ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by the private sphere,

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basically the area you shouldn't invade unless

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you know a person pretty darn well.

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My precious.

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Okay, so we've just finished reading a bunch of ginormous passages

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from eight different sources and, boy, are our eyes tired. [ groan ]

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This free response question wants us to use at least

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three of the eight sources in our essay answer

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and it also wants that essay to be coherent and, well,

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well-written. Jeez, so demanding.

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All right, so we're given this prompt.

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Read the following sources (including the introduction) carefully. Duh.

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Then write an essay in which you analyze how women were represented in both

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the public sphere and private sphere.

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So we need to read through the sources and use the content to develop

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our position on how women are represented in, hmm, a couple of sphere thingies.

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Sphere things. Yeah, these.

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Well, really, we can just ignore the "sphere" part.

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It wants us to analyze women's roles in the home as well as

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the working world. Now, how do we attack this thing?

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Well, slow and stealthy from the left flank, right?

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First of all, we need to recognize that our prompt is telling us to

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analyze, not argue. Big diff.

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So no getting defensive and throwing a hissy fit.

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This is all about exploring and evaluating the eight different

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approaches to a single subject, not about trying to convince our reader of something.

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Got that? We need to stay professional and unbiased,

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like a television reporter who will lose his job if he's

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caught editorializing.

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Can't hurt to make sure our hair looks nice, either.

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We also know that we need to discuss both women in the

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public sphere, the labor force,

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and in the private sphere, like Home on the Range.

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Some of the sources refer to one or the other,

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so we know we'll have to pull from a couple of each to cover our bases.

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Sources A, F, and H are all pro-public.

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B, C, and D think that women should be home in the kitchen making babies.

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E and G deal with women appearing in public, even if they aren't

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strictly about them joining the workforce.

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So, which to choose? So many options.

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It's like trying to pick out a pair of pumps when DSW is having a sale.

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Tough.

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If you read the passages carefully,

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you should notice that some of them naturally work together.

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A and C, for example, even though they demonstrate stances on each side of the issue,

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are both from the New Jersey Constitution,

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so they're clearly linked.

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Less obvious,

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sources F and H are both about women speaking and defending their rights.

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E and G are both about how men view women appearing in public.

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And B and D would probably be appalled that today's women no longer wear hoop skirts and corsets.

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In other words, they have some pretty old-fashioned ideas about a woman's role in society.

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The tones and perspective may differ from one another,

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but, as long as we can draw comparisons and make connections,

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we can compose an essay that is thoughtful,

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well-researched, and compelling.

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Don't forget to start with a thesis.

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We can't know where we're going if we haven't first determined where we're starting from.

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Remember not to insert your own opinion.

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It might be difficult in cases such as these where there are so many

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boneheaded, antiquated ideas being bandied about,

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but, hey, it was a different time.

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And, besides, it's our job to analyze the arguments of others,

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what they did make a good case for,

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how they structured their arguments, et cetera.

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Include at least one pro-public and one pro-private.

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And get at the heart of what these writers believed

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and why they might have believed those things at that time.

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Before you start a-writin', or maybe after you're done,

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check out this sample essay to get an idea of

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what those AP gurus are all looking for.

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Yeah, this one.

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My precious.

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