AP Lang Monument assignment Organize yourselves into groups of three and select a monument or memorial to analyze rhetorically. Think broadly before you choose. It can be a building, statue, battlefield, park, temporary marker, “living memorial” such as the AIDS quilt — pretty much anything that provides opportunities to publicly preserve memory. It can be well known or obscure. Using the guiding questions below, analyze the rhetoric of the monument or memorial. Think about the messages and arguments that are conveyed visually and in written text, if there is any. Then, using a visual medium — Powerpoint — make your own argument about how effectively the monument or memorial achieves its purpose. Be sure to identify and state the major argument(s) the monument or memorial is making. What evidence supports the argument(s)? Consider explicit as well as implicit evidence. What is your analysis of this argument and its expression? How does it affect the way events or people are remembered? Is this memory fair and accurate? Questions to guide your inquiry: • What does the monument memorialize? • What is the geographical space of the monument? The psychological space? Is it sacred space? What is the relationship to the surrounding landscape? • What is the history of the monument? (This is especially important when there has been some controversy.) • What are the visual elements of the monument? Include sculpture, painting, designs, moving images, or photographs. Pay particular attention to whether the monument is representational or abstract or both. What messages do these visual elements convey? • What written text or texts are part of the monument? Analyze them rhetorically. What was their original context? Who wrote them? Why are they appropriate? • How do the visual elements and the written language interact? • Is the monument a metaphor or a symbol? Explain. • How does the viewer experience the monument? • What does the monument ask the viewer to remember, commemorate, or reflect upon? Presentations should be about 7-10 minutes in length. Photo essays or Powerpoint presentations should include a minimum of 20 slides, but the focus should be on the quality of what is produced. The time frame and number of required images is a guide. You should include footage of the monument or memorial to support your argument. Consider composition. You might also include other materials, e.g., background research about the monument or memorial, interviews, or news footage.
