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Flashcards · AP® English Literature and Composition · Unit 6

Unit 6: Longer Fiction or Drama II flashcards

42 cards on topics 6.1 to 6.7. Pick a topic or study the whole unit.

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6.1 Contrasting characters in longer works

What is a foil?
A character whose contrast with another character illuminates the other's traits, attributes or values. Think of the dark sheet behind a gem. A foil is about illumination, not villainy or simple opposition.
When does a foil work best?
When the two characters share a situation and differ at one meaningful point. The shared situation makes the difference stand out and shows how each responds to the same pressure.
Why must you treat one character's description of another as a perspective?
Different characters notice different details, hold different values and reveal different information. A character's judgement of another tells you about the judge as well as the person judged.
What must a foil answer finish with?
Function: why the writer wants the reader to see this contrast, and what question or conflict it raises. A list of differences with no conclusion is incomplete.
How do you move from traits to values in a contrast?
Stop asking what each character is like and ask what each stands for, for example reflection against action. The strongest answers link those values to the central conflict.
Why look for nuance in a contrast?
Neither character is always right or wrong. Note admirable qualities in the "worse" character, and avoid claiming the writer supports one side without evidence.

6.2 How choices, actions and speech reveal complexity

When is a character complex?
When the text shows a tension inside them: they say one thing and do another, hold two values that cannot both be satisfied, or act against what they believe. Name the tension and say what it suggests.
What are the three channels of evidence for complexity?
Speech, action and private thought. Private thought may be narrated, spoken in a soliloquy, or inferred from details and stage directions.
What does a gap between private thought and behaviour reveal?
A tension between private and professed values. For example, a character who reasons against a crime and then commits it shows a conscience that is overruled.
What is a competing choice?
A decision between two goals or values that conflict. Show what each option protects and what it costs; a visible cost is a sign of real conflict.
Why is a label like "hypocrite" or "conflicted" not enough?
It names the result without evidence or function. Describe both sides of the tension with quotations, then say what the complexity does for the work.
How can stage directions or small gestures show complexity?
They can undercut a speech, such as a hand that trembles while the words are firm. Treat them as evidence of what the character will not say.

6.3 Sequence and contrasts in a longer plot

What is the difference between story and plot?
Story is the events in chronological order; plot is the order in which the text presents them. Differences between them are structural choices, such as opening with an outcome or nesting narratives.
What does a sequence do for the reader?
It shapes what the reader knows and feels at each moment. Ask what is revealed or withheld at each point and how that changes the reader's expectations.
What is a contrast between scenes?
A difference of tone, setting, event or outcome placed side by side, such as a feast followed by a funeral. State the nuance it creates, not just that they are opposites.
What does nested narration do?
Putting one narrator's account inside another's, as in a story told within letters, can place a hidden voice at the centre or make the reader weigh each teller's reliability.
What does foreshadowing do?
It plants an expectation, such as an opening line that hints at reversals. It is a source of tension for the reader, not a spoiler.
What does "builds suspense" fail to say?
What is withheld. Name what the reader wants to know, how long it is delayed and what the delay makes the reader feel or guess.

6.4 Narrator perspective and reliability

What is a narrator?
A created voice that filters events for the reader. The narrator is not the author, and a narrator's perspective controls the details and emphases that affect how readers experience the text.
How is perspective shown?
In diction, syntax, tone and what is included or omitted. Look at patterns in these choices, not at one word.
What is bias in a narrator, and how do you find it?
A tendency to favour or judge, inferred from patterns in the narrator's choices, such as always excusing one person. A reader who detects bias may find the narrator less reliable.
Does an unreliable narrator mean a lying narrator?
No. A narrator may be mistaken, limited, self-deceived or biased without lying. Say what makes the account doubtful and what the reader can still trust.
Why should you notice what a narrator omits?
Omissions can show what the narrator wishes to avoid or does not know. The gap between what is told and what the details suggest is often the key to reliability.
How does narrator reliability affect the characters?
If the narrator is partial, the characters they describe must be read with caution. Compare the narrator's judgement with the characters' own words and actions.

6.5 Symbol

What is a symbol?
An object that represents a meaning beyond itself. The move is from literal to figurative; the object stays itself in the story while also carrying the meaning.
What is the difference between a common and a contextual symbol?
A common symbol carries associations before the text starts, such as a dove for peace. A contextual symbol gains meaning only through how this text uses it, such as a particular key.
How does repetition build a symbol?
When an object recurs in different moments, each appearance adds a meaning. Blood in Macbeth, for example, grows from a stain to a presence as the play proceeds.
Can a symbol mean different things?
Yes. It can represent different things depending on the reader's experience and the context. Support your reading with evidence from the text and do not claim a single fixed meaning.
Can a character or a setting be symbolic?
Yes. A character can come to represent an idea, and a setting can too. You are not asked to label archetypes; say what the idea is and show how the text builds it.
What should a symbol answer always include?
Function: what the symbol adds to the work's meaning, and how its meaning changes. Writing "symbolizes" and stopping is not analysis.

6.6 Thesis and commentary in a literary argument

What is a thesis in a literary argument?
An interpretation of the work that needs defence with textual evidence and a line of reasoning. It may preview the line of reasoning but need not list points, devices or evidence.
How does a line of reasoning work in an argument about a whole work?
The logical sequence of claims that work together to defend the thesis. Three examples placed in a row are not a line of reasoning unless each builds on the last.
What is commentary in an argument about a whole work?
Explanation of the relationship between evidence, claims and thesis. Without commentary you have a list of quotations.
Why is "Macbeth kills Duncan" not a thesis?
It is a fact and needs no defence. A thesis would say what the killing shows, such as how a conscience that argues against the deed is then overruled.
Why must a literary argument thesis be about the whole work?
The prompt asks how an element contributes to an interpretation of the work as a whole. A claim about one scene alone cannot answer that.
What is a common weakness in commentary?
Letting it stop at restatement. After a quotation, say what the choice does and how that supports the claim and the thesis.

6.7 Evidence and composition in a literary argument

What are the purposes evidence can serve in a literary argument?
To illustrate, clarify, exemplify, associate, amplify or qualify a point. Choose the purpose before you choose the quotation.
When is evidence effective and sufficient?
Effective when commentary explains its relationship to the claim; sufficient when quantity and quality support the line of reasoning. One detail for a broad claim is not enough.
What does it mean that interpretation is recursive?
Evidence can lead to a line of reasoning, or a line of reasoning can lead to evidence. If the evidence does not fit, revise the claim instead of forcing it.
How should you treat evidence that complicates your claim?
Use it to qualify the claim. Ignoring complicating evidence leaves the argument thin; addressing it can add sophistication.
Why do sentence choices matter in an essay?
Sentence structure, word choice and punctuation make the reasoning clear. Joining every idea with "and" makes all ideas seem equally important.
Why avoid vague verbs such as "shows" and "uses"?
They say little about the writer's choices. Use precise verbs such as "contrasts", "withholds" or "undercuts" to make the commentary specific.

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