Blog Post #4 The Known World

The Known World Prompt

Edward P. Jones reveals the character of Moses in his passage “The Known World” through behavior and actions executed by Moses that mimics strong symbols of Christian culture.

                In the first paragraph, the reader learns that Moses is a caring and humble leader in his community. Moses’ humility reveals itself as Jones writes, “…he worked again well after he ended the day for the other adult, his own wife among them…. His own son among them…sent to prepare the late supper and…play in the few minutes of sun….” Moses, while the leader of the field, continues to work in the fields after all his employees have been allowed to leave. Not only does he work in the field, Moses’ family works in the field as well. This is unlike many historical rules who keep their families and themselves out of the manual labor and working class. Moses exercises his humility by performing the tasks of the working class, even though he is the leader.

                Humility is an emphasized quality of an ideal Christian. Similar to the way Moses acts, when Jesus was on Earth, he was a common carpenter, dressing in rags and commoner clothes, rather than ruling from a throne clad in royal robes and carrying a scepter. Jones sets up his passage by paralleling Moses’ humility and leading strategies to Jesus’—portraying him as the perfect Christian prophet.

                The setting Jones describes contributes to the idea of humility as well, placing Moses in between two mountains. It can be inferred then that Moses’ field is in a valley. Many of the altars and worship temples created in the Old Testament appeared on the top of mountains, where as one of the most iconic Biblical verses features, “the valley of death.” Mountains typically represent holy venues that are closer to God whereas valleys are farther away from the Lord and exemplify places of sin. Moses practices humility by not being placed on the mountain where he would be perceived as a superior and more holy being as he would be closer to God. Instead, he works in a valley, and must continue to remember that he is inferior to God and must work to walk in the light of the Lord.

                As the passage continues, Moses continues to exemplify the iconic values of Christianity. He eats the dirt of the ground and tastes, “…a metallic life,” realizing that man begins as dust and will return to dust, as stated in the Bible. As the strong and successful leader that he is, Moses realizes that he is one with all people and he knows that the dirt is a part of him, meaning, “almost as much as his own life.” Again, he practices humility by eating the dirt.

REFLECTION:

This was a struggle.

Moses is freed by the land which enslaves him

It’s this paradox that makes or breaks this essay and it broke mine.

I didn’t hit the complexity of the piece. And without that, everything else became void.

I did, however, find my own interpretation—focusing on the underlying Biblical references and the symbols Edward P. Jones implemented. But none of this would count since I didn’t grasp the overall concept.

But I am not in complete despair. After discussing in class the defining elements of complexity, I think I could hone my complex skills considerably as we move forward. I understand that in order to adequately analyze a passage, you have to analyze the contrasts. Had I done this while reading “The Known World,” I’m fairly confident that I would’ve seen the opposing perspectives of the land—the freedom and the enslavement of it.

I also missed the point of view concept as well. I was happy to hear, however, that I’m not the only one who notoriously skips over this facet of the prompt. It’s never a conscious decision. Typically, I just don’t know what to write about the point of view, so I start on a different element, and then I forget about it entirely.

Still, my essay did not reach the standards set by the 9 essays. My level of thinking was not up to par with what it needs to be to received a 9. It was not complex, I found my own interpretation instead of concentrating on the one intended by the author, and didn't have enough time-- and therefore evidence-- to support my own interpretation.

Had I blended my grasp of symbolic references and my newfound understanding of complexity, I might’ve received a higher score on the AP scale. My goals for the next essays are definitely to blend all my skills together to completely hit all elements of a “complex analysis”.