NYS English Regents NEW Task III

1. NYS English Regents NEW Task III Polonius and Carl Sandburg

2. Paragraph #1: BOTH pieces of literature • State controlling idea/THESIS (ex. “In Polonius’ monologue to Laertes and Carl Sandburg’s poem ‘A Father Sees His Son Nearing Manhood,” both fathers…OR one father…and the other…) • State all ways Passage #1 connects to thesis. • Transition to Passage #2 • State all ways Passage #2 connects to thesis • Concluding sentence • Paragraph #2: ONE piece of literature • State controlling idea/THESIS (How Passage #1 OR passage #2 uses a literary technique. Ex. (“The characterization of Polonius reveals him to be a father who is only concerned with reputation”) • Analyze all ways this thesis is revealed within the text. • Concluding sentence

3. Paragraph #1 – Theme Paragraph • In Langston Hughes’ poem “A Dream Deferred” and Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, it is revealed that people should never put their dreams on hold. In the poem, Hughes rhetorically asks what happens to dreams if they are put on standby. He then attempts to answer this question with graphic images of oozing wounds and rotting meat in order to show that putting dreams off can be destructive to a person. A Raisin in the Sun, also, reveals that characters should not put off their dreams. Walter is an example of a person who struggles while his dreams are put off. He said that he feels like a volcano ready to explode because he wants so many things out of life that seem out of his grasp. In the end, Walter discovers that his dreams were for his family all along, and he joyfully moves into the new house. Both passages reflect the dangers of deferred dreams.

4. Paragraph #2 – Literary Term Paragraph Literary Terms to Consider: • Metaphor • Simile • Characterization • Personification • Flashback • Foreshadowing • Symbolism • Point of view: first person vs. third person narrators • Any other in PINK Literary Terms Guide

5. In “Black Men and Public Space,” Brent Staples, himself, is the narrator. He recalls, through flashback, his experiences as a young, black man in Chicago. Through his eyes, the pain and “rage” of stereotyping and prejudice is fully realized. In one instance, Staples explains how a proprietor of a business “excused herself and returned with an enormous red Doberman pinscher” just because he walked into her store (96-99). The tension of this moment is more intense due to it being retold in the first person point of view. The effect of this prejudice, told through Staples’ point of view, makes it clear how dangerous racial stereotypes can be.

6. In Langston Hughes’ poem “A Dream Deferred,” he employs the literary technique of simile in order to express how dreams should not be put on hold. Hughes compares deferred dreams to rotting meat, oozing sores, raisins in the sun, sugary, crusty sweets, and heavy loads. These graphic images reveal the danger that the speaker feels people face when they do not try to accomplish their dreams. These deferred dreams can rot, stink, and sag in a person’s mind, leaving the dreamer feeling sad and unfulfilled. Hughes’ similes stress the need for every person to pursue his or her dreams.