Rhetorical strategy shortcuts

One of my favorite things to say about the SAT is that its a moderately difficult test dressed up to appear much harder than it actually is. Many of the skills that the SAT covers are not outrageously advanced its just that it tests those skills indirectly. The hard part is figuring out which piece of knowledge to apply, not the actual piece of knowledge itself As Ive mentioned before, a lot of SAT questions have back doors that can lead you to the answer almost instantaneously. The people who do the best on the SAT are generally the ones who can spot those back doors immediately and who, as a result dont get lost in the details or waste a lot of mental energy playing trial and error. Rhetorical strategy questions almost always contain these back doors, and learning to recognize them can often help you to find the answer in a matter of seconds. Lets assume you encounter the following (real) question on a Passage 1/Passage 2 set: Both passages make use of which of the following: (A) Political allusion (B) Direct quotation (C) Rhetorical questioning (D) Personal anecdote (E) Extended metaphor When most people see a question like this, they scramble frantically to remember just what their English teacher said about metaphors and allusions And right about the time they realize that theyre not 100% sure what an anecdote is, panic inevitably starts to set in. They race back to the passages and start to skim through them, not really sure what theyre looking for but thinking that just maybe the answer will leap out at them. And when it doesnt, they decide to just pick C because hey, that sounds like it could be correct, and its more likely to be C than any other answer, right? (Its not, and it isnt.) Sound familiar? If not, youre lucky, but for the rest of you, keep reading. The most important things to know about tackling these kinds of questions is that some answers are much easier to check out than others, and that you should always start by working from the most concrete to the most abstract answer. More often than not, the answer will be one of the most straightforward options. In this case, direct quotation, choice (B), is the easiest answer to look for. Itll be an option on many rhetorical strategy questions, and you should always start with it. In this case, you can just skim through the passages to check for phrases in quotation marks. If you see them, theres your answer. (It is actually the answer to this question). Over in about five seconds, and you didnt need to really reread anything. If that werent the answer, however, youd move to the next easiest answers to check: (C) and (D). (C) Just look for question marks. If you dont find them in both passages, get rid of the answer. Its virtually impossible that there will be questions in both passages, one of which is rhetorical and the other not. The SAT doesnt really employ that level of trickiness. (D) Even if you dont know what an anecdote is (its a story), the word personal tells you to look for the words I or my. If its there, its the answer; if not, cross it off. So that would leave you with (A) and (E). Which is easier to check? Well, even if you dont know what an allusion is (its a reference), you can certainly check for stuff about politics. If you find it, pick (A). If not, pick (E). As a side note, however, it is exceedingly unlikely that youd get two passages with extended metaphors. P1/P2 passages tend to contain significant stylistic differences, and if one is based around a metaphor, the other is likely to be very straightforward.

Aaron Douglas work - Free Essay Example

Paintings and imagery can be interpreted a large number of ways, all depending on what creative angle it is viewed from. When examining the works of art that were created during the Harlem Renaissance, one must first understand the context and history of this era to fully appreciate the mastery of these creative pieces. This specific painting is a fantastic example of showing what African American individuals went through from the times of The Great Migration up until the Harlem Renaissance. The Great Migration was a major cultural and physical movement of people, that would later set the stage for the Harlem Renaissance. This was the migration of individuals, mostly from African American decent, from the south to the free north of the United States. This move was instigated because of the wildly racist laws put in place against African Americans in the Jim Crow south. This background reasoning can lead to a better understanding of why the Harlem Renaissance occurred, along with the inspiration of the works produced during this era. The Harlem Renaissance was the first American artistic movement, a time of song, writing, painting, songs, and other forms of art were being rapidly produced during this time period. African American artists were able to express their passions and pain, sometimes being used as forms of peaceful protest. Various painters and their works emerged during this time, making an impact through their art. Aaron Douglas was one of these unique painters and was an artist that rose to notoriety during the Harlem Renaissance. Douglas is from Topeka, Kansas and after graduating from Topeka he attended the University of Nebraska. Throughout his education he found his passion he had for the arts, earning a Fine Arts degree in the 1020s. Soon after graduation he became a teacher for two years, then decided to move to New York City where the Renaissance was just beginning. Douglas became fascinated by the art and culture circulating around and began to create works of his own. Of this time, the poetry and music are commonly focused on, but not the beautiful art or the stories the pieces can tell. As he continued to paint and illustrate his pieces, he became famous and eventually known as one of the most visual artists of the Renaissance. One of his famous murals is very powerful and moving, An Idyll of the Deep South, 1934 which is a part of his mural series Aspects of Negro Life. This piece out of his series shows the times of African Americans before and during the Harlem Renaissance, it makes the view consider all of the hardships the African American community has faced. This painting can be interpreted as the culture that was created at the time, despite the pain from African American past. This artwork depicts a state of moving forward in society, being able to fully evolve as a community. To begin with the negative aspects of Douglas work, in the bottom left of the painting, where the shadows are painted, there are individuals being lynched. A rope hangs on the side, along with an individual that is already hung. Lynching was a tactic used to threaten the lives of in the African American community, and strike fear into the African American community in order to scare them into silence, making the people fear voicing their grievances and anger. It shows one of the most horrendous and lethal attempts to silence the voices of rebellion that may have attempted to put end to segregation. Despite this tactic, they did not give up. Another main symbol and negative aspect of this work is on the right side. African American individuals are painted enslaved. They are holding rakes and kneeling into the dirt as the look on to the individuals in the middle. The background depicts the barns and the farmhouses. Douglas incorporated these two events to show the dark events of the past that the individuals of the African American community were forced to live through and eventually able to overcome. The north star is a main symbol of this work, depicted in the top left corner shining on the individuals gathering in the middle together. This represents the freedom that expressing oneself creatively gave the black community, along with the times overcome on each side. The individuals are painted dancing and playing instruments, showing their bright prosperity of the current time they were in. The colors Douglas used in this painting can also be known to represent different meanings based on the color of the objects. The white colored individuals on the left can be representative of the African Americans who died working the fields of plantations, or while enslaved. These individuals, like the light, paved the way to freedom for those that preceded them occasionally by giving their life. The lighter rust colored individuals depicted in the middle can be interpreted as those who are living in the present and have found the guiding light that allows them to create and exist in a more creative and vibrant way. Using this new-found freedom as a means to free on another from their dark past and create various forms of art, as Douglas did with this mural. Aaron Douglas work can assist with a full understanding of the events the African American community faced before exoneration from slavery. It is never a common thought of our day and age of what occurred in our racial past because it occurred decades ago. Yet, is not a forgotten subject but the only time individuals ponder the treatment of African Americans, specifically in the slavery times leading up to the Renaissance, is in a history course. Art works such as this can be a reminder of how we have progressed to where our society is today. All of the hardships and battles fought to reach this state of civility and equality. It can influence our society for the progress made and to never take any steps back into our battered history. Painting is not as popular as it has been in the past, as mentioned before there are other art forms that are commonly focused on in our society today. Paintings can speak tremendous stories that not every individual would ponder by a glance. By analyzing the connections of Douglas work, this can change the perspective of the meaning of the painting along with all artists work of this era. The Harlem Renaissance was seen as a time of expansion of art of all forms, but it is also a time of improvement as mentioned previously. Throughout American history, there has been an ongoing battle of sexism and racism, even to this current day. In the time of the creation of Douglas painting, it was a time of flourishing and moving on.