Hey, a user sent me this pm:
Hey Brencookie,
From your posts I understand that you are the 12AM go to guy. I have a few questions to ask you and hopefully I will not bother you for too long.
1. I checked the worked examples section to find some 12AM essays but there aren't any from you can you please upload one of your old ones.
2. What range of evidence did you prepare to include in your essay eg. Did you ever bring up the setting and its role in proving your contention?
3. What was your score in the text response section in the exam?(sorry if this a terrible question haha but I want proof that the average is not indicative of the texts strength )
and finally feel free to put this in a thread or something as I know you love to contribute to the AN community.
So I'll respond here
.
1. I checked the worked examples section to find some 12AM essays but there aren't any from you can you please upload one of your old ones.
I'll put an essay in a spoiler in this post, but I won't post it on the examples direction; I don't want people getting the idea that it's the best you can do (and I'm slightly embarrassed).
Please note: This essay was written in a full practice exam in sixty-five minutes; at times I use past tense, have some questionable punctuation (or lack thereof), use incorrect evidence, make unsubstantiated claims and otherwise do things that I would tell you guys off for! I also use the word "metastructure" and to be honest, I have no fucking clue what that means (think I robbed it off one of Viva's YoW essays). So, it's not the best you can get, I was still learning at this stage so don't be too judgmental plz
(I think my teacher might have the essays that are better written than this, there's still some pretty cool ideas in this one, though)
Spoiler
‘It is the setting of Rose’s play that provides the greatest source of tension’. Do you agree?
Preceding the civil rights movement of the 1960s there was a strong conflict of political and social ideologies, many of which stemmed from the McCarthyist paranoia and the Cold War. Thus, the setting of Reginald Rose’s play Twelve Angry Men serves as a large source of the play’s tension, as these ideologies manifest into the behaviour and discussion of the jurors. However, such behaviour stemming from the historical setting of the play makes the playwrights use of stage-direction a powerful way of creating tension. Rose also utilises the physical setting on the play to represent pressure, symbolising this through his references to the weather and through the real-time structure of the play. Hence, the various settings of Twelve Angry Men convey pressure in the play. (125)
The physical setting of the play and the real-time metastructure serve as powerful tools to create pressure and tension in Twelve Angry Men. “The curtain falls” during the climax of the play, as Third Juror threatens that “[he will] kill [Eighth Juror]”. Following the interval, the jurors are in the “exact same position” as they were prior to the break. This real-time structure of the play serves to maintain the climactic tension, as readers and viewers witness the deliberations parallel with their occurrences. The continual references to the weather and Rose’s use of physical stagecraft, such as properties, in the setting of the play also create tension. The juror’s deliberations occur in a “bare, drab” room where the “fan doesn’t work”, thus making the jury members uncomfortable from the outset of the paly. “I called up for the weather, it’s the hottest day of the year”. Along with the undesirable room, the jurors are also made uncomfortable; Rose utilises the weather as a metaphorical representation of the juror’s tension. This can be seen when Rose uses the direction “it begins to rain” as a literary reward for the juror’s reaching a vote of “six to six”, thus decreasing pressure with the play’s physical setting. The fan is also used as a symbol for the justice system; it doesn’t work when people are tense and discriminatory, however, when the play’s tension decreases and the jurors become more enlightened – “turn on the light” – the fan begins to work. (246)
The historical context of Twelve Angry Men is a major source for the play’s tension, as the various political ideologies and cultural references manifest into the juror’s discussion. The play’s antagonist, Third Juror, is characterised as a personification of the most undesirable capitalistic traits, and the focus of the individual that lies therein. Third Juror’s pride about “employing thirty seven people” despite “[starting] with nothing” can be seen as the crux of Capitalism, however, his individual-based reasoning and subsequent conflict with the protagonist result in a very tense jury room. Third Juror lacks a sense of community and fairness, as he says he is one of the boy’s “executioners” and subconsciously aims to vicariously punish his s on through the accused; “I know him”. This is in contrast to the Eighth Juror’s socialistic values; a conflict that sources a large quantity of tension up to the play’s denouement. Eighth Juror is created as Rose’s idealistic view of an American man and is thus imbued with a value for community. This can be seen in his perpetual defence of the accused – “he’s been pushed around all his life” – and his many contradictions to the prejudice of the other jurors. Pressure is ultimately created by these two opposing forces as they embody the political ideologies of the historical period and thus confront each other throughout the play’s dialogue. (201)
While the historical and physical setting of Twelve Angry Men are two major sources of the play’s tension, the stage direction is utilised by the playwright also greatly contribute. For example, when the Eighth Juror “sticks the knife in the table” there is a “babble of ad-lib”. This latter stage direction is used to create a sense of uproar in the jury room. Similarly, when Third Juror is playing ‘tic-tac-toe’, the pressure felt by Eighth Juror causes him to “tear the paper” away from the antagonist. This stage direction and Eighth Juror’s subsequent assertion that “this isn’t a game” are the only examples in the play in which Eighth Juror breaks away from his calm, pragmatic character. Thus, stage direction is also a major contributing factor to the play’s building and releasing of pressure, as well as the historical and physical settings. (142)
Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men acts as a social commentary of the 1950s political era. As a result, the historical context and the converse political ideologies contained within the play act as a major provider of tension. Furthermore, they physical construction of the jury room and the play itself, along with stage direction, convey the play’s pressure to the audience. (60)
65 minutes, 880 or so words total.
2. What range of evidence did you prepare to include in your essay eg. Did you ever bring up the setting and its role in proving your contention?
I chose the above essay because I think it answers the above question pretty blatantly. To answer the third question, with much "sheer dumb luck" as Minerva McGonagall, I was able to full marked Section A of the exam. But this does NOT mean this essays is good or that any advice I give is good. That any feedback or advice I give on its merit and not on my score.
Feel free to ask questions
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