AP Literature Summer Assignment 2011-2012

AP Literature Summer Assignment 2011-2012

AP Literature & Composition 2011-2012

Summer Assignments Introduction

Course Information

AP English Literature and Composition will be a demanding college-level course, and you will be expected to function at a higher level than you ever have before. The teacher will guide, support, and coach you, but you must become an independent thinkers and workers in many ways. To acquaint yourself with the general description and expectations for the AP English Literature and Composition course, I recommend that you visit the College Board Advanced Placement Program web site and then read specifically about the AP English Literature course. There you will also find study skills, reading tips, sample questions, and other information about the exam and the course.

Course Reading

Students will read seven complete novels. The selected novels provide a balance between British and American writers from the sixteenth century to contemporary times. The textbook and copies of many of the works above are available through the English department. However, students are encouraged to purchase their own copies of major works, as it will be very useful to mark in the books. A list of the books that will be read during the 2010-2011 school year are provided below if students would like to acquire books before the start of the school year.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce (Irish novel, 20th century)*

Atonement, Ian McEwan (British novel, Contemporary)

Crime and Punishment, Feodor Dostoevsky (Russian novel, 19th century)

Bantam Classic with an introduction by Joseph Frank

Hamlet, William Shakespeare (British drama, 16th century)

Edited by David Bevington

Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe (African novel, 20th century)

Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison (American novel, 20th century)*

The Jungle, Upton Sinclair (American novel, 20th century)*

The Awakening, Kate Chopin (American novel, 19th century)*

Books with asterisk by them will vary depending on the teacher. Please wait to purchase them until the beginning of the school year. If books have additional information beneath them, please purchase the text identified. If the students visit the English site on Freedom High School’s webpage, links are provided for purchasing the appropriate versions of the text.

Course Materials

·  Binder with five dividers (AP Practice, Writing Skills, Terms & Vocabulary, Poetry, Short Stories)

·  Two three subject notebooks with pockets (one per semester)

·  Pens/Pencils/Highlighters

·  Post-it Notes (for annotating school texts)

Summer Reading

For the summer assignments for AP Literature and Composition, the students will be reading one novel and two short stories. The students are expected to purchase the text or check them out of the local library. Please plan ahead, and don’t wait until August to start looking for copies of the literature. To complete the assignments the student will need one three subject notebook with folders in each section.

Part I: Selected Short Stories Due Mon, Sept 19/Tues, Sept 20

·  Assignment A: Read “Seven” by Sandra Cisneros and complete annotations assignment

·  Assignment B: Read “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and complete annotation and essay assignment

Part II: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Due Thurs, Oct 20/Fri, Oct 21

·  Assignment A: Read Things Fall Apart and complete a dialectical journal (1 enty per chapter for a total of 25 entries).

·  Assignment B: After reading Things Fall Apart using your dialectical journal to complete a typed Literary Analysis (10 quotations with paragraph explanations).

Summer Reading Packet

This packet contains the following information:

Pg 3-4 The Five Essential Elements of Fiction Analysis

This information should be a review of your English classes in high school.

Pg 5 Introduction to Annotations

Pg 6-7 Sample Annotations of “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

Pg 8-9 Part I: Assignment A – Instructions and text of “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros

An electronic copy of the text can be found on the English page on Freedom High School’s webpage.

Pg 10 Part I: Assignment B – Instructions

Pg 11-15 Part I: Assignment B – Text of “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner

An electronic copy of the text can be found on the English page on Freedom High School’s webpage.

Pg 16 Part I: Assignment A – Instructions for dialectic journal

Pg 17 Part II: Assignment A –Types of dialectic journal entries with examples

Pg 18 Part II: Assignment B – Instructions for Literary Analysis

Pg 19 Rubric for Part I Assignment

Pg 20 Rubric for Part 2 Assignment

Before you start,

Review The Five Essential Elements of Fiction Analysis

One: A character is a person presented in a fictional work, one fitting a type and fulfilling a function.

·  Types of characters: A static character does not change throughout the work, and the reader’s knowledge of that character does not grow, whereas a dynamic character undergoes some kind of change because of the action in the plot. A flat character embodies one or two qualities, ideas, or traits that can be readily described in a brief summary. These are not psychologically complex characters and therefore are readily accessible to readers. Some flat characters are recognized as stock characters; they embody stereotypes such as the "dumb blonde" or the "mean stepfather." They become types rather than individuals. Round characters are more complex than flat or stock characters, and often display the inconsistencies and internal conflicts found in most real people. They are more fully developed, and therefore are harder to summarize.

·  Functions of characters: A hero or heroine, often called the protagonist, is the central character who engages the reader’s interest and empathy. The antagonist is the character, force, or collection of forces that stands directly opposed to the protagonist and gives rise to the conflict of the story. A foil is a character who through contrast underscores the distinctive characteristics of another. Usually a minor character serves as a foil for a major character. A confidant/confidante is a character who is not integral to the action but who receives the intimate thoughts of the protagonist without the use of an omniscient narrator. A mentor is a character who serves as a guide for the protagonist.

Two: The point of view is the perspective from which the action of a novel is presented, whether the action is presented by one character or from different vantage points over the course of the novel.

These are common narrative positions:

·  The omniscient narrator is a third-person narrator who sees, like God, into each character’s mind and understands all the action going on.

·  The limited omniscient narrator is a third-person narrator who generally reports only what one character (often the protagonist) sees and who only reports the thoughts of that one privileged character.

·  The objective, or camera-eye, narrator is a third-person narrator who only reports what would be visible to a camera. The objective narrator does not know what the character is thinking unless the character speaks of it.

·  The first-person narrator, who is a major or minor character in the story, tells the tale from his or her point of view. When the first person narrator is insane, a liar, very young, or for some reason not entirely credible, the narrator is unreliable. Some first-person narratives include multiple narrators.

·  The stream of consciousness technique is like first-person narration, but instead of the character telling the story, the author places the reader inside the main character’s head and makes the reader privy to all of the character’s thoughts as they scroll through his or her consciousness.

Characterization, an effect of point of view and narrative perspective, is the process by which a writer reveals the personality of a character, making that character seem real to the reader. Authors have two major methods of presenting characters: telling (direct characterization) and showing (indirect characterization).

·  In direct characterization, the author intervenes to describe and sometimes evaluate the character for the reader. For example, the narrator may tell the reader directly what the character’s personality is like: humble, ambitious, vain, gullible, etc.

·  Indirect characterization allows the author to present a character talking and acting and lets the reader infer what kind of person the character is. There are five different ways that a writer may provide indirect characterization:

o by describing how the character looks and dresses,

o by allowing the reader to hear the character speak,

o by revealing the character’s private thoughts and feelings,

o by portraying the character’s effect on other individuals—showing how other characters feel or behave toward the character, and

o by presenting the character’s actions.

Characters can be convincing whether they are presented by showing or by telling, as long as their actions are motivated. Motivated action by the characters occurs when the reader or audience is offered reasons for how the characters behave, what they say, and the decisions they make. Plausible action is action by a character in a story that seems reasonable, given the motivations presented.

Three: The setting is the physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs. The major elements of setting are the time, the place, and the social environment that frames the characters. Setting can be used to evoke a mood or atmosphere that will prepare the reader for what is to come. Specific elements of the setting include:

·  the geographical location (its topography, scenery, and physical arrangements),

·  the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters,

·  the time period in which the action takes place (epoch in history or season of the year), and

·  the general environment of the characters (social, religious, cultural, moral, and emotional conditions and attitudes).

Four: The conflict in a work of fiction is the struggle within the plot between opposing forces—the issue to be resolved in the story. The protagonist engages in the conflict with the antagonist, which may take the form of a character, society, nature, or an aspect of the protagonist’s personality. Thus, conflict may be external, a struggle against some outside force, another character, society as a whole, or some natural force; or internal, a conflict between forces or emotions within one character.

Five: Theme is the central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work. A theme provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other elements of a work are organized. It is important not to mistake the theme for the topic of the work; the theme expresses an opinion about an abstract concept (i.e. freedom, jealousy, guilt, unrequited love, self-pity).

Theme should be written in a complex statement:

The [genre] [title] by [author] is about [topic/abstract concept] and reveals that [opinion].

Before you start, here is an

Introduction to Annotations

Every text is a lazy machine asking the reader to do some of its work.

novelist Umberto Eco

What is the point of annotation?

·  Annotation encourages you to read actively and thoughtfully.

·  Annotation provides you with a useful overview to consult before discussions or writing assignments.

Ideas for annotating literature

·  Use a pen so you can make circles, brackets, and notes. If you like highlighters, use one for key passages, but don’t get carried away and don’t use highlighters exclusively.

·  Look for patterns and label them (motifs, diction, symbols, images, behavior, whatever).

·  Mark passages that seem to jump out at you because they suggest an important idea or theme—or for any other reason (an arresting figure of speech or image, an intriguing sentence pattern, a striking example of foreshadowing, a key moment in the plot, a bit of dialogue that reveals character, clues about the setting, etc.).

·  Mark things that puzzle, intrigue, please, or displease you. Ask questions, make comments—talk back to the text.

·  At the ends of chapters or sections, write a bulleted list of key plot events. This not only forces you to think about what happened, see it whole, and identify patterns, but also helps you create a convenient record of the whole work.

·  Circle words you want to learn or words that jump out at you for some reason. If you don’t want to stop reading, guess, then look the word up and jot down a relevant meaning later. You need not write out a full dictionary definition; it is often helpful to put the relevant meaning in your own words. If SAT prep has dampened your enthusiasm, rediscover the joy of adding to your “word hoard,” as the Beowulf poet calls it.

·  The Harvard College Library has posted an excellent guide to annotation, “Interrogating Texts: Six Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard.” (http://hcl.harvard.edu/research/guides/lamont_handouts/interrogatingtexts.html)

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AP Literature Summer Assignment 2011-2012

A Sample Annotation

Even as you read a story for the first time, you can highlight passages, circle or underline words, and write responses in the margin. Subsequent readings will yield more insight one you begin to understand how various elements such as plot, characterization, and wording build toward the conclusion and what you perceive to be the story’s central ideas. The following annotations for the first eleven paragraphs of “The Story of an Hour” provide a perspective by someone who had to read the work several times. Your own approach might, of course, be quite different. Try continuing the annotations where they are left off…

"The Story of An Hour"
Kate Chopin (1894)
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband's friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed." He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.
She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.