10th Grade Honors Summer Reading
As part of the Seneca Valley School District’s continuing efforts to strengthen and reinforce curricular objectives, a pre-requisite reading assignment is required for students entering Honors English 10.This program has been implemented at the Grade 7 level and will continue through high school as a criterion for Advanced/Honors English placement. This book was chosen for its literary merit and to help students become widely read in preparation for future courses.
Grade 10 Required Novel--All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
“Considered by many the greatest war novel of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front is Erich Maria Remarque’s masterpiece of the German experience during World War I.
‘I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. . ..’
This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army during World War I. They become soldiers with youthful enthusiasm. But the world of duty, culture, and progress they had been taught breaks in pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches.
Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principle of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another . . . if only he can come out of the war alive” (“Barnes&Noble”. BN.com. Barnes and Noble, LLC 2016. Web. 13 May 2016).
Assignment: Step 1—Read Novel; Step 2—Reading Log Journal; Step 3—Current Events Assignment
Step 1—The 10th grade Honors Summer Reading Program will consist of reading All Quiet on the Western Front. While reading the selected novel during the summer, students are highly encouraged to annotate the text. If you are unable to purchase your own copy to annotate, consider writing on sticky notes and affixing them to the corresponding pages.
Possibilities to annotate:
· Important scenes character descriptions, motivations, and flaws
· Key decisions characters make
· Sections that are confusing for you
· Questions that you have as you are reading
· Inferences you make while reading
· Symbols
· Topics/themes
· Literary devices used (flashbacks, foreshadowing, sub-plots, etc.)
· Figurative language used effectively
There is also an optional reading check study guide that will aid in the comprehension of the novel and in preparing for the test.
Plagiarism
· Seneca Valley IHS does not tolerate academic cheating or plagiarism in any form. It will result in a score of a zero on the assignment and may result in disciplinary action.
· Peruse resources available such as Sparknotes, Schmoop, etc., but form your own ideas and opinions to develop your discussion responses. Learning to think and work independently is part of the educational process. The following is independent work.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Step 2—Reading Log Journal
In order to best prepare for the test and gain the most from the reading of the novel, you will complete a reading log journal to record and analyze 10 examples of author’s craft during your reading. The journal will be submitted to Turnitin.com. You will receive the Class ID # and password on the first day of school and your journal is to be submitted that evening as your homework assignment. Make sure to save the journal so you can submit it. A hard copy of the assignment is due on the first day of school. Any student who does not have this assignment completed on the first day will receive a zero for the work.
As you read the novel, investigate for evidence of the author’s craft. Use the questions in the chart below to help gather your evidence. You do not need to answer every question for each literary device; the questions are meant to guide you toward your conclusions about the author’s craft and how it impacts the meaning of the text. You will be discussing the questions in bold print from this chart in your reading log.
Diction / Find sentences that have SPECIFIC words or phrases that stand out to you. Why does this work or phrase stand out? What are the connotations (emotional connections you have) to these words? Based on what is occurring in the text at that moment in time, why do you think the writer uses a particular word or phrase?How does the writer’s word choice impact your understanding/the meaning of the text? Why did the writer use that specific word or phrase in that context?
Figurative Language / Are there any metaphors, similes, personification, hyperboles, etc. used that add meaning to your understanding of the excerpt? What is the author trying to say by using that particular figurative language? What is the effect or impact he is creating with this figurative language choice?
How does the writer’s use of figurative language impact your understanding /the meaning of the text?
Symbolism / To help identify symbols, ask yourself the following questions: are there any names of people, places, or things that stick out or make references to important ideas? What concrete object or people in the story represent more than what it actually is? What abstract idea does the object or person represent and do you believe this? What is the significance of this object or person being repeated in the story? Why did the author include these specific details, and what is the author trying to tell us?
How do the symbolic meanings of these items give us a deeper understanding of the story and the author’s overall message?
Imagery / When analyzing imagery, identify what senses are involved. Go beyond just the simple mental image created by the passage: how did this affect the way you feel? How did the author’s details and descriptions connect you to the story? If the author had not created these images or emotions, then how would your understanding of the story have changed?
How does the writer’s use of imagery impact your understanding/ the meaning of the text?
Character development / What do the character’s dialogue, thoughts, and actions reveal about this character? What is the character’s main function in this particular part of the story? What are his motivations, beliefs, or flaws? Based on who he is, what can you infer or predict about this character?
How does the character development impact your understanding/the meaning of the text?
Setting / How does the setting (time, place, weather) influence the character’s motivations or behaviors? What details of the culture or time period help you understand the events of the story or the characters’ actions? Is there a shift in setting? How does that shift help you understand the character’s motivations or behavior?
How does the writer’s use of details in setting impact your understanding/the meaning of the text?
Reading Log Journal Example
To create the journal, open a Word Document, select Insert, select table, and create a page with four columns and 11 rows. Label the first row’s columns: column one--Page number; second column—Quotation; third column—Technique; and fourth column—How does the writer’s craft add to the meaning? Adjust sizes of columns according to content. Although there are only 6 entries in this example, you are required to have 10, so you may have more than one response to some of the techniques.
Page number / Quotations / Technique / How does the writer’s craft add to the meaning?2 / “Abuelito under a bald light bulb, under a ceiling dusty with flies, puffs his cigar and counts money soft and wrinkled as old Kleenex.” / Diction / The word “bald” in this context indicated that the light bulb isn’t covered with a lampshade. This shows that Abuelito’s living conditions are perhaps bare and plain. The words “soft and wrinkled” indicate that Abuelito has counted tis money again and again to the point of obsession.
4 / “So they wrapped Billy in a plastic poncho, his eyes still wide open and scared stiff.” / Imagery / “Scared stiff” is a visual image that simplifies the petrifying fear that overtook Billy before he dies. This also shows the commonness of the fear when the caretakers wrap him in a typical plastic poncho—no special treatment for his burial.
1 / “…he felt quite separate from them, as if trailing behind like a caboose” / Figurative
Language / Paul feels so separate from the other soldiers and he feels like the caboose. Everything is new to him, and he is struggling to fit in, while the other soldiers have all this experience and have bonded. In addition, the caboose indicates that he’s more of an observer—always in the back watching what’s in front of him—than an active participant.
16 / “…each boy wore a square black cap with a silver badge on it. Their bodies, from throat to ankle, were hidden by black cloaks, which bore a long silver cross on the left breast…” / symbolism / The continual use of “black” in this passage symbolizes evil. At first, the black cloaks simply appear to be their choir uniforms, and the cross stitched on the left chest symbolizes there should be goodness in your heart. However, the uniform is black which indicates an evil is always present underneath the good exterior. The fact that the majority of the boys’ attire is black represents that perhaps we are all born evil yet taught to be good. Jack and his gang end up becoming total savages and hunting the boys when all law and order has been lost; the evil within guides their choices.
1-2 / “A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green…On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up / Setting / The setting in the first scene creates an idyllic scene of serenity and beauty, providing the backdrop for the idealized friendship of George and Lenny and romanticized dream of farm life they share. The “Eden” conveys a sense of purity and perfection…which the reader cannot be sustained.
292-293 / “Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes for a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of comeback, his kind always does. So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody, and I’d rather it be me than that houseful of children out there.” / Character Development / Atticus’s character is crucial to the “coming of age” of both of his children. Through their innocent questions and Atticus’s straightforward answers, the reader learns of the prejudices of the time in their small town and of the ignorance that is at the root of prejudice. Atticus is relentless in modeling integrity and helps his children put things in perspective; being spat upon is much less offensive to Atticus than the thought of Bob Ewell beating his children at home. Atticus approach to the problem is try to see things from another’s perspective rather that to resort to violence and anger. The reader can see Scout transforming from a fighter to a thinker as well as she is coming of age.
Step 3—Current Events Assignment and Typed Responses (submit to Turnitin.com)
Theme
Theme is defined as a universal message about life or human nature. A theme is not a single word such as “love.” The novel may deal with the abstract concept of love, but to arrive at the theme, you must think about what the author is trying to say about love. For example, a complete theme may be expressed as, “Love can be a destructive force that impairs one’s judgment.”
Think about the themes of All Quiet on the Western Front. Keep in mind a novel of literary merit often has several different themes; therefore, you may come up with a few different messages that the novel conveys.
The following are abstract concepts from All Quiet on the Western Front that could help you arrive at a possible theme:
· Identity
· War fare
· Sacrifice
· Patriotism/Nationalism
· Mortality/Survival
· Isolation
· Innocence lost
· Comradeship
· Dreams, hopes, plans
· Horrors of war
· Effect of war on the soldier
After considering these concepts and developing themes for the novel, find two news articles about current events that relate to the novel thematically. The novel has several different themes; therefore, choose a different theme for each article. Each article must:
· Have occurred within the last five years
· Come from a credible source (citation required)
· Be at least half a page of text—do not choose an article that is only a blurb or brief outline of events
Written Responses:
For each of the articles you choose, you are required to write a response that explains how the current event is thematically connected to the novel and elaborate on the message the event has in common to the novel. Type both responses as one document—a page for each. A hard copy of this is due the first day of school along with a copy of the article. Make sure to save both responses as one document to submit to Turnitin.com as part of your assignment for the evening of the first day of school.