Honors British Literature Summer Reading Assignment 2017

All students will read: The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

  • ISBN-10:9780060887186
  • ISBN-13:978-0060887186

All students will read ONE of the following:

  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  • Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
  • Tess of the d’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
  • Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
  • Dracula by Bram Stoker

Assessments/Lessons:

  • During the first week of school, you will have a test over The Last Kingdom
  • We will use The Last Kingdom to model/teach writing a character analysis essay
  • You will write a character analysis essay in class using one of the characters from your second summer reading.

While you are reading:

In preparation for writing the character analysis, you should annotate both books either in the margins of the pages or with post-it notes. For suggestions about what to annotate, see the separate handout entitled “What to Look for in Preparation for Writing a Character Analysis.”

What to Look for in Preparation for a Writing a Character Analysis

When you analyze a character, remember

  • The choices that people make indicate their character.
  • Determine the character’s major trait or traits. (A trait is a typical mode of behavior or response, such as acting first and thinking later or being superstitious.)
  • Be sure to consider physical descriptions, but be sure to relate the physical to the mental or psychological make-up of the character. For instance, a character might be beautiful but that really doesn’t have anything to do with the personality of the character unless perhaps the character is obsessed with her looks and constantly making decisions based on her physical appearance.
  • Examine what a character does, but go beyond the actions themselves and try to determine what the actions show about the character.
  • Determine whether the character is dynamic or flat. The basic requirement for a dynamic character is that he or she learn/grow from experience and undergo a change or development by the end of the novel. Consider whether the change represents new traits as circumstances bring them out or do circumstances merely draw out traits that are already present? A flat character does not change, but some flat characters are actually “round”—that is, they play a big role in the story, we can determine quite a bit about them as people; still, at the end of the novel they are basically the same as they were when the novel started.

Authors use four distinct ways to present information about characters:

  1. What the characters say about themselves (and think and feels, if the author expresses their thoughts and feelings).
  2. What the characters do.
  3. What other characters say about them.
  4. What the author says about them, speaking as storyteller or observer.

Writing about character:

  • Determine as many traits as you can and how the author has presented information about the character.
  • When characters go into action, consider what these actions tell about their natures.
  • If there are unusual traits, determine what they show.
  • Try to answer questions such as:

Does the character come to life? Is he or she dynamic or static, lifelike or wooden? Are there admirable qualities or many shortcomings? What are those qualities and shortcomings? Is the character central to the action and therefore the hero or protagonist of the story? What traits make the character genuinely major? Do you like him or her? Why or why not? Who or what is the antagonist? How does reaction to the antagonist bring out qualities in your character? What are they? What is the relationship of the character to the other characters? What do the others say or think about him? How accurate are their observations?

Characters to note in The Last Kingdom:

Uhtred

Ragnar

Guthrum

Ubba

Brida

Beoca

Alfred

Ravn

You must decide which characters to annotate in your second novel. We suggest that you take notes on 2-3 characters as you read—you might not be able to tell which character should be the focus of your essay until you finish the book.