tales
provided an unrealistic image of reality. Once again, the author was influenced by the poor
culture that he grew up with in childhood and later the rich culture he experienced as he made his
way to the top. This influence of rags to riches came out in the way he addressed the poor in his
writing, particularly as he challenged the idea of the deserving poor. I connected this to Joyce,
as his Irish and French cultures impacted the way he viewed the Irish. He was very satirical
about the state of Ireland in its loss of culture to the English, just as Dickens was satirical about
the Victorian era and its materialism within its culture.