After Reading: Why AP?
Hi everyone!
Today, for my final blog post, I am going to be discussing the literary merit of Pride and Prejudice and why it is 100% worthy of being included in an AP curriculum.
First and foremost, Pride and Prejudice includes intricate character development throughout the novel. One of the characters that particularly exhibits this is Elizabeth Bennet, the main character. In the beginning of the novel, Elizabeth is introduced by her father as someone who has "something more of a quickness than her sisters" (pg. 4), immediately establishing that she stands out from her family before we even meet her. Her father seems to favor her, much to her mother's confusion, and we soon see why. Not only is Elizabeth a bit more intelligent than her sisters: she is also exceptionally caring and loyal. When Elizabeth first hears of Jane falling ill, she rushes to visit her, unlike Mrs. Bennet, who is excited that Jane will get to spend more time with the man she may marry. Unable to secure a horse and carriage, Elizabeth walks the distance to Jane, "crossing field after field at a quick pace, jumping over stiles and springing over puddles with impatient activity" and arriving with "weary ankles [and] dirty stockings" (pg. 24). This event also shows that Elizabeth is entirely willing to defy social norms and doesn't care much about others' opinions of her, solidifying her loyalty to Jane and further portraying her as someone that certainly stands out from other ladies her age. Furthermore, when her cousin Mr. Collins proposes to her, she has the audacity to frankly refuse him. This confuses Mr. Collins, as he does not believe her to be serious, and it takes several attempts from Elizabeth to convince him that she does in fact intend her rejection. Furthermore, she is a bit rude to Mr. Darcy when rejecting his own proposal to her, as she tells him that he is "the last man in the world whom [she] could ever be prevailed on to marry" (pg. 141). At this point in the novel, Elizabeth appears to be entirely justified in her opinions, as she has just learned that Mr. Darcy purposely broke up her sister Jane and Mr. Bingley, and has received only pride and contempt from his thus far. Regardless, she presents herself as undoubtedly different from most girls her age when she rejects the marriage proposal of a very rich man, as marriage is seen as essential by her mother and her society.
Up to this point, Mr. Darcy is seen as the "pride" in the novel, due to his dismissive and rude attitude, and Elizabeth is seen as the "prejudice," based on her criticism of both Mr. Darcy and other members of society, like her younger sisters. However, when Mr. Darcy writes Elizabeth a letter essentially explaining that he is the "good guy" and Mr. Wickham, whom Elizabeth previously idolized, is really a bad person, Elizabeth's views are completely reversed. In her self-reflection, she realizes that she likely treated Darcy unfairly and was a bit harsh in her rejection, and now sees her own pride in believing that she had everything about Darcy and Wickham all figured out. Although Elizabeth is certainly a stubborn and strong-minded individual, she is also characterized as understanding and accepting of her mistakes, as she is willing to change her perspective on Darcy after learning the truth, instead of simply denying it. Later, when Darcy and Elizabeth meet again, away from the rest of society, Darcy is only polite and respectful to her, and she slowly falls in love with him as she realizes that he is a much different person than she originally thought. In the end, she confesses her true feelings to him, and the two end up engaged, as Darcy never stopped loving her, even after her rejection.
Complex characterization like that of Elizabeth's is very useful in the AP curriculum for many reasons. First of all, it shows that the book has more to it than just plot, making it useful for analysis. Characterization allows readers to recognize the different literary devices that the author uses to define the characters, and forces the reader to deeply analyze an author's style and their choice of detail and perspective. Being able to recognize style techniques helps with analyzing other aspects of a book, such as theme, and characterization is a great way to learn how to identify these techniques and style choices. Understanding the characterization in a novel is also essential to the AP exam, and many essay and multiple choice questions are based on your ability to recognize and interpret characterization. For example, all three essay questions on last year's AP exam had to do with characters. Question 1, in particular, asked you to analyze characterization:
"Carefully read P. K. Page’s 1943 poem “The Landlady.” Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the speaker’s complex portrayal of the landlady. You may wish to consider such elements as imagery, selection of detail, and tone."
After reading Pride and Prejudice, you would have already had to analyze Jane Austen's complex portrayal of Elizabeth and other characters in the novel, and been familiarized with how she uses literary elements to accomplish characterization. Therefore, by reading Pride and Prejudice, you would have had very sufficient practice to answer this exam question, and would likely have scored high on this question.
Pride and Prejudice can be useful in the AP curriculum in other ways as well. For example, Pride and Prejudice provides several examples of irony, which I have talked about in my previous blog posts. The irony in comparing Darcy and Mr. Collins' pride is a major example, and the analysis of that can certainly help with AP exam questions as well, especially those that encourage you to explore how the speaker uses irony to portray something about the characters or meaning of the work as a whole.
The novel's insight into society in the 1800s can also be helpful, as you are often expected to be able to recognize contextualization of novels in their time periods and include some contextualization in your essays, to achieve a high score. Tying elements of Pride and Prejudice to the time period, such as society's disapproval of Elizabeth's manners, or the pressure for young girls to marry rich, shows the reader how life must have really been like in the 1800s. In order to earn the contextualization point on your essay, you can connect the prompt or passage to the time period it is written in, and Pride and Prejudice is great practice due to its descriptive portrayal of early-1800s society.
Based on Jane Austen's complex characterization, use of literary techniques, and contextualization of society, I definitely think that it would be beneficial to teach Pride and Prejudice as part of the AP curriculum. While it may not be as plot-centered as some of the other books we read this year, it certainly has many other important features that are equally as useful and (I think) equally as interesting.
Thanks for reading my blog, and following along with me throughout this journey!
- Emma
Today, for my final blog post, I am going to be discussing the literary merit of Pride and Prejudice and why it is 100% worthy of being included in an AP curriculum.
First and foremost, Pride and Prejudice includes intricate character development throughout the novel. One of the characters that particularly exhibits this is Elizabeth Bennet, the main character. In the beginning of the novel, Elizabeth is introduced by her father as someone who has "something more of a quickness than her sisters" (pg. 4), immediately establishing that she stands out from her family before we even meet her. Her father seems to favor her, much to her mother's confusion, and we soon see why. Not only is Elizabeth a bit more intelligent than her sisters: she is also exceptionally caring and loyal. When Elizabeth first hears of Jane falling ill, she rushes to visit her, unlike Mrs. Bennet, who is excited that Jane will get to spend more time with the man she may marry. Unable to secure a horse and carriage, Elizabeth walks the distance to Jane, "crossing field after field at a quick pace, jumping over stiles and springing over puddles with impatient activity" and arriving with "weary ankles [and] dirty stockings" (pg. 24). This event also shows that Elizabeth is entirely willing to defy social norms and doesn't care much about others' opinions of her, solidifying her loyalty to Jane and further portraying her as someone that certainly stands out from other ladies her age. Furthermore, when her cousin Mr. Collins proposes to her, she has the audacity to frankly refuse him. This confuses Mr. Collins, as he does not believe her to be serious, and it takes several attempts from Elizabeth to convince him that she does in fact intend her rejection. Furthermore, she is a bit rude to Mr. Darcy when rejecting his own proposal to her, as she tells him that he is "the last man in the world whom [she] could ever be prevailed on to marry" (pg. 141). At this point in the novel, Elizabeth appears to be entirely justified in her opinions, as she has just learned that Mr. Darcy purposely broke up her sister Jane and Mr. Bingley, and has received only pride and contempt from his thus far. Regardless, she presents herself as undoubtedly different from most girls her age when she rejects the marriage proposal of a very rich man, as marriage is seen as essential by her mother and her society.
Up to this point, Mr. Darcy is seen as the "pride" in the novel, due to his dismissive and rude attitude, and Elizabeth is seen as the "prejudice," based on her criticism of both Mr. Darcy and other members of society, like her younger sisters. However, when Mr. Darcy writes Elizabeth a letter essentially explaining that he is the "good guy" and Mr. Wickham, whom Elizabeth previously idolized, is really a bad person, Elizabeth's views are completely reversed. In her self-reflection, she realizes that she likely treated Darcy unfairly and was a bit harsh in her rejection, and now sees her own pride in believing that she had everything about Darcy and Wickham all figured out. Although Elizabeth is certainly a stubborn and strong-minded individual, she is also characterized as understanding and accepting of her mistakes, as she is willing to change her perspective on Darcy after learning the truth, instead of simply denying it. Later, when Darcy and Elizabeth meet again, away from the rest of society, Darcy is only polite and respectful to her, and she slowly falls in love with him as she realizes that he is a much different person than she originally thought. In the end, she confesses her true feelings to him, and the two end up engaged, as Darcy never stopped loving her, even after her rejection.
Complex characterization like that of Elizabeth's is very useful in the AP curriculum for many reasons. First of all, it shows that the book has more to it than just plot, making it useful for analysis. Characterization allows readers to recognize the different literary devices that the author uses to define the characters, and forces the reader to deeply analyze an author's style and their choice of detail and perspective. Being able to recognize style techniques helps with analyzing other aspects of a book, such as theme, and characterization is a great way to learn how to identify these techniques and style choices. Understanding the characterization in a novel is also essential to the AP exam, and many essay and multiple choice questions are based on your ability to recognize and interpret characterization. For example, all three essay questions on last year's AP exam had to do with characters. Question 1, in particular, asked you to analyze characterization:
"Carefully read P. K. Page’s 1943 poem “The Landlady.” Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the speaker’s complex portrayal of the landlady. You may wish to consider such elements as imagery, selection of detail, and tone."
After reading Pride and Prejudice, you would have already had to analyze Jane Austen's complex portrayal of Elizabeth and other characters in the novel, and been familiarized with how she uses literary elements to accomplish characterization. Therefore, by reading Pride and Prejudice, you would have had very sufficient practice to answer this exam question, and would likely have scored high on this question.
Pride and Prejudice can be useful in the AP curriculum in other ways as well. For example, Pride and Prejudice provides several examples of irony, which I have talked about in my previous blog posts. The irony in comparing Darcy and Mr. Collins' pride is a major example, and the analysis of that can certainly help with AP exam questions as well, especially those that encourage you to explore how the speaker uses irony to portray something about the characters or meaning of the work as a whole.
The novel's insight into society in the 1800s can also be helpful, as you are often expected to be able to recognize contextualization of novels in their time periods and include some contextualization in your essays, to achieve a high score. Tying elements of Pride and Prejudice to the time period, such as society's disapproval of Elizabeth's manners, or the pressure for young girls to marry rich, shows the reader how life must have really been like in the 1800s. In order to earn the contextualization point on your essay, you can connect the prompt or passage to the time period it is written in, and Pride and Prejudice is great practice due to its descriptive portrayal of early-1800s society.
Based on Jane Austen's complex characterization, use of literary techniques, and contextualization of society, I definitely think that it would be beneficial to teach Pride and Prejudice as part of the AP curriculum. While it may not be as plot-centered as some of the other books we read this year, it certainly has many other important features that are equally as useful and (I think) equally as interesting.
Thanks for reading my blog, and following along with me throughout this journey!
- Emma
Hi Emma,
ReplyDeleteI'm sad that this will be my last time reading your blog, for I definitely appreciated your careful insight and perspective.
Elizabeth is a very powerful character in the novel, regardless because of the fact that she is considered the main character. Her independent actions highlight the standards of the society, and show how that it was considered "strange" for a woman to openly voice her thoughts and opinions. Do you think that there were other notable characters in the novel who went against the standards of society, and why do you think that Jane Austen chose to include such personalities?
Additionally, I thought that your insight on why it should be AP was very interesting, as I agree with your opinion. Pride and Prejudice is a very valuable book in terms of its complex character development.
-Lily