Answering the AP Prose Prompt

Answering the AP Prose Prompt

The AP prose prompt is the second essay on the AP exam. (The other two are poetry and an open response that you write on a novel or play we read). You have two hours to write all three essays, so you should spend about 40 minutes on each.

The prose prompt will give you a passage of prose (almost always a novel or short story) and ask you to analyze how the author achieves some goal or purpose. The prose prompt is often focused on characterization. Typically, the prompt will ask you to analyze

the development or arc of a character a relationship between characters a relationship between character and environment

So what do I do?

First, deconstruct the prompt and get a clear idea of what it is asking you to look for. Try not to get bogged down by devices – imagery, diction, syntax, figurative language, etc. – but focus on content and meaning instead. Turn the prompt into a question and answer that question in your response.

Then, Read and annotate the passage. Look for what the prompt directed you towards, but also keep in mind the structural stuff we’ve talked about – what it means when a character travels north or west, what it means when something is set in nature . . . rain, season, blindness, disease, eating, etc.

Write your essay: some suggested approaches

LAYERED APPROACH: get deeper with each paragraph.o What is the passage about? This should be your shortest section or paragraph. Give some

context and a brief overview.o How does the speaker view the subject? The subject might be a character or an idea. This is a

good place to talk about things like tone, word choice, selection of detail, etc.o What does the author want us to understand about the subject? This is where you get to

theme or message. In the previous paragraph you talked about how the author conveyed his ideas; here you’re looking more at why.

CHRONOLOGICAL APPROACH: offer a close reading of the passage from beginning to end. o Start with an introduction stating

What the passage is about What the author wants us to understand about the subject (whether it be an idea,

character, relationship, etc.)

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Answering the AP Prose Prompt

How does the author convey this (tone, imagery, selection of detail, etc.)o Then the body of your essay should take us through the passage paragraph by paragraph pulling

out important details and quotes and tying them back to your main idea.

ANALYTICAL APPROACH: organize your response by device or methodo I personally believe this is the most limiting approach, but many students prefer it because it

matches what they’ve done in the past. In this approach you will have a closed thesis – a thesis that lists specific elements that you are going to analyze (imagery, diction, syntax, etc.) and that gives a strict structure to your body. A closed thesis goes something like this: TITLE and AUTHOR uses X, Y, and Z to convey IDEA the author is conveying. Then you write a paragraph on X giving examples and support and tying back IDEA, a paragraph on Y ... a paragraph on Z ...

Whichever organization approach you choose, your writing shouldAVOID

cliché or ready-made phrases contractions restating the prompt obsequious praising of the author defining literary terms first person POV

unsupported generalities wordy, inflated diction and syntax slang (which includes expressions such

as: messed up, stressed out, freaked out, like, etc.)

INSTEAD

Use precise, sophisticated diction and syntax Integrate specific support: Thread quotes, phrases and specifics from the reading into your

writing. Show that you understand nuance and subtleties beyond rote comprehension

Let’s try it out:

Deconstruct the prompt: The following passage is from D. H. Lawrence’s 1915 novel, The Rainbow, which focuses on the lives of the Brangwens, a farming family who lived in rural England during the late nineteenth century. Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how Lawrence employs literary devices to characterize the woman and capture her situation.

Let’s turn it into questions we can answer: What is the woman like? What is her situation? How does Lawrence convey these things about Mrs. Brangwen?

Some prompts will offer suggestions of which literary devices to write about. This doesn’t mean you have to write about all of those suggestions, or any of them, but you do have to incorporate some

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Answering the AP Prose Prompt

discussion of method. This can be explicit or implicit, for example, you can say “the author uses apostrophe to show the character’s exasperation over his inability to sleep,” or you can tell us “the speaker keeps calling out to sleep thereby creating an adversary on which he can blame his insomnia.” Either way you’re still talking about apostrophe, a form of personification. Read and annotate the passage: For this response, let’s focus on diction, syntax, imagery, and selection of detail.

It was enough for the men, that the earth heaved and opened its furrow to them, that the wind blew to dry the wet wheat, and set the young ears of cornwheeling freshly round about; it was enough that theyhelped the cow in labour, or ferreted the rats fromunder the barn, or broke the back of a rabbit with asharp knock of the hand. So much warmth andgenerating and pain and death did they know in theirblood, earth and sky and beast and green plants, somuch exchange and interchange they had with these,that they lived full and surcharged, their senses fullfed, their faces always turned to the heat of the blood,staring into the sun, dazed with looking towards thesource of generation, unable to turn around.

But the woman wanted another form of life than this, something that was not blood-intimacy. Herhouse faced out from the farm-buildings and fields,looked out to the road and the village with church and

Hall and the world beyond. She stood to see the faroff world of cities and governments and the activescope of man, the magic land to her, where secretswere made known and desires fulfilled. She facedoutwards to where men moved dominant and creative,having turned their back on the pulsing heat ofcreation, and with this behind them, were set out todiscover what was beyond, to enlarge their own scopeand range and freedom; whereas the Brangwen menfaced inwards to the teeming life of creation, whichpoured unresolved into their veins.

Looking out, as she must, from the front of her house towards the activity of man in the world atlarge, whilst her husband looked out to the back at skyand harvest and beast and land, she strained her eyesto see what man had done in fighting outwards to knowledge, she strained to hear how he uttered

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Answering the AP Prose Prompt

himself in his conquest, her deepest desire hung onthe battle that she heard, far off, being waged on theedge of the unknown. She also wanted to know, andto be of the fighting host.

At home, even so near as Cossethay, was the vicar, who spoke the other, magic language, and had theother, finer bearing, both of which she could perceive,but could never attain to. The vicar moved in worldsbeyond where her own menfolk existed. Did she notknow her own menfolk; fresh, slow, full-built men,masterful enough, but easy, native to the earth,lacking outwardness and range of motion. Whereasthe vicar, dark and dry and small beside her husband,had yet a quickness and a range of being that madeBrangwen, in his large geniality, seem dull and local.She knew her husband. But in the vicar’s nature was

that which passed beyond her knowledge. AsBrangwen had power over the cattle so the vicar hadpower over her husband. What was it in the vicar, thatraised him above the common men as man is raisedabove the beast? She craved to know. She craved toachieve this higher being, if not in herself, then in herchildren. That which makes a man strong even if hebe little and frail in body, just as any man is little andfrail beside a bull, and yet stronger than the bull, whatwas it? It was not money nor power nor position.What power had the vicar over Tom Brangwen—none. Yet strip them and set them on a desert island,and the vicar was the master. His soul was master ofthe other man’s. And why—why? She decided it wasa question of knowledge.

So what is Mrs. Brangwen like? Add a few more phrases or characteristics Contemplative, discontent,_

__ ________________________________________________________________________________

What is her situation? Add to what is started: She’s stuck on a rural farm, but isn’t content with a simple,

agrarian existence.______________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

But what else did you notice? Any nuance or subtleties? Add to what is started

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___ There’s a clear riff between her and her husband. There’s a lot of talk of the direction they’re facing

both literally and figuratively as the men look back towards “ blood, earth and sky and beast and green

plants, [ . . . ] liv[ing] full and surcharged,” she looks “out to the road and the village with church and Hall

and the world beyond.” _________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Now for the methods used:

How would you describe the diction used to describe the contrasting environments?

Farm: ________________________________ City: _________________________________

Examples ____________________________ __________________________

____________________________ __________________________

____________________________ __________________________

____________________________ __________________________

Think of an adjective to describe the imagery used to capture her situation on the farm ______________

List some examples of that imagery:________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Any observations on syntax?______________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

How would you describe Mrs. Brangwen’s attitude towards her husband and agrarian life vs her attitude towards the vicar and more urban life? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here’s one more, but this time, you’re on your own. Read and annotate the following, then outline a response.

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Answering the AP Prose PromptAP English 12

Answering the AP Prose Prompt

Let’s start outlining a response: NOTE: you don’t have to have five paragraphs!!! Four paragraphs might work for one response, seven for the next. You shouldn’t have five sentence paragraphs either – that’s sooooooo middle school. Your introduction might only be three sentences whereas your first body paragraph might be seven sentences and your next paragraph twelve. Your body paragraphs should definitely be longer as you want to prove you are a sophisticated writer who can sustain and support a complex idea, which is pretty hard to accomplish in a fleeting, formulaic five-sentence paragraph.

The questions we’re trying to answer here are: what is their relationship like? What makes it complex? How does Hardy show this?

I. Thesis: Your thesis shouldn’t just repeat the prompt, but needs to answer it. This passage asks about a complex relationship, which means they want to see more than one dimension – they want to see a but in your sentence. Write a sentence with a but in it to describe Michael Henchard and Elizabeth-Jane’s relationship: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

This prompt also names “tone, word choice, and selection of detail.” Rather than repeating them verbatim, identify which tone, what sort of diction, and what sorts of details.

Hardy shows this through Henchard’s __________________ tone towards his daughter, which

only intensifies as she _________________________________________________________.

Their estrangement is further highlighted through ___________________ diction throughout

the passage, a sort of bitter reminder of Henchard’s own humble beginnings and imperfect past.

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II. Body Paragraph I:

A. Topic: ________________________________________________________________

B. Supporting details: ______________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

C. Assertion or analysis: ____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

III. Body Paragraph II:

A. Topic: ________________________________________________________________

B. Supporting details: ______________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

C. Assertion or analysis: ____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

IV. Body Paragraph III:

A. Topic: ________________________________________________________________

B. Supporting details: ______________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

C. Assertion or analysis: ____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

A word on conclusions: A lot of students get anxiety over these, but they’re really not that important. If you can put a sentence or two at the end that really drives home your point, do it! If you’re just repeating yourself, don’t. Just drop the mic and get out. These are highly timed essays and I even had a grader once tell me that he doesn’t even read the conclusions.

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Answering the AP Prose Prompt

Take a look at the new rubric: Thesis, yes! Body, yes! Sophistication, yes! Conclusion, no.

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