Prose Reflection and Typed Essay

PROMPT: 

       The following passage is from the novel The Known World by Edward P Jones. Read the passage carefully. Then, in a well organized essay, analyze how the author reveals character of Moses. Then, in your analysis, you may wish to consider such a literary elements as point of you, selection of detail, and imagery.

TYPED ESSAY:

In The Known World by Edward P. Jones, the protagonist, Moses, is characterized as a hardworking but ultimately exhausted slave. Through the intricate setting and imagery details and the third person point of view, readers are able to get an intimate observation of Moses and his life as a slave.

Imagery and description predominated most of the passage as a whole. While seemingly superficial, this intense depiction of setting works to shape Moses’s complex characteristics. From the beginning, its bluntly states that Moses is a slave. Although it’s implied that as a stereotypical slave of this time period, Moses cannot read/write and is relatively unknowledgable about science, he is still observant enough to notice the “strengths and weaknesses of the field” by just tasting dirt. Additionally, as uneducated and underprivileged as he is, Moses also tastes the dirt in order to feel a sense of connection to his master’s land, the only place he knows. The strange juxtaposition of Moses’s underprivileged status and the poetic nature of him stopping to taste his land characterizes Moses, a slave, as unusually observant, reflective, and introspective. Readers will instinctively get the sense that Moses is going to be making even more unexpectedly insightful decisions later on in the novel.

Jones is also fond of scattering beautiful lines of imagery of nature into the narrative. He describes the sunset as “a five-inch long memory of red orange laid out in still waves”. This tranquil setting contrasts directly with the toil and struggle that Moses and his family suffer from in serfdom. Although it would seem likely that Jones, the author, would use such a peaceful ambiance to mock Moses’s toil, in actuality, the tranquil environment serves to indicate that Moses chooses a life of peacefulness because he is too tired to fight back, after being “in the fields for all of fifteen hours”. Morever, we know that Moses is not angry after a long day’s work, because he even stops to breathe in the earth and “Believing he was alone, he smiled.” This characterizes Moses as almost proud of his work, his background, despite the physical tiredness he feels. Furthermore, Moses is also mentally tired, because Jones describes him as losing himself completely during such nights. Jones emphasizes this tiredness even more when he uses imagery to write about the heavy rains that “came in torrents through the trees and the mighty summer leaves.” By describing nature as a powerful and strong force this contrasts and emphasizes how tired Moses is.

Although Jones seems to overwhelmingly protray Moses as an old, tired slave, he also describes why Moses is so physically and mentally exhausted. Because Jones writes entirely in the third person, he describes Moses’s actions to display his hardworking ethic. In the beginning, Jones writes that Moses was still working all day, for fifteen hours, even though his master had died that evening. This small selection of detail reveals a great deal of how hardworking Moses truly is.

Overall, Hones uses an abundance of imagery and selection of detail to characterize Moses as insightful, hardworking, but ultimately overcome with immense physical and mental exhaustion. Although it may seem stereotypical to paint a slave as being tired, and lacking other attributes, Jones gives Moses a unique perspective on why he is tired, and shows how he can remain introspective and peaceful despite this tiredness. In the end, Moses is protrayed as a slave who is anything but “just tired”.

Prose Reflection: 

This Monday,  I had the daunting task of writing an AP Lit response to a prose essay prompt. The prompt referred to a passage from The Known World, and students had to use literary elements to discuss the characterization of Moses. Considering my lack of a definitive, arguable thesis, I scored my own essay as a 5. My official score was a 5.5, since my writing exemplified elements of both a 5 and 6 score. 

The main issue with my essay was the weak claim underlying my "plausible" argument. I tried to argue that Jones characterized Moses "as a hardworking but ultimately exhausted slave" through the use of "setting and imagery details and the third person point of view". This claim, however is very "superficial and thin" in the discussion of Moses's true character: his bond to nature and subsequent isolation from fellow man. I did not emphasize how Moses's relationship with the soil; instead I chose to discuss Moses's exhaustion, which is blatantly obvious and does not need to be deeply analyzed. 

I did draw evidence from the text and specifically referenced literary elements. I also stepped away from relying on plot summary, specifically referencing Jones's description of the sunset, soil, and rain. These improvements, however, did not suffice in raising my score due to my weak claim. 

However, I did score with some aspects of a 6 essay. I had a "reasonable" analysis of the prompt, and I paid attention to literary details such as "point of view, selection of detail, and imagery". 

In the future, my aim is to adhere more to the prompt and create a more focused claim. The 5 Steps to a 5 guide from McGraw Hill suggests that students do "a 1-3 minute careful analysis of the prompt" (62) in order to understand "all the facets that need to be addressed" (62). In this practice, I skimmed the prompt and hurriedly began reading the passage. My rushed understanding of the prompt likely contributed to my limited analysis of Moses's character. My goal is to slow down, digest the question, and take a more holistic approach to the prompt.

Works Cited:

Murphy, Barbara L., and Estelle M. Rankin. 5 Steps to a 5: AP English Literature 2018. McGraw-               Hill Education, 2017.