John Irving S a Prayer for Owen Meany

AP Literature Summer Reading 2014

John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany

AP Literature and Composition focuses mainly on fiction and poetry which is a shift from the nonfiction read in AP Language and Composition as a junior. Instead of the focus on rhetoric and style, these fiction texts will focus more on figurative language and literary analysis. With this in mind, complete the following for Irving’s text:

Read A Prayer for Owen Meany and complete a split-level journal of your reading. Split-level journaling is a method designed to help scholars process, comprehend, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate literature.

Literary journals are about knowledge and thought. We respond to how the author writes to convey his/her tone and/or purpose.

Complete the 3 sections as outlined below for each Chapter in the novel. Once your journal is complete, consider possible themes for the novel based on your observations and analysis. Select one of these for an AP style essay on the theme from the novel you selected.

Execution:

Start by heading your journal with necessary identification information. You should “split” your journal pages, nearly in half. Your right side should be slightly bigger than your left side. Each journal page should follow this format; pay close attention to the requirements for each entry.
Complete one journal entry for each chapter of the novel. Advice: Be fluent (provide multiple responses) and elaborate (provide detailed responses) in all parts of your journal. You are expected to meet all parameters set forth in the examples provided below.
Write an AP Style Essay on a theme from the novel supported by the evidence in your journal.

1. 1 Striking diction choice of the author; these should be indicated in full lines of text and formatted according to MLA style in complete sentences.
2. 1 Striking phrase, line, quote, or passage that contains effective uses of literary elements. This need to be formatted according to MLA style in complete sentences.
3. 1 Question about the text and/or author that requires answer that lends itself to interpretation. These questions should be most interested in what the text means and/or how the author has achieved a certain meaning. / All analysis should be in complete paragraphs
a) Definition(s) of diction choice (denotations)
b) Analysis of diction choice—how or why is the word(s) effective? You should consider the following : word etymology, connotations, and/or multiple meanings
c) Analysis of how the diction choice conveys the authors tone and/or purpose
a) Identification of literary element
b) Explanation of what the author means
c) Analysis of how or why the use of the strategy or element is effective.
d) Analysis of how the element reveals/develops/enhances the author’s theme (purpose)
a) Interpretative answers to questions in paragraph form (5 sentence minimum)
* the strongest answers will connect that analysis to theme
* the strongest answers will use the text for support

Title and Section of Text Analyzed

**EXAMPLE JOURNAL ENTRY**

Student Name

Honors 10th Lit.

Mr. Johnson

August 23, 2013

Text: Lord of the Flies by William Golding, pp. 139-184

Required Components / Analysis
Diction Choice: “The twins watched anxiously and Piggy sat expressionless behind the luminous wall of his myopia” (Golding 154). / Diction Choice #1: Definition (denotation): a condition in which the visual images come to a focus in front of the retina of the eye resulting especially in defective vision of distant objects; a narrow view of something. Now that Piggy has lost his one remaining spectacle, he is almost completely blind—like Golding says—behind a shielding wall keeping him from the rest of “world,” or island. Not only does myopia name his vision problems, but also his new perception of the island. He was once very open-minded, full of ideas, and seeing every option. But, as the definition says, his view has become more narrow. He does not see the island as he once did, both physically and mentally. He now has to see through the eyes and minds of others.
Passage: When Golding writes, “The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed” (Golding 139), he is comparing the boys to a creature. / Passage #1 Analysis: In this passage, Golding gives the human characteristic of having a mouth to the mob of hunters. He goes even further with this personification by having the mouth “crunch” and “scream.” By doing so, the reader pictures the mob not as boys having fun pretending, but as a creature ready to kill—which, is exactly what they have become. The entire passage contains words like “the beast” for Simon, and descriptions of the crowd staying “…on the beast, screaming, striking, biting, tearing” (139). This paragraph is like the “point of no return.” The boys have become so savage-like that they could turn on a fellow friend and kill, as if they didn’t know any better, as if they had only animal instincts, and as if they were just mindless creatures.
Question: Why is Roger’s loose tooth important? / Question #1 Answer: Roger, Jack, and the others are behaving as members of the new tribe. Jack is “…a proper chief” (154), and Roger is looking “… somberly back at the island… sitting on the very edge of the cliff” (145) in a pondering frame of mind. The whole point of this passage is to show how the boys are trying to act far older than they really are. In some ways, they have been forced into making hard decisions—decisions the grown-ups would normally make, if there were some. But, Jack has made it worse with all of the hunting and killing, and now they’re about to go hunting again. But then, seemingly out of nowhere, Golding says that Roger “… worked with his fingers at a loose tooth” (143). By throwing in the part about Roger’s loose tooth, Golding is reminding the reader that yes, these boys are only kids.

Grading Rubric

Split-Level Journaling

Name ______

Advanced 90-100 points

follows correct format (journal and MLA) and contains all essential components
contains astute observations; analyzes and evaluates
contains properly formatted quotations, questions, and diction choices
thoroughly examines the text
contains use of correct terminology and phrasing
contains very few, if any, errors of conventions

Proficient 80-89 points

follows format and contains essential components, but have MLA-style errors
contains less thorough (fluent & elaborate) analysis than an “A” journal
contains mostly properly formatted quotations, questions, and diction choices
examines the entire text section, but with less fluency and elaboration than an “A” journal
contains mostly correct use of terminology and phrasing
may contain some errors of conventions

Progressing 70-79 points

an attempt to utilize and follow format is displayed, but journal may be missing some essential components of formatting
lack of depth in observations; limited analysis (fluency & elaboration); limited comments of interpretation
contains improperly formatted quotations, questions, and diction choices
examination of the text is limited
contains little correct terminology and phrasing
contains distracting errors of conventions

Beginning 50-69 points

roughly follows format, at best; and is missing essential components
observations are shallow with little or no analysis or reflection; few comments of interpretation
contains improperly formatted quotations, questions, and diction choices
falls short of complete examination of text
contains little, if any, correct terminology & phrasing
contains numerous distracting errors and conventions

Unacceptable 0-49 points

format is nearly or completely non-existent
incomplete coverage of text

AP Terms

Literary Periods and Movements

Classicism – An attitude to literature that is guided by the admiration of the qualities of formal balance, proportion, decorum, and restraint attributed to the major works of ancient Greek and Roman literature (the classics). At the end of the 18th century ‘classical’ came to be contrasted with ‘romantic’. A Classic Style or approach to literary composition is usually one that imitates Greek or Roman models in subject-matter or form.

Gothic novel or Gothic romance – A story of terror or suspense usually set in a gloomy place. (Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Rebecca – Poe)

Pastoral – A highly conventional mode of writing that celebrates the innocent life of shepherds in poems, plays, and prose romance and describes loves and sorrows and rustic innocence and idleness. (Roman poet, Virgil, Spenser, Milton, Marlowe)

Parody – A mocking imitation of the style of a literary work.

Allegory – A story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. The principal technique is personification whereby abstract qualities are given human shape (eg. The Statue of Liberty) (Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Animal Farm)

Parable – Brief tale to be understood as an allegory illustrating some moral or lesson.

Romanticism – A sweeping modern term applied to the profound shift in Western attitudes to art and human creativity in the first half of the 19th century. Romantics focus on the emotional directness of personal experiences and individual imagination and aspiration. (Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Emerson)

Realism – A mode of writing that gives the impression of recording or ‘reflecting’ faithfully an actual way of life (verisimilitude). Some critics say it is not actually a ‘slice of life’ but a system of conventions producing a lifelike illusion of some ‘real world outside the text. (Defoe, George Eliot, Ibsen, G.B. Shaw).

Naturalism – A more deliberate kind of realism usually involving a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. (Dreiser, Hardy – Tess of the d’Urbervilles)

Surrealism – Anti-rational movement of imaginative liberation in the European art and literature in the 1920s and 1930s. Explores irrational ideas, dreams, and hallucinations. (Dada, Breton)

The Absurd – Derived from the existentialism of Albert Camus and applied to a modern sense of human purposelessness in a universe without meaning or value. (Kafka, Beckett, Ionesco, Edward Albee)

Existentialism – A current in European philosophy distinguished by its emphasis on lived human existence. A philosophy of human freedom conceived in terms of individual responsibility and authenticity that implies that humans must forge their own values and meanings in a meaningless or absurd world of existence. We can either confront the anquish of this responsibility, or evade it by claiming obedience to some convention or duty thus acting in bad faith. Paradoxically we are ‘condemned to be free’. (Sartre, Camus, Kierkegaard)

Aestheticism – A doctrine that regards beauty as an end in itself, and attempts to preserve the arts from subordination to moral, didactic, or political purposes. Philosophers of this movement tried to separate the sense of beauty from practical interests.

The Enlightenment – General term applied to the movement of intellectual liberation in Western Europe from the late 17th century to the late 18th century.

Transcendentalism – An idealist philosophical tendency among writers around Boston in the mid-19th century. Transcendentalism confirmed Kant’s principle of intuitive knowledge not derived from the senses, while rejecting organized religion for an extremely individualistic celebration of the divinity of the human being. (Emerson and Thoreau)

Novel of Manners – Defines social customs/mores of a specific group, often the upper middle class, and these customs control and define the characters. (Pride and Prejudice, the Importance of Being Ernest)

Satire – Literature that reveals human folly and vices through wit, scorn, ridicule, and exaggeration with the hope of effecting reform. (Animal Farm, Brave New World, 1984)

Picaresque Novel – Usually presents the life story of quick-witted rogues and their adventures in an episodic style (Don Quixote, The Adventures of Huck Finn)

Local color – A type of realistic novel that deals with a particular setting that influences the characters and the plot (The Awakening, Their Eyes Were Watching God).

Literary Terms

Allusion – a reference to something literary, mythological, or historical – Patrick Henry urged his listeners not to be “betrayed with a kiss” (allusion to Judas)
Connotation – the implied or associative meaning of a word – “Odor” and “fragrance” literally mean the same thing, but good things have fragrance and bad things, odor.
Denotation – the literal meaning of a word – Although the “home” may suggest safety and comfort, it’s really simply “one’s residence”
Diction – having to do with the word choices made by a writer – Hemingway uses few polysyllabic words; Dickens uses many polysyllabic words
Syntax – the manner in which words are arranged by a writer into sentences –A single sentence in a Faulkner work can sometimes be longer than an entire page, but Steinbeck tends to use simpler, shorter sentences.
Tone – the attitude of a writer, usually implied, toward the subject or audience – sardonic, apologetic, light-hearted, somber are all tone words
Colloquialism –informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing – Huck Finn says, “I got the fantods” to describe his nervousness and says “shin” instead of “run”.
Euphemism – an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant – In Victorian times, ladies were said to “glisten” rather than “sweat” or “perspire”
Oxymoron – an expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined – jumbo shrimp, sweet sorrow, little giant
Personification – endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics – the smiling, friendly sun was about to be swallowed by the angry clouds moving in from the south.
Anaphora – the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences – “We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves.”
Analogy – a comparison between two different things which are similar in some way – By comparing conducting to politics, Igor Stravinsky helped no-musicians understand his feelings about orchestra conductors.
Invective – an intensely vehement, highly emotional verbal attack – “My opponent is a lying, cheating, immoral bully.”
Paradox – an apparently contradictory statement which actually contains some truth – Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.
Parody – a humorous imitation of a serious work – Spaceballs and the space epic genre, Hot Shots and action films, Thin Thighs in Thirty Years and exercise books.
Symbol – an object which is something in itself yet is used to represent something else – the dove=peace; the hawk=war
Aphorism – a concise statement which expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance – “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise”
Hyberbole – intentional exaggeration to create an effect – there were at least a million people at the mall when I went shopping Saturday
Apostrophe – the act of speaking directly to an absent or imaginary person, or to some abstraction – “Oh death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
Metonymy – substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it – “The White House issued a statement today”
Didactic – something which has its primary purpose to teach or instruct – Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography shows his readers how to be successful; Aesop’s Fables presents moral.
Genre – a major category or type of literature – Paradise Lost is an epic poem; The Scarlet Letter is a novel; Into Thin Air is nonfiction.
Onomatopoeia – a word formed from the imitation of natural sounds – the fire crackled in the fireplace. We could hear the buzzing of the bees in the hive.
Litotes – a type of understatement in which something affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite – My parents were not overjoyed when I came home three hours past my curfew.
Allegory – a literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions – In Pilgrim’s Progress, the protagonist, Christian, represents all Christians, and physical obstacles represent inner struggles
Anecdote – a brief personal narrative which focuses on a particular incident or event – Sylvia emphasized Sam’s kindness by telling the story of the time he stopped to help a stranded motorist
Style – the overall manner in which an individual writer expresses ideas – The assignment was for each student to rewrite the story “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” in the ___ of a well-known author
Synecdoche – using one part of an object to represent the entire object – Sam finally traded in his old jalopy and got himself a new set of wheels
Pedantic – describing an excessive display of learning or scholarship – the student annoyed his friends by constantly lecturing them about every subject imaginable, clearly assuming he was better informed than they
Satire – the use of humor to emphasize human weaknesses or imperfections in social institutions – The darkly comedic film Dr. Strangelove reveals the absurdities of Cold War politics and policies
Sarcasm – harsh, cutting language/tone designed to ridicule – Asked if he liked blue, Joel answered, “No I hate it. That’s why I drive a blue car and wear mostly blue clothes.”
Syllogism – a logical argument in which a conclusion is based on a major premise and a minor premise – We get paid every Friday. Tomorrow is Friday; therefore, we will get paid tomorrow
Irony – a situation or statement where the truth is the opposite of appearances – In King Lear, Lear believes his daughter Cordelia to be disloyal, when she is in fact his only faithful daughter
Non sequiter – an inference that does not logically follow from the premise(s) – Richard Nixon said it should be obvious that he was honest because his wife wore a simple cloth coat
Ad hominem – an argument attacking an individual’s character rather that his or her position or an issue – You should vote against the mayor’s proposal because he uses bad grammar and chews tobacco
Motif– a standard theme or dramatic situation which recurs in various works – In Shakespeare’s plays, mistaken identity and the fall of the mighty occur with great regularity
Antithesis – a statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom,