How to study:1. Read over your 'study notes' several times, or even copy them out several times.
2. Check the rubric for the response (this will be your cheat sheet for during the exam) so make sure you understand the language of it. 3. Remind yourself of which stories/texts were given to you this year - they are possible texts to connect to. 4. Check what your common mistakes are on your previous responses so you don't make the same mistakes again 5. Be sure of the difference between Literary ELEMENTS and Literary DEVICES. Know the definitions of the devices so you can fine one.
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What to bring:Blue or black pen only (no need for whiteout - just cross out the mistake and move on)
Highlighter (to highlight and label literary devices, theme examples et cetera) Dictionary Watch (to keep track of time!! no cell phones) |
High level response example:
See the example below of a response which received a 90%
Response to Lamb to the Slaughter
A theme in “Lamb to the Slaughter” is all your actions have consequences. For example when Mary Maloney is coming back home from the grocer and finds her husband, Patrick Maloney’s dead body, who she murdered, she realized what she had just done. “All the old love and longing for him welled up inside her (...) and she began to cry her heart out (…) No acting necessary.” (Dahl, 4). Although some might think that Mary did in fact have no consequences for murdering her husband since she got away with it, some readers might beg to differ. They might believe that losing the person you love is a bigger consequence, even if it’s your fault. When she found her husband again after killing him, she didn’t need to act. Though she would have been killed if she got caught, a part of her, inside, died, as she “cried her heart out”. So metaphorically speaking, she died because medically speaking, you can’t live without a heart. Some readers may believe she only tried to cover it up for the sake of the unborn child, his unborn child, She knew about the penalty, “In fact it would be a relief. (…) On the other hand, the child. “(Dahl, 3). All she cared about was the baby.
In this short story and in “Maus” by Art Spiegelman, they both have a topic of dealing with death. In both texts, the characters, Anja Spiegelman and Mary Maloney handle death very differently. Deaths can either mentally make or break you. In Anja’s case, it mentally and physically broke her. For example when she was talking to Vladek and said “the whole family is gone! Grandma and grandpa! Poppa! Momma! Tosha! Bibi! My Richieu! Now they’ll take Lolek! .. Oh God. Let me die too!” Anja fell into a state of depression, breakoing her mentally. She later goes and kills herself because she can’t handle it, breaking her physically. In Mary’s case, the death of Patrick made her, it was her epiphany moment that broke out of her innocence. For example when it says “So I’ve killed him. It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden.” (Dahl, 3) She had broken free of the gendered power relations that kept her in a state of submission. In the end, Anja thought with her heart, whereas Mary thought with her head.
A literary term I found in “Lamb to the Slaughter” is dramatic irony. It’s found all throughout this story, but is most apparent when Mary Maloney makes the cops and detectives eat the leg of lamb without them knowing that it’s the murder weapon. While they’re eating, they talk about the murder weapon and one of them say: “Probably right under our very noses (…)” (Dahl, 6). It’s dramatic irony, the readers know that yes, in fact, it is right under their very noses, but the cops and detectives don’t. It enhances the story by adding a little bit of humour but also suspense because the murder weapon, the evidence , is essentially disappearing. The consequences of the detectives’ negligence on the job, meaning how they were biased towards Mary because they knew her an dhow they treated her because she was a woman. With any other suspect or victim, they wouldn’t have drank on the job or ate on the job, as it may have clouded their judgment. Which lead them to causing the murder weapon to literally disappear into their very stomachs.
“Lamb to the Slaughter” could’ve impacted the reader in so many different ways. Each character had a consequence for their actions. For example when Patrick has just divorced Mary, yet she’s still going to make him supper. “‘For God’s sake he said (…) Don’t make supper for me. I’m going out.’” (Dahl, 3). She then kills him with one hit to his head. This may have made the reader realize that our actions can be so small, yet our consequences can be so much bigger. Patrick abused his power as role of the husband and man, while alive, he was the embodiment of patriarchal power. His death deprived him of that power. Not only was his consequence murder but also that his power was suddenly all taken away in a split second. That quote could impact the reader in so many different ways; how power can be abused when put in the wrong hands; how our actions have consequences; how we should fight back to stereotypical gender roles that society puts us in; how women are capable of anything a man can do, the good and the bad and finally how women are like tea bags, how you never know how strong they are until they’re put under hot water, so don’t underestimate them.
Response to Lamb to the Slaughter
A theme in “Lamb to the Slaughter” is all your actions have consequences. For example when Mary Maloney is coming back home from the grocer and finds her husband, Patrick Maloney’s dead body, who she murdered, she realized what she had just done. “All the old love and longing for him welled up inside her (...) and she began to cry her heart out (…) No acting necessary.” (Dahl, 4). Although some might think that Mary did in fact have no consequences for murdering her husband since she got away with it, some readers might beg to differ. They might believe that losing the person you love is a bigger consequence, even if it’s your fault. When she found her husband again after killing him, she didn’t need to act. Though she would have been killed if she got caught, a part of her, inside, died, as she “cried her heart out”. So metaphorically speaking, she died because medically speaking, you can’t live without a heart. Some readers may believe she only tried to cover it up for the sake of the unborn child, his unborn child, She knew about the penalty, “In fact it would be a relief. (…) On the other hand, the child. “(Dahl, 3). All she cared about was the baby.
In this short story and in “Maus” by Art Spiegelman, they both have a topic of dealing with death. In both texts, the characters, Anja Spiegelman and Mary Maloney handle death very differently. Deaths can either mentally make or break you. In Anja’s case, it mentally and physically broke her. For example when she was talking to Vladek and said “the whole family is gone! Grandma and grandpa! Poppa! Momma! Tosha! Bibi! My Richieu! Now they’ll take Lolek! .. Oh God. Let me die too!” Anja fell into a state of depression, breakoing her mentally. She later goes and kills herself because she can’t handle it, breaking her physically. In Mary’s case, the death of Patrick made her, it was her epiphany moment that broke out of her innocence. For example when it says “So I’ve killed him. It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden.” (Dahl, 3) She had broken free of the gendered power relations that kept her in a state of submission. In the end, Anja thought with her heart, whereas Mary thought with her head.
A literary term I found in “Lamb to the Slaughter” is dramatic irony. It’s found all throughout this story, but is most apparent when Mary Maloney makes the cops and detectives eat the leg of lamb without them knowing that it’s the murder weapon. While they’re eating, they talk about the murder weapon and one of them say: “Probably right under our very noses (…)” (Dahl, 6). It’s dramatic irony, the readers know that yes, in fact, it is right under their very noses, but the cops and detectives don’t. It enhances the story by adding a little bit of humour but also suspense because the murder weapon, the evidence , is essentially disappearing. The consequences of the detectives’ negligence on the job, meaning how they were biased towards Mary because they knew her an dhow they treated her because she was a woman. With any other suspect or victim, they wouldn’t have drank on the job or ate on the job, as it may have clouded their judgment. Which lead them to causing the murder weapon to literally disappear into their very stomachs.
“Lamb to the Slaughter” could’ve impacted the reader in so many different ways. Each character had a consequence for their actions. For example when Patrick has just divorced Mary, yet she’s still going to make him supper. “‘For God’s sake he said (…) Don’t make supper for me. I’m going out.’” (Dahl, 3). She then kills him with one hit to his head. This may have made the reader realize that our actions can be so small, yet our consequences can be so much bigger. Patrick abused his power as role of the husband and man, while alive, he was the embodiment of patriarchal power. His death deprived him of that power. Not only was his consequence murder but also that his power was suddenly all taken away in a split second. That quote could impact the reader in so many different ways; how power can be abused when put in the wrong hands; how our actions have consequences; how we should fight back to stereotypical gender roles that society puts us in; how women are capable of anything a man can do, the good and the bad and finally how women are like tea bags, how you never know how strong they are until they’re put under hot water, so don’t underestimate them.