AP English – C&P Style Analysis Part I Samples

AP English – C&P Style Analysis Part I SamplesSample #2:As the passage progresses, Dostoevsky uses the resources of language to convey that Raskolnikov ismoving further and further into his on mind, and further from traditional society. Aspects of language that lendthemselves to Dostoevsky’s purpose are his ability to weave past and present ideas together, utilize metaphors,choose words that demonstrate Raskolnikov mentally isolating himself, and the use of sentences that wander andflounder much like Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov’s state of mind at the beginning is nostalgic, but Dostoevsky usesthe resources of language to portray a change from that to a state of mind that is alienated from his old thoughts,more conventional thoughts.Dostoevsky weaves together the past and present in Raskolnikov’s mind in order to emphasize thechange that Raskolnikov is going through. It is clear that Raskolnokov used to enjoy the view on his way homeand even knew that it was “at its best from the bridge about twenty paces away from the chapel.” He not onlynoticed the view, but made a point to find the place that looked the best. He calls it a “truly magnificentspectacle” but it still left him feeling “strangely cold.” In this way, Dostoevsky uses the comparison of past andpresent to highlight Raskolnikov’s removed state of mind.Diction used when Raskolnikov is describing what he is thinking about illustrates how he is distancinghimself from his past self. At first Raskolnikov contemplates how many times when he was at the university hestood at the same spot and remembers the “vague and mysterious emotions it aroused in him,” but nowrecognizing that it left him feeling “blank and lifeless.” This comparison makes it seem nostalgic, because hecannot go back to his previous state of mind when he was mostly content to marvel and enjoy. Later in thepassage he describes the idea of trying to return to his past habits of mind as well as movement as “strange andgrotesque.” This is a recognition of how far Raskolnikov has moved from where he once was. Then Dostoevskyuses the repetition of the word “old” to portray the way that Raskolnikov is trying even more to distance himselffrom his past, and emphasize the isolated nature of his mind.The ability of language to go beyond the literal is a resource that Dostoevsky utilizes to illustrate thenature of Raskolnikov’s rejection of society. This happens when it says, “He felt as though he were flyingupwards and everything were vanishing from sight.” This is a way of saying that, mentally, Raskolnikov isleaving behind all of his “old thoughts,” like they were “vanishing.” The fact that he is flying upwards alsoimplies that it will be hard to return to where he was right before, if it is even possible. The coin is used tosymbolize society in this passage. All the time Rasolnikov is dwelling on his past life he is “unconscious” of thecoin he is holding in his hand. At the end, however, Raskolnikov “flung it into the water” to represent hisrejection of society and how its ideals were a part if his life. That is why the throwing of the coin made him feelthat “he had cut himself off from everyone and everything at that moment.” The feeling of flying and the coinmean more in the passage than their literal meaning, and through this use of metaphors Dostoevsky is using aresource of language to convey Raskolnikov’s progressively more isolated state of mind. (Ran out of time to talkabout syntax and write a conclusion)