AP PREP POST 1: SIDDHARTHA

1. Herman Hesse’s novels before Siddhartha focused on alienated young men who rejected the cultures of their upbringings. However, these other novels did not feature the spiritual elements of Siddhartha. How do the spiritual elements of Siddhartha make it different from any other story of an alienated youth? (Essay Question)
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/siddhartha/study.html

• In these other novels, more often than not, the character would leave his home, have some huge upset that helps him discover something about himself and then returns home a whole new person. In Siddhartha, however, he never returns home. And although he reaches enlightenment and is in a sense a new human being nothing crazy happens and makes him change.

2. What purpose does self-denial serve in Siddhartha? What about self-indulgence?
http://www.shmoop.com/siddhartha/questions.html

• Siddhartha was taught that in order to reach enlightenment, he would have to completely get rid of all his possessions and destroy one's self in order to become this new person.

3. Examine Hesse's treatment of time lapses in this novel, focusing on the close-up technique for extending short spans of time, and the "telephoto" effect for foreshortening long spans of time.
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/s/siddhartha/study-help/essay-questions

• I read this book quite awhile ago, so I don't remember these "time lapses," but my guess would be that it'd have to do with trying to get a point across to the reader, possibly showing them how long and how much effort Siddhartha had to put in in order to reach enlightenment. 

4. The main purpose of the first-person point of view in the passage, “I am no longer what I was, I am no longer an ascetic, no longer a priest, no longer a Brahmin” is to make clear?
 a. The change in Siddhartha’s physical lifestyle, in order to follow his spiritual one
b. Show Siddhartha’s anger at the corruption present in his father’s position
c. Reveal the frustration in Siddhartha’s journey toward enlightenment
d. The views and beliefs of his family and his religion
e. Draw attention toward the excitement that Siddhartha feels now that he has less responsibility
http://snobles.grads.digitalodu.com/blog/groups/ap-english-2012-2013/forum/topic/siddhartha-multiple-choice-questions/?loggedout=true

• A, because Siddhartha had to destroy everything he was and owned in order to reach this "enlightenment" and that is a huge change in his lifestyle.

5. A bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, recounts the psychological or moral development of its protagonist from youth to maturity, when this character recognizes his or her place in the world. Select a single pivotal moment in the psychological or moral development of the protagonist of a bildungsroman. Then write a well-organized essay that analyzes how that single moment shapes the meaning of the work as a whole. (Essay Question)
http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/apcentral/ap13_frq_eng_lit.pdf

• In order to answer this, I would need to refresh myself on the details of Siddartha's pivotal moment, but I think this is a very well-rounded question and definitely worth preparing for.