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Flashcards · AP® English Literature and Composition · Unit 9

Unit 9: Longer Fiction or Drama III flashcards

42 cards on topics 9.1 to 9.7. Pick a topic or study the whole unit.

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9.1 Characters who change or remain unchanged

When has a character changed?
When their values, beliefs, understanding or conduct differ after the pressures of the plot, and the difference can be traced. Quote an early and a late detail to show it.
What is the method for tracing change in a longer work?
Baseline, pressure, response, meaning, whole. Show the early traits, what tests the character, how they respond, what it shows about their values and how that affects the work.
What does change as growth suggest compared with change as collapse?
Growth suggests the work values self-knowledge; collapse or reversal warns about a belief or a course of action. Say which pattern the character follows and why.
What can a static minor character do?
Represent a fixed social type or serve as a foil, showing what others are not. Minor does not mean unimportant.
What does a major character who refuses to change suggest?
A tragic or satirical refusal to learn. The reader sees what the character cannot, which creates irony or pity.
Is any change of mood a change of character?
No. A mood shift may be temporary. A change of character shows in altered values or conduct under pressure, supported by more than one moment.

9.2 Complexity revealed through choices, actions and speech

What is a complex character?
One pulled in more than one direction: they want incompatible things, believe one thing and do another, or surprise us. Find the complexity in choices, actions and speech.
What should you ask about a character's choice?
What did it cost, and what were the alternatives? A costly choice shows what the character values, especially when it goes against what they believe.
How can actions reveal complexity?
Check whether an action matches what the character says. A character who claims to need nobody but irons two cloths shows a need they will not admit.
What can a character's response to a major event show?
Their values. A reaction that withholds expected grief, or replaces it with reflection, reveals what the character has lost or kept.
What is the method for a complexity paragraph?
Locate the tension, gather evidence from choice, action and speech, say what it reveals, say what it does for the work, then connect outward to the whole.
Why not take a character's self-description as truth?
A character may be mistaken or self-serving. Compare their words with their actions and note any limits in the narrator's view.

9.3 Significant events

What is a significant event?
A moment, or related set of moments, that changes the situation, forces a choice or reveals what the central conflict is really about. Explain its function, not just its content.
What is the difference between content and function?
Content is what happens ("Darcy proposes and Elizabeth refuses"). Function is what it does for the work ("it sets class pride against self-respect and exposes both flaws").
What is the method for analysing a significant event?
Select it, say what changes, name the values in collision, trace the build-up and state its function. Show what the work would lose without it.
Why is build-up part of event analysis?
An event gains weight from what led to it and what follows. Earlier details such as a convict seen in an opening chapter can make a later revelation land harder.
What does "values in collision" mean?
Two value systems meet in the event, such as gentility against gratitude and labour. Naming both values shows why the event matters.
Why not choose a scene just because it is memorable?
Choose the one that changes something. A striking scene that does not alter the situation or the conflict is a weak example.

9.4 Conflict and its function

What are the kinds of conflict in a longer work?
Internal (within a character), interpersonal (between characters), social (character against class, institution or convention) and circumstantial (character against fate, nature or situation). Several can operate at once.
What are stakes in a conflict?
What is won or lost: safety, belonging, reputation, who is to blame. Name the stakes to show why the conflict matters.
How does a conflict develop?
By escalating, complicating or delaying. Trace what each step adds, such as a refusal that makes the next violence more likely.
What is an unseen cause of conflict?
A past or off-stage event that is reported, not shown, such as a jilting decades earlier. Its power is felt through its effects, so say what the reader learns from the gap.
Must a conflict be resolved?
No. An ending may resolve, release or leave the conflict open. Say which and what the ending suggests about the work's idea.
What is the function of a conflict?
What it does for the work: it develops character, drives plot and expresses a larger idea. Naming the conflict and stopping misses the function.

9.5 Details, diction and syntax that reveal perspective

What is perspective, and how do you infer it?
The position from which a story is told: what is noticed, emphasised, omitted and judged. Infer it from details, diction and syntax.
How does diction reveal perspective?
Word choices carry connotations that show attitude. A phrase like "rightful property" suggests ownership and a calm assumption, which a narrator may be mocking.
How does syntax reveal perspective?
Sentence patterns shape tone. A long sentence that delays its point can make irony arrive as a late jolt; short sentences can suggest abruptness or restraint.
Why is "ironic" a weak description of tone?
It names the device but not the attitude. Add precision: "ironic and detached, exposing a social habit". Precise adjectives pair the tone with its object.
How does a narrator's perspective change a text?
It may shift over the work, such as a character whose self-judgement moves from candour to a distorted conscience. Compare early and late evidence.
How can contrasting perspectives work in a passage?
A narrator's irony may be set against a society's view. The contrast shows what the narrator notices that the society does not.

9.6 Thesis and commentary in a literary argument essay

What does the literary argument essay ask?
You choose a work of fiction and argue how an element named in the prompt contributes to an interpretation of the work as a whole. It is scored out of 6: thesis 1, evidence and commentary up to 4, sophistication 1.
What makes a good choice of work?
One you know well that gives rich, varied evidence for the element in the prompt. A work that offers only one scene of evidence limits the essay.
What should a literary argument thesis contain?
A specific work, a specific claim and what the element means for the whole work. A reasonable reader should be able to disagree.
How should the evidence be commented on?
Say what the evidence shows, how it supports the claim and how the claim supports the thesis. Quote only when sure of the words.
What patterns can structure a line of reasoning?
Development (the element changes across the work), layers (it works at several levels) or cause and consequence (it produces effects that shape meaning). Choose the one that fits.
Why is a grand closing sentence a risk?
If the essay has not earned it, it adds nothing. Sophistication must be sustained in the argument, not added at the end.

9.7 Selecting evidence for a literary argument

What forms of evidence can you use when writing from memory?
Exact quotation (when sure), close paraphrase (when you know content but not wording) and precise reference (a named scene or pattern). Choose the form that you can make accurate.
What are the checks for evidence in a literary argument?
Relevant, specific, accurate, analysable, placed and purposeful. Ask whether it proves this claim, names a scene or detail, is certain, has something to say, adds something new and has a job.
Why spread evidence across the work?
An argument about the whole work needs evidence from the beginning, middle and end. Writing every paragraph about one famous scene limits the claim.
What is an evidence ledger?
A planning table of where in the work, scene, evidence, what it shows and which prompts it serves. It lets you choose evidence quickly from memory.
Why is a guess presented as an exact quotation risky?
A wrong quotation damages credibility and the argument. Use a precise reference or a paraphrase when you are unsure.
What should you do with evidence that complicates your thesis?
Use it to qualify the claim. Ignoring it weakens the argument; handling it can add sophistication.

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