1987 AP Exam

My Answers to Multiple Choice:

1. C

2.A

3.E

4.E

5.A

6.D

7.A

8.B

9.E

10.A

11.D

12.C

13.D

14.D

15.E

16.B

17.C

18.E

19.B

20.A

21.E

22.E

23.E

24.D

25.B

26.E

27.C

28.A

29.A

30.B

31.D

32.C

47.B

48.A

49.A

50.E

51.A

52.B

53.E

54.C

55.A

56.B

57.C

58.D

59.A

60.D

61.A

Notes:

I thought the problems that were the easiest were the ones that were basic comprehension of the passage.

Some of the questions that were a little more difficult for me were the ones with analyzing what the quote meant or what the text meant. Finally, I thought the toughest questions were the ones that had to do with literary terms because I honestly don't know them very well and didn't know what some of them were, so that made it very difficult.

Essay Question #1

            It is often said, that leisure lost its place in our society awhile ago. It lost its place when we began to strive for bigger and better things and forgot about the simpler things in life. In a short passage by George Eliot, she explains her views on “Old Leisure” and on leisure in the society of her own time by using many different literary strategies. The author uses personification, metaphors, and imagery to convey her ideas and views to the reader.

            One of the literary strategies used by the author is personification. In this passage Eliot gives “Old Leisure” human traits to show her view on how leisure time was a long time ago. One of her views on “old leisure” is that they took the time to read the news while in her time people are too busy to stop and read a newspaper. When she says, “He lived chiefly in the country”, it shows that she thinks that cities are really what has taken away the leisure time that people should have had in her time. She conveys all of this very well with her use of personification.

            The metaphor that the author mainly uses in this short passage to show her views is when she compares “Old Leisure” to the things that an old man might do in his leisure time today. She uses this technique to show that the older generation knows how to spend their leisure time. Eliot is also saying that we should maybe look towards the past for how we should spend our lives because back then things weren't so complicated. The author effectively used metaphor to convey her views to the readers in this short passage.

            Another technique that was used by this author shows the audience her views was imagery. Eliot constantly uses imagery so that the readers may picture how beautiful the world is when you stop to take a look at it. She is saying in the old times we used to sit in the shade of a tree and enjoy the world but in her time and in today’s world it is very hard to find the time. An example of this imagery is, “sauntering by the free-tree wall, and scenting the apricots that were warmed by the morning sun.” This shows what “Old Leisure” is to the author and how this is what she probably wishes leisure looked like in her time.

            In this short passage George Eliot effectively used personification, metaphor, and imagery to show the readers her views on “Old Leisure” and on leisure in the society of her own time. Her main view is that we are distracted by the cities and the busyness that we have created for ourselves. We should take a break everyone once in awhile and enjoy the beautiful and smaller things in our life.

Essay Question #2

            Changes in social or political attitudes or in traditions seem to be advocated in some plays and novels. Authors often use many techniques to influence the reader’s or audience’s views. One author who seems to do this is John Steinbeck in his book The Grapes of Wrath. Some of the main techniques used by Steinbeck include irony, exaggeration, and characterization.

            Steinbeck uses irony to try and greatly modify the traditions of the family in The Grapes of Wrath. The biggest use of irony to change the traditions of the family is when they are forced to move from their farm where they are used to growing everything, to California where everything is different and they can’t even find a house or work in anyway. The family’s traditions completely changed when they did not expect what was in store for them in California. This is how Steinbeck cleverly changed the traditions in The Grapes of Wrath using irony.

            To greatly modify the social attitudes of the family in the book, Steinbeck used both exaggeration and characterization. In order to change the social attitudes of the family, the author used exaggeration. When the author uses exaggeration he mainly exaggerates the feelings that the family has for one another and in this it greatly changes the way the readers perceive the family’s social attitudes. This vast change in the family’s social attitudes is also due to the characterization by the author. Steinbeck makes some of the characters more difficult for the family to handle when they are going through a rough patch so ultimately the social attitudes of the family do change while in and on their way to California.

            Some novels and plays seem to advocate changes in social or political attitudes or in tradition. Steinbeck uses irony, exaggeration, and characterization to accomplish this in his book The Grapes of Wrath. These techniques don’t only modify social or political attitudes but it also changes the reader’s point of view very effectively.

Notes:

I found that the first essay was easier because we actually had some text to work with while on the second essay we had to remember one of the books and it was kind of difficult to remember what happened in the book I was trying to write about. I felt like I left a lot of important details.