Unit 9 Overview: Nuanced Analysis

Introduction

Hey! Welcome to Unit 9 of AP Lit. This is our last unit. Here, we’ll wrap up our analyses of longer fiction and drama.

By now, if you have read all the previous study guides, you should have a good idea of the ways events, conflicts, and perspectives contribute to the development of narratives. In this unit, we’ll be looking at even more concepts that add nuance to works of literature.

The following study guide overviews will contain a few important skills that you should take away from the guides (taken directly from the College Board AP Lit CED 2020), in addition to a short summary so you have an idea of what to expect and what you are least/most familiar with.

9.1 Looking at a character’s response to the resolution of a narrative

** Important skill: Explain how a character’s own choices, actions, and speech reveal complexities in that character, and explain the function of those complexities.**

** Important skill: Explain the function of a character changing or remaining unchanged.**

In study guide 9.1, we’re going to expand on the role of character as it relates to narratives. We’ve looked at the role that characters play in guides such as 1.1, 3.2, 4.2, 6.1, and 6.2. This time, we’ll look at how characters change over the plot, their response to the resolution, and the role of minor characters.

9.2 Suspense, resolution, and plot development

** Important skill: Explain the function of a significant event or related set of significant events in a plot.**

** Important skill: Explain the function of conflict in a text.**

** Important skill: Explain how resolution and lack of resolution compare.**

In the second study guide of Unit 9, we’ll analyze how the arrangements of sections of text create suspense, the roles of conflict and resolution in stories, and briefly look at what happens when there is a lack of resolution in a text.

9.3 Narrative inconsistencies and contrasting perspectives

** Important skill: Identify and describe details, diction, or syntax in a text that reveal a narrator’s or speaker’s perspective.**

** Important skill: Identify how inconsistencies in narration and speaker perspective contribute to complexity of the text.**

** Important skill: Explain the significance of contrasting perspectives.**

In the last guide of Unit 9, we’ll be looking at the influence of narrative inconsistencies and contrasting perspectives. This adds nuance to previous study guides such as 1.4.

Conclusion

That’s the overview for Unit 9 of our AP Lit series! Continue on for the last tidbits of concepts you can use while taking an AP Lit class.