Ms. Bridges' AP English

Hello all! I hope your vacation has been going well. Mr. Benainous and I have returned from Paris and as my small gift to you all - I am canceling the AP tutorial! Yes! Except for maybe FIVE students, the rest of you have not shown up. Sooooo, I have some projects I have to finish up this week and you have a LOT of work you have to do in preparation for AP. By this time you should have read FRANKENSTEIN and have written your short form. You should have read all the assignments on the syllabus for ENGLAND IN LITERATURE, and completed the written assignments, and you should be starting the book CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. Be sure you read all the blogs I have posted for January and February, 2007, which provide a great deal of background information about the book.

Hello Scholars! Here are some questions for you to consider in your readings: 1. As writers you should consider the role the color yellow plays in the novel. (If you were writing a novel or a short story when, where, and what color(s) would you use and for what purpose?) When does Dostoevsky use the color? Why does he use that particular color? (Could it be that the color yellow was considered by many to be the color of disease and illness?) 2. Consider the role that painters and paint play in the novel. Have you noticed how often paint figures in the story? Again, thinking as writers, when does Dostoevksy use the motif of paint and painters in the story? Think in terms of metaphor: what does paint do? When do you paint? Why do you paint? What symbolism does this carry regarding Raskolnilov? There will be some information regarding utiliarianism, John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham and Friedrich Hegel which will shed some light on Raskolnikov's inner monologue and the conversation h...

The final wrapping up of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: Part Six, Chapters 3 & 4: Porfiry and Sonia act as a sort of chorus urging Raskolnikov to confess to his sins. After his meeting with Porfiry, Raskolnikov is filled with a sort of moral exhaustion. He runs into Svidrigaylov with whom he has a strange and disturbing connection - Svidrigaylov is Raskolnikov's alter-ego. He expresses certain aspects of Raskolnikov's psyche. Despite all of Svidrigaylov's debauchery he is still a vital man, relatively unfazed by the horrors of his actions. This disparity of energy between Svidrigaylov and Raskolnikov points out once again that Raskolnikov is not an extraordinary man for he is emotionally and physically dissipated by guilt whereas Svidrigaylov is still robust. Raskolnikov must live within the confines of man's law, while Svidrigaylov lives his life above the laws, untouched by other people's opinions. At the end of the meeting Svidrigaylov bids Raskolnikov adieu and tells...