Open Prompt (10/20)

2003. According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” Select a novel or play in which a tragic figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.

Essay LL’LL:

This essay is well written and easy to follow, so I was not surprised by its perfect score. The writer manages to use the necessary plot points of The Great Gatsby to convey his argument of Gatsby as a tragic character. Each big event is further explained with analysis, so the explanation and reason for the plot point is apparent. The essay also contains quotes central to the story that further improve the argument. The essay begins with Gatsby’s destruction in his own life and to himself. In the end, the essay connects Gatsby’s character to all the other characters as well as American society as a whole. It also shows how the characters are affected by Gatsby and how Gatsby is affected by society. The comparisons lock the argument in place, and focus the argument directly towards answering the prompt question. The writer also manages to use diction appropriate to the essay without falling into informal uses at all. With the discussion of society in relation to Gatsby in the introduction and then the same connection in the end, the essay comes full circle, making the connections stronger.

Essay C:

This essay also manages to convey a message that follows the prompt and does so with plot from the work. Still, the essay focuses more on summarizing than connecting in places, taking away from the overall essay. The diction is formal most of the time, but the writer uses words like “stupidly” at times, also taking away from the argument. The re-writing of the quote given in the prompt is unnecessary and only takes up space and time that could be used to further the analysis of the argument. In the end, the essay stays on task with explaining the tragic character and how that affects everyone in the story, still the writer could have gotten to this point further. The last paragraph raps up the point well and gives a well formed explanation while also summarizing the entire essay. Overall, the essay gives a good analysis and forms a sufficient argument, but further development could be made.

Essay FF:

While this essay focuses on how one tragic character negatively affects others, the essay does not manage to use convincing analysis. Most of the essay is a summary and the writer generally says because of the plot point just explained, people suffered. There is no connect through explanation that would make the argument persuasive and analytical. Though I have not read the book, the criticism by the AP board states that the essay fails to address the counter-argument of the tragic character also causing others happiness at times. With a complete lack of recognition of aspects of the book that are against the argument, the writer is not addressing the book as a whole, but choosing parts that are convenient. Because of this, the entire argument is flawed and even less persuasive. The essay also puts things like “tragic flaw” in parenthesis and expects that to act as an explanation for the whole summary of the plot. The language is relatively focused, but not as sophisticated as it could be.