<p>^HAHAHA lol yeah I don’t think that Michael Jackson thing is a good example, I’d go with something else ROLF</p>
<p>my favorite examples:
beowulf
faust (goethe)
les miserables (hugo)
crime and punishment (dostoevsky)
stalin
alexander the great
turner’s frontier thesis
the great gatsby (fitzgerald)
the metamorphosis (kafka)
napoleon</p>
<p>great post of lit</p>
<p>bump for tmr!!</p>
<p>Brother’s Karamazov - Dostoyevsky
(for corruption, profligacy, recklessness, swindling, immorality for Fyodor Karamazov)</p>
<p>Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (for reflections, epiphanies, racism, controversy, running away from society)</p>
<p>The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway (moral decadence, 1920s, lost generation, loose morals, seduction, BRETT ASHLEY - the epitome of the sexually liberated woman)</p>
<p>For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway (story of a man who decides to take upon the cumbersome role of a bomber in Spanish civil war, courage, audacity, defies the norms ----> antagonist, the drunkard Pablo, who is obstinate to the “Ingles”'s ideas, but later opens up.)</p>
<p>Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (shows the cruelty of man, man cruel to kin, man deserting kin (Casey deserts Ruth), competition over jobs, downturn of the world, world is changing for the worse, lack of government intervention, hedonistic or avaricious goals are solely guiding life.)</p>
<p>The Namesake, or The Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri (story of conflicting cultures, growing up in parents’ shadows, trying to become independent, becoming successful, in a country unfamiliar to your parents)</p>
<p>The Jungle - Upton Sinclair (IS NOT INTENDED TO SHOW THE HORRORS OF THE MEATPACKING INDUSTRY, it is meant to show the adversity faced by immigrant workers and factory workers during the early 20th century, as well as the corruption of politics, the intertwining political connection, monopolies, vertical - horizontal integration of companies)</p>
<p>Candide - Voltaire (a story of a simpleton in love with a woman who pursues her all around the globe; he is robbed by a Dutch pirate, and ridiculed in his proposal for marriage to Miss Cunegonde by her brother [for being a pauper]. His is a scrupulous fellow, though harshly treated by the vigorous world.)</p>
<p>Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (story of moral disintegration in the 1920s, infidelity, corruption, immorality)</p>
<p>HISTORICAL EVENTS</p>
<p>Woodrow Wilson’s reluctant declaration of war in 1918. He initially wanted peace. After Lusitania & Arabic war was inevitable.</p>
<p>FDR and the New Deal -
you can’t go wrong writing about the New Deal; it exemplifies government intervention for the better of the public.</p>
<p>TR and the Trust breaking (as well as the Big Stick Diplomacy)
- for those of you who were in APUSH this year, this was a large section of the curriculum; TR was cognizant of the abuse of monopolies and trust, and Upton Sinclair’s FICTION novel exacerbated the tensions of the time. TR also passed the Food and Drug Act of 1906</p>
<p>Other things to write about:</p>
<p>Civil War, Gettysburg, Revolutionary War, Puritan Church in America, laxity of 1960s, Reagan Era, Conservatives, conservatism, Palin, Obama, BIN LADEN’S DEATH, terrorism, Pequot war, encroaching on Indian land, Indian removal act 1830; Andrew Jackson; Corruption of Jackson’s cabinet.</p>
<p>IF WE GET A QUESTION LIKE THAT OF THE MARCH 2011 TEST</p>
<p>write from personal anecdotes.</p>
<p>Reality Television, for instance: True Life, Jersey Shore, Biggest Loser, Survivor.</p>
<p>Photography - Famous photos you’ve seen. Great Depression, photos of Woodstock, photos of 9/11.</p>
<p>Fingers crossed for a good essay question! :)</p>
<p>Do you think that using philosophical books such as Machiavelli’s The Prince or by Sigmund Freud is good?</p>
<p>Why is everyone scoffing at the thought of using Harry Potter? I’m seriously motivated to use it because of its versatility. Is there something that I’m not seeing than many of you are?</p>
<p>^I guess it depends. for me Harry Potter is almost as versatile as LOTR, but it depends on how well you’re able to identify themes and ideas in it.</p>
<p>My strategy when none of my examples work very well:</p>
<p>I make up a French author (or physicist or human rights advocate or whatever) and customize his life to fit the prompt. It works well, because the graders don’t have time to check whether the example are legitimate. In fact, one can be so impudent as to make up direct quotes by or about him. To make it convincing, I make sure his name has an accent in it. </p>
<p>Fr</p>
<p>Moby Dick: madness/sanity, humanity’s futile fight against nature, dangers of adventures.</p>
<p>Lol @Odyssyus. I give you credit for your creativity. That’s at least better than the common advice to write down the lyrics of a song. I would personally have a hard time making it convincing though… Congrats on your 12. :)</p>
<p>A Long Way Gone-Ishmael Beah- chaos of war, loss of innocence, hope to change the present…</p>
<p>Lord of the Flies by William Golding, perhaps?
It shows the conflicts between authorities and minors, people’s tendency to conform to the ones with power, and etc.,- just about everything that’s related to authority and individuals ㅇㅅㅇ</p>
<p>bump for oct!</p>
<p>Should we include personal examples in our essay? There are people who told me that it is only the last resort. But as I can see, there are posts in this thread saying that we should (not we can) include one. </p>
<p>Oh and btw, how long should our essay be? Anyone who has taken the SAT and got a 12, please tell me how long your essay was. Thanks.</p>
<p>I “only” got an 11 on the essay (and 800 overall), but for what it’s worth, I used the film Princess Mononoke and a personal example for the October SAT. Given that I wrote about an anime film and my mother, I’m not convinced that you have to use esoteric or extremely philosophical pieces of work to get a good score. Length, however, is very important- my essay was 1 and 3/4 pages long. </p>
<p>Odyssyus: you are awesome.</p>
<p>@oniontears: thanks. 11 is good enough =)) no one cares about the essay grade when you get 800 overall.</p>
<p>@odyssyus: good thinking.</p>
<p>List I made (mainly from sparknotes):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Clarissa
The immoral rake
The rewards of virtue and the punishment of evil
Enclosure
Money</p></li>
<li><p>Lord of the Flies
Innate savageness vs civilization
Loss of Innocence</p></li>
<li><p>Brave New World
The use of technology to control society
Happiness vs truth
Dangers of totalinarianism
Alienation</p></li>
<li><p>Of Mice and Men
The predatory nature of human existence
Idealized male friendship
The impossibility of the American dream
Loneliness and companionship</p></li>
<li><p>The Scarlet Letter
The inevitable burden and consequence of sin
Identity</p></li>
<li><p>The Catcher in the Rye
Alienation
Growing up</p></li>
<li><p>The Crucible
Reputation
Blame and accusation
Intolerance</p></li>
<li><p>Frankenstein
Dangerous knowledge
Seclusion because of physical characteristics
Monstrosity</p></li>
<li><p>Othello
Accusation</p></li>
<li><p>Macbeth
Exceptions to the rule
Greed</p></li>
</ol>
<p>[100</a> Best Novels Modern Library](<a href=“http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/]100”>http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/)</p>
<p>Sparknote a couple of these and you’re set. (Don’t start with Ulysses)</p>
<p>MLK works exceptionally well and fits into many, if not most, of the prompts. So does Frederick Douglass as well as the life of Michael Jordan. The simpler, the better. I’ve seen lots of students score 10s, 11,s and 12s using the one-two combo of Jordan and MLK. As great as literary examples are, I actually advise against using them, as many students seem to have difficulty culling the myriad themes and scenes they want from the book they’re using, aptly summarizing their points and narratives in one short body paragraph, and most importantly, somehow tying it all in. </p>
<p>In regards to length, the longer the better. I’ve seen a lot of students write crappy essays but still get a 10, and I would say in most of these cases, they filled up the entire two pages. Doesn’t necessarily mean you will always get a good score just because you write more, but my general, albeit possibly skewed, logic is that if I were a SAT grader using a holistic approach to grade an essay in about a minute or two, I would think that students who write long essays must have some creativity and depth in order to fill up an entire two pages.</p>
<p>You shouldn’t use mushy teenage novels, because if you were an essay grader, would you be more impressed by Edward Cullen or Holden Caulfield?</p>