AP PREP POST 1: SIDDHARTHA

 A)

1. How is enlightenment described in Siddhartha? Is it a feeling? An attitude?  (http://www.shmoop.com/siddhartha/questions.html)

2. Discuss this quote: “One must find the source within one’s own Self, one must

possess it. Everything else was seeking—a detour, error.”(http://mrsvernonsapclass.blogspot.com/2011/09/siddhartha.html)

 

3. How is rebirth represented in Siddhartha? (http://www.enotes.com/siddhartha/q-and-a/how-rebirth-represented-story-different-from-377988)

 

4. Identify a symbol, metaphor, motif etc. that prominently influences Siddhartha's progression as a character. (http://www.gradesaver.com/siddhartha/q-and-a/)

 

5.  How essential is the setting? Could the novel have taken place anywhere else? (http://classiclit.about.com/od/Siddhartha-H-Hesse/a/Siddhartha-Questions-For-Study-And-Discussion.htm)

 

B) 

 

1.  From the brief passage we have digested I can glean that enlightenment (not only being the primary, overarching theme of the entire work) within Siddhartha is accomplished via reflection/catharsis after the eponymous character's journey. In the excerpt you can easily imagine that Hesse's version of enlightenment is that of an "awakening" of an indivdual, an epiphany contracted thru event/respective retrospection of a lifechanging experience, just as Siddhartha surely acquired. 

 

2.  I believe the quote typify's Siddhartha's overarching theme of finding ones true self not thru objects, occupation, or others, but rather individual meditation, an internal journey to forge/find our identity, to sublimate it from our most fundamental ideas of "self".

 

3. Rebirth is featured thru out the short quotation as Siddhartha experiences a revelation thru his internal reflections, his ruminations revealing that he is not the same individual who began on this journey.  Thru his internalization he realizes he has been "reborn", awakened, enlightened,a new person, being true to his most inner, innate, self, lacking previous titles and qualifications as a Brahmin, apprentice, son.

 

4. The metaphorical snake is a symbol of uncertainty that resides within the potential paths of all individuals ultimately seeking out who they are. Causing Siddhartha to halt in his tracks, the snake is allegoric to what the future may lye and how the given character will develop, whether he remain the same or "reborn".

 

5. Siddhartha is an international classic/significant work of not one culture, but mankind. Though the setting of Hesse's tale is perfectly apt for the novel, ultimately the beauty of Siddhartha is its truly universal relevance/appeal to any and all as we all experience a journey thru life, each journey characterizing who we are whether we aspire or acquire personal "enlightenment" or not.  

 

C)

 

The nature of these questions lend to an accurate assessment of what i suspect the AP Lit exam content will be like. Emphasizing critical thinking, exercising personal perspective/contemplation on open-ended questions, having answered these sample AP emulating questions, (as well as having taken a few AP tests beforehand) the content seems to prioritize analytical contemplation rather than textbook plot focused, detail fastidious,  testing (though emphasis will undoubtedly be placed on rhetorical strategies, literary elements of the like).