F(x) = ∫ [AP English Literature and Composition] dx

I was both intrigued and surprised when I watched the video about graphing a literary story by a very influential writer. I don’t remember the writer’s name, but the way he graphed a story got stuck in my mind. He made a literary graph which showed the tension (in terms of joy and struggle) throughout the story’s timeline.

Lowkey, the first thing that came to mind was to take the integral of that graph. Using the ∫ f(x) dx formula to find every little sum of that graph was what I planned to do with that function. At the time, I laughed upon my stupid idea of combining Calculus with English, but now thinking about it, it is not that stupid. Math actually has a very complex relationship with literature. Integration is basically summing up everything that has happened so far within the graphical timeline to find a meaningful value. And if you think about it, literature authors do the same thing: they build up tension, joy, excitement, and other emotions throughout their stories to convey a final message. Just like integration, adding every single one of the infinite elements within a work is what shapes an author’s message. I guess that's why they say that “selection of details” is very important.

Such is seen in the Recitatif by Toni Morrison where she designed every single interaction between Twla (the narrating character) and Roberta - from them talking about Maggie to Roberta ignoring Twyla when they were 18 - meticulously to build upon the overall story. All these interactions are combined together by Morrison to convey her thoughts. Just like Recitatif, every literary author pays careful attention to detail because the step plays a very important role in crafting a deeply meaningful story.

I guess I finally realized that Integration extends beyond the world of Calculus and Physics C. But I could still be missing an observation that your vigilant eyes might catch.