AP Literature & Composition

                                                                                                May 2, 2012

Dear Parents and Students:

            I am very excited about teaching next year's senior AP Literature & Composition classes.  The information below describes your summer reading and writing assignments.  While I am busy this summer planning next year's work, I hope you will enjoy reading the works and doing the assignments indicated. The summer reading program is an important feature of the AP English program as it allows us to cover a maximum number of titles, and to begin the year with meaningful discussion.  This important requirement will ease your transition into the AP Literature Program.   Some important advice:  Don't let things go until the last minute.   Trust me.

The Assignment

The Journal:

            Each student is required to have a journal-style notebook to use throughout the year with ALL of the reading.  The purpose is for you to focus your reading and process what you think about the work.  Your journal should end up filled with thoughts, reactions, notes about style, questions to bring to class, favorite quotations, etc.  I will be checking them periodically (for a grade) and asking you to use them in class discussions.  The journals will also be vital to our pre-test review.  We will start our year working out of the journaling you do with the summer reading, so be sure not to neglect them all summer.  I expect the journal to be with you in class every day.

The Novels:  All novels are available for check out from Ms. Hazen – first come, first served!

The Things They Carried                     Tim O’Brien

The Poisonwood Bible                         Barbara Kingsolver

Wuthering Heights                              Emily Bronte

            The events of The Things They Carried surround a group of men brought together by the Vietnam War.  Understanding the war itself is an important part of interacting with the novel.  Google interviews with Tim O’Brien to learn more about his point of view in writing about Vietnam and include information from them in your journaling.

            The Poisonwood Bible follows a family of Baptist missionaries into the heart of Belgian Congo in the 1950s and 60s.  Doing some research about the colonization of the African continent will add to your experience as you read.   Point of view is also acutely important in the novel.  Be sure to include your thoughts on POV in your journal.

            Wuthering Heights is a classic Gothic romance.  In addition to reading the novel, I have provided information about the elements of Gothic romance and the Byronic hero for you to read.  You should read this information PRIOR to reading the novel so that you can address it in your journaling.

The Essay:

            Choose ONE of the summer novels and ONE of the AP prompts listed below it.  Write an essay response of 500 words (1 ½-2 typed, double-spaced pages).   You DO NOT have to write an essay for each book, JUST ONE OF THEM.  Which book you choose is entirely up to you.

            I am sure that I will have a lot of great work turned in to me the first week of school and that you will be ready to hit the ground running.  AP is an intense course of study, but it will be well worth the effort.  Please feel free to stop in and see me if you have questions, or email me at:  melanie.hazen@cmcss.net.

                                                                                                           

                                                                                                Sincerely,

The Things They Carried

A.         Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot.

B.         In works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes or values of a character.  Select a character from the novel who must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal.  Write an essay in which you show how the character’s relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work.

C.         In many novels and plays, minor characters contribute significantly to the total work. They often have particular functions, e.g., as instruments in the plot, foils to the main characters, commentators on the main action and theme, and the like. Write a well-organized essay showing how three minor characters function in the work in which they appear.

D.         Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in  which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reason for its effectiveness.

E.         The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

The Poisonwood Bible

A.         Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in  which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reason for its effectiveness.

B.         Critic Roland Barth has said, “Literature is the question, minus the answer.”  Choose a novel or play and, considering Barth’s observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers any answers.  Explain how the treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole.  Avoid mere plot summary.

C.         In works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes or values of a character.  Select a character from the novel who must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal.  Write an essay in which you show how the character’s relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work.

D.         Novels and plays often depict characters caught between colliding cultures – national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional.  Such collisions can call a character’s sense of identity into question.  Select a novel or play in which a character responds to such a cultural collision.  Then write a well-organized essay in which you describe the character’s response and explain its relevance to the work as a whole.

Wuthering Heights

A.         Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might on the basis of the character’s actions alone be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.

B.         A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.

C.         Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.

D.         Works of literature often depict acts of betrayal.  Friends and even family may betray a protagonist; main characters may likewise be guilty of treachery or may betray their own values.  Select a novel or play that includes such acts of betrayal.  Then in a well-written essay analyze the nature of the betrayal and show how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.    Avoid mere plot summary.

E.         One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a character in a novel or a drama struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work.

Please use MLA format for the Works Cited page and in-text citations. 

Try to embed quotes within your sentences as much as possible.  Free-standing quotes are discouraged.

The Works Cited page should include ONLY ONE entry: your chosen text.  No outside sources are to be used in the writing of this paper.

 * The purpose of the summer essay is NOT for you to plagiarize something online to impress me with writing skills you don’t have.  It is not my way of punishing you in the first week of school.  It is a tool I use to determine the level at which you currently function and where I will need to begin in your writing instruction.  Each year is different, and I try very hard to tailor the course to the needs of the current students.  PLEASE be honest with yourself and with me.  Write the essay without Sparknotes. 

Thank you!