Emma's AP Lit Blog

Medea, a play written for the Dionyisan Festival by Euripides, starts off in media res. In the Prologue and Parados, Medea's childhood nurse, who has travelled with her from her homeland when she came to Corinth with her husband Jason, explains to the audience what is going on. Jason has left Medea for Creon's daughter, and Medea is absolutely distraught. She spends all day mourning and raging and even hates her children although they are oblivious to what is going on. The children's minder reveals that Creon is planning to exile Medea and her children, although Medea is unaware of that fact. Something I immediately found interesting is how Euripides does not clearly take a side in the conflict between Jason and Medea, unlike Sophocles's unmistakable support for Antigone. He immediately paints Jason's infidelity as unforgivable but also points out the flaws in Medea's dramatic reaction. The nurse admits, "I'm afraid of her, in case she has some new pl...

"But great and terrible is the fall, Teiresias, of mortal men who seek their own advantage by uttering evil in the guise of good" (154). This quote is ironic as Creon is the one who says it, and yet this is exactly what happens to Creon. Why would Sophocles have Creon say this quote to Teiresias when he is clearly the one who needs to hear this quote? Does Creon understand that he is judging himself, or is he too stubbornly prideful to see that?

"That order did not come from God. Justice, that dwells with the gods below, knows no such law. I did not think your edicts strong enough to overrule the unwritten, unalterable laws" (138). This quote illustrates a major conflict in Antigone ; the conflict between the law of human rulers and the 'unwritten, unalterable' laws of the gods. Does Antigone's belief that Creon's law contradicts a higher law justify her rebellious act of burial?

George Orwell's 1984  sets up an atmosphere of darkness and fear immediately. The first image of the book is of Winston's apartment, which has a poster on every floor with the phrase "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU". Immediately, there is a sense that something is not right with this society: the idea of Hate Week, the telescreen that watches constantly and cannot be shut off, and the threat of the Thought Police all give that feeling within the first two pages. The world, Oceania, is clearly a dystopia, as "You had to live- did live, from habit that became instinct- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinised" (5). Freedom is not even a viable idea in Oceania; an entirely new language called Newspeak is being phased in to prevent any discussion of ideas that the Party does not endorse. Winston, the protagonist, is a member of the Party, and technically is an oppressor in this society, but it ...

In part six of Crime and Punishment , Dostoyevsky writes, "He suddenly remembered Sonya's words: 'Go to the crossroads, bow down to people, kiss the earth, because you have sinned before it as well, and say aloud to the whole world: "I am a murderer!"' He trembled all over as he remembered it. And so crushed was he my the hopeless anguish and anxiety of this whole time, and especially of the last few hours, that he simply threw himself into the possibility of this wholesome, new, full sensation. It came to him suddenly in a sort of fit, caught fire in his soul from a single spark, and suddenly, like a flame, engulfed him. Everything softened in him all at once, and the tears flowed. He simply fell to the earth where he stood..." This quote is very significant both in the plot of the novel and in the development of Raskolnikov's character. It is from this moment on that the reader knows that he will eventually confess; even though he hesitates a few...

I tested as an INFP! (Introvert(78%)  iNtuitive(38%)  Feeling(59%)  Perceiving(3%)) I had a little bit of an identity crisis with this test because while I have always tested as an INFP, the first time I took the test today, I tested as an INFJ. I read the INFJ description and it just didn't really feel right, and my judging percentage was 1% anyway, so I took a few other tests and got INFP on all of them. I took another look at the initial test and realized that I had clicked 'uncertain' for many of the questions (which we were specifically told not to do but what can I say? I'm indecisive...). I thought very carefully about the questions that I said I was uncertain about and came out as an INFP. There are definitely some aspects of an INFJ personality that fit me, but some do not at all (such as decisiveness, clearly). However, I identify with the INFP personality on almost all levels. I'm an idealist and perfectionist; even if I try to be pessimistic to save ...