MHS SP, Roku

Reflection Paper:

SOCIAL JUSTICE MAN PREVAILS!

Taking AP English Literature was not a difficult decision to make, I had already settled on taking the course sophomore year. Because of Ms. Clapp’s encouraging and positive attitude towards my work and the subject overall, I expected the AP class to be fun, exciting and to be thrown new challenges everyday. So here I am, my AP Lit. Days evaporating into a dew—Hamlet Dew!

My strength--effort, has led me to a path of constant learning and never fearing harsh or minimal criticism from my peers and teachers. Because of the criticism I received, in particular from Ms. Clapp, I was able to create an effective college essay which reflected my voice and personality. Along with criticism, I was reminded to “show” not “tell,” not just with writing college essays but any academic/scholarly work. For example the lines, “noise filled the air along Mass. Ave. Luggage in hand, I ran through alleyways, feeling like a masked hero as I leapt over objects in my path,” an example of showing a situation rather than telling.” Although the revisions were exhausting, I could not have asked for a better learning experience.

Along with revising texts, I have improved in writing strong introductions that give my reader a “menu” of the topics I’ll cover and put forward strong arguments. For example in the Renaissance poem in class essay I said, “Christopher Marlowe’s poem “The Passionate Shepard to His Love, romanticizes pastoral setting and disregards the idea of Time; focusing on the pleasures that this world would bring to his love if she would come to him. However in a cynical tone, Raleigh destroys Marlowe’s world and incorporates in his poem “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepard,” a world with ravaging Time and her negative effects on the once serine pastoral setting…” which reflects a stronger writing style than earlier in the year.

Alongside improving on introductions, I experienced writing college level research papers. For example my genre study on Superman—Big Brother. Epigraphs and enjambments have become my favorite writing tools. Now that it’s all over, I can boast that I have read Pride and Prejudice, enjoyed it and analyzed the constant foils Austen presents, “Austen’s intent was both to create antagonists for the Bennets but also to blatantly illustrate the ills of excess in this society. By doing so, it furthers her social satire of society.”

So to conclude, it has been a marvelous year. I will miss my class, my peers and my teacher. However, I will cherish and keep the skills I have learned and put in more effort to improve and continue to write.