AP English Sample Essay
AP English Sample Essay
The author if this autobiography hasn’t stated her name. The reader learns that the author is a female because she recognizes herself as “the only professional woman pilot in Africa.” She arrived in British East Africa at the age of four and when she grew a little older, she would hunt wild pig with the Nandi. Later she trained racehorses, began to scout Tanganyika, along with the bush country between the Tana and Athi rivers by airplane looking for elephant. Finally she moved to London and lived there for a year in total boredom. Her interest in adventures is what causes her to keep from being bored. The author uses anecdote, first person narrative and irony to describe her passion for adventure, but still prefers to be alone than bored.
Her style of writing style of writing is quite personal. She uses irony in the sense that that although she is very lonely, she rather be alone and on her own than being bored. The author uses an anecdote in the beginning of her autobiography, but ends the story with a shift in how she speaks about her loneliness. Beginning at line 37, the author begins her philosophical interpretation of how she feels when she flies at night, alone.
Her philosophical interpretation broadens the reader’s aspect on the author’s life and how she lives it. Her passion for flying is incredible. She describes the plane as a planet and that “you,” being the reader, are the Earth’s “sole inhabitant.” As the passage begins to end, the author concludes by telling the reader that although she would fly on her own, she would be free from being bored.
In the beginning the author begins with the curse of boredom that seems to take over her at times, but ends with how she is free from the boredom when she flies and is on her own. She is so passionate about her flying. Her adventurous, daring, lonely, and independent personality are what build her passion for flying and keeping to herself. Just the feel of her flying is what makes her happy.