<p>Is it ok to use harry potter in a free response, or is it not considered equal in literary merit to other works the AP suggests?</p>
<p>Lol I asked my AP teacher who is a grader for the exam, and she said that it wouldn't be considered to be of literary merit. If it really fits the question, and you can write about it well, then I say go for it.</p>
<p>generally, people use one of the books listed for that prompt. Harry Potter has yet to come up on that list and I don't think that's what the readers are looking for. Use another book. And if the only book you've read is Harry Potter, then you really shouldn't be taking the AP Lit test.</p>
<p>no, my teacher explicitly said that graders frown upon harry potter and do not consider it literary merit. But I don't think it'll be grounds for an automatic 1/9.</p>
<p>Some kids in my class were asking that too. As a rule, no. Of course, if you can't think of any other book that works at all, then it's better to do that than make something up--but according to my teacher, you almost certainly won't get an 8 or 9 with an essay on Harry Potter, even if it's really good (and it would have to be really good instead of just pretty good to get a 7). In general, I wouldn't risk it unless you have no better options. On the other hand, if you think you can write a really good essay on HP but your essay on a different book would be terrible, I'd probably say go for HP and do a good job rather than do a book of "literary merit" and do a bad one.
I'd say prepare other books for the AP so you can do a good job and won't get docked points for your choice of book.</p>
<p>My AP Lit teacher, a very rebellious old man (with a PhD in English, interestingly), tells students they can use not just Harry Potter, but even the V for Vendetta comic book. I always disagreed with him about this, and I hope other students in the class realized that that was a terrible suggestion. But some people respect teachers' opinions just a little bit too much.</p>
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But some people respect teachers' opinions just a little bit too much.
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<p>Some teachers have been teaching the test for years and know what constitutes as "literary merit" and could beat your butt in anything English related. Some teachers are also AP readers so it would make sense to respect them.</p>
<p>Many teachers are also not the teachers you're talking about. Are you saying that a student should blindly follow anything a teacher says? Should a student not even try to question the veracity of what a teacher claims by perhaps comparing it to what other teachers say--the ones who HAVE been AP readers and have said quite the opposite of what my teacher said?</p>
<p>I wouldn't consider it wise to ignore the teachers who have been readers who say it's a bad idea and go along with what my teacher says. It's also not a real education if a student isn't questioning what he's taking in.</p>
<p>haha.....ok thanks everyone...not using hp....its too bad..i can directly quote harry potter but i cant really say the same for other books...</p>
<p>good luck tommorow everyone!</p>
<p>my teacher says no harry potter, or any of the dan brown books either.</p>
<p>Harry Potter = Commercial Fiction = No Literary Merit</p>
<p>Yeah it's not that it's new. There have been new books on the lit test. But it's not really high lit.</p>
<p>you could use kite runner though, sometimes its even on the list</p>
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My AP Lit teacher, a very rebellious old man (with a PhD in English, interestingly), tells students they can use not just Harry Potter, but even the V for Vendetta comic book. I always disagreed with him about this, and I hope other students in the class realized that that was a terrible suggestion. But some people respect teachers' opinions just a little bit too much.
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</p>
<p>V for Vendetta, I dunno, but Alan Moore's other and even more esteemed work, Watchmen, maybe, being the only graphic novel to make (and thus, beat out a huge mess of other novels) the 2005 Time magazine's list of the 100 best English language novels since 1923. That, I think, lends it SOME literary merit.</p>
<p>Obviously, still not comparable to Shakespeare or Pulitzer Prize level stuff, but if you're blanking out...</p>
<p>My teacher told me that going with the tried and true doesn't hurt, nor help, but going slightly unconventional - with stuff like The Fifth Child, by Doris Lessing, 2007 Nobel Literature prize winner - may help somewhat.</p>
<p>I hope so, 'cause I remember that book. It was creeeeeeeepy.</p>
<p>1st graders read HP and there really isn't much above the surface of the story worth any literary attention.</p>
<p>sure, harry potter will be comparable to shakespeare soon. just wait a while</p>
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1st graders read HP and there really isn't much above the surface of the story worth any literary attention.
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<p>Though it pains me as a nonfan (almost anti-fan, really) to say this, I disagree. JKR definitely put her research into it, and if you're looking for literary and mythological allusions (slavic nymphs - the veela, the philosopher's stone, I could go on for pages...), I can think of few better works. Symbolism runs rampant, and foreshadowing is present in every book. If you go by a technique like DIDLS...</p>
<p>Diction - slowly progressing from simple to more complex through the volumes as readers aged. Characters speak differently based on personality.</p>
<p>Imagery - where to start? Lush imagery of the school grounds reinforced through every book.</p>
<p>Details - JKR didn't skimp on details. Each book is loaded with trinkets that help the reader understand more of what's going on, like Fred and George's various antics before they used them constructively against Umbridge.</p>
<p>Language - again, compare the way characters talk to contrast euphony with cacophony.</p>
<p>Symbols - OMG. WHERE TO START? Patronuses (Patroni?), glasses, scar, wands (and what's in them, like Harry's phoenix core), Fawkes, etc, etc, etc...</p>
<p>You can read it at the surface level, but as an AP English student (or anyone who analyzes what they read), there's plenty more to see. Not only that, in HP, it's a little less like BSing, because most are definitely intentional.</p>
<p>I HATE defending HP, but... I can't let that lie...</p>
<p>EDIT: ...I just made a semi-lengthy post defending Harry Potter. Please shoot me.</p>
<p>I think the most recent books on the exam have been by Diamant and Atwood. So, it looks like the graders are only targeting "classics" up to 1990ish or so. HP is too recent, and even the Kite Runner is risky. but maybe they're looking for people to propel those recent hits into AP stardom???</p>
<p>All of the things mentioned are great for writing an in-class essay or something or maybe Who Wants to be a Millionaire, but you really need to talk about a novel that has had scholarly approval and it works out that the older the classic, the more approval it gets.</p>
<p>It's just a bunch of erudite intellectuals who are afraid to admit that HP actually has literary merit.</p>