Dear Soon-to-be Senior, (wow!)
Welcome to the Advanced Placement program in English! I am already looking forward to our class next year!
Since AP is an accelerated curriculum where you will benefit by completing college-level work in high school, you will need to prepare for the course during the summer by reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. You will then choose between Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. You will complete the assignment on the back of this page which is due the first day of class. If you wish, you may check out any of these books from the media center for the summer before school ends. Otherwise, you will need to acquire your own copies. You will also receive a packet of poems. You must complete the assignment called “Poetry Responses” as described on the assignment sheet. This is a precursor to what you will complete weekly once the school year starts.
The following study materials are provided to aid your understanding of the texts and prepare you for class discussions, essays, and multiple-choice tests when we begin our AP coursework in the fall. I suggest that you set a reasonable schedule for yourself so that the reading does not pile up on you and that you take notes as you read. Consider that it may be some time between your reading and our discussion; notes will help you remember the details of the story and characters and spare you the time and effort of rereading. Each Reader’s Guide contains suggestions regarding what topics to pay particular attention to in each book. I will allow you to use your original notes on any tests or essays.
As you consider the summer reading, please also consider the following advice. Avoid the crutch of Sparknotes and all his online friends, as they prevent you from developing the skills you need to be successful in the course, on the exam, and in college. This is a very serious warning. I expect AP students to be willing to think for themselves and exhibit discipline and character. Resorting to an outside source (including movies!) to tell you what to think, or, even worse, using that source to avoid the learning experience of reading, are shortcuts that, in the long run, are really dead ends.
Enjoy your summer, and happy reading!
Summer Reading Assignment
Please be aware that if you arrive on the first day of class without your completed summer reading assignment, you will be redirected to the counseling office where you will change your schedule to College Prep English Lit (Regular English 12).
Answer each of the following two times:
one set of responses for each book.
Please type your responses!
This assignment is due on the first day of school.
Handwritten assignments will not be accepted.
1. Did you enjoy this book? Why or why not?
2. Describe two of the most memorable scenes for you.
3. Who is your favorite character and why?
4. Choose one of the “After You Read” questions and respond to it in an organized essay of at least five paragraphs.
AP Summer Reader’s Guide:
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
Background Information: Before You Read
Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813, when Austen was just twenty-one years old. It was considered a light, entertaining work of popular fiction. Austen’s work is a “comic” novel: she depicts the outward aspects of social behavior and does not probe beneath the surface of her characters’ conduct. Austen focuses on character throughout this novel, restricting her study to a few families living middle-class lives in Victorian England. This has led some critics to accuse Austen of being narrow-minded, snobbish, adhering to obsolete convention, and believing in the class system. However, we must consider the literary context of her work. Romanticism, a literary and artistic movement that believed in the power of feeling, abandoning restraint, the power of nature to make us want to be better human beings, and the celebration of natural beauty, had reached its zenith. Austen, a neo-classicist, rejected these ideals in favor of rationality, discipline, traditional values, established norms, and sparse settings. Pride and Prejudice is a social drama in which Austen uses her characters to comment on her society’s values, morals, and codes. The BBC film version, as well as the most recent adaptation, are great. As usual, don’t rob yourself of the chance to learn something and experience a literary classic by resorting to the movies.
Study Guide: As You Read
l There are a lot of characters in this novel – make a list as you encounter them and note their personality traits, values, and relationships with other characters.
l Make note of the social conventions you observe: what did this society value? What did individuals value? What is Austen’s message about values? (Be sure to gather specific evidence!)
Essay/Discussion Topics: After You Read
1. The tone of this novel is good-humored irony charged with moral purpose. Explain this statement, being sure to define the terms used and provide specific evidence.
2. What is Austen’s central message to her readers?
3. How does Austen use Elizabeth and Darcy to illustrate her theme of pride and prejudice?
4. Define pride and vanity. Compare or contrast Mary’s definitions in Chapter 5 to your own.
AP Summer Reader’s Guide:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
by Ken Kesey
Background Information: Before You Read
Yes, Kesey experimented with various hallucinogenic drugs before, during, and after writing this novel. Yes, Kesey worked in a mental asylum in the 1950s. Yes, the movie with Jack Nicholson is very good. I strongly recommend that you do not see the movie until we have discussed the book in class, as you will be tremendously confused. It should be no surprise that the movie is not entirely faithful to the book. That said…
While this book is filled with profanity, vague drug trips, and a nearly-unbelievable ward in a mental hospital, it is, above all, real. Kesey went to great lengths to assure that his experiences and ideas were conveyed in a detailed, vivid, and utterly believable way. This book will involve you in the lives of its characters – just don’t forget that there’s a reason behind every choice Kesey made.
Study Guide: As You Read
l There are a myriad of characters in this book. You may wish to take notes to identify, describe, and keep them straight.
l McMurphy is considered one of the archetypical Christ-figures in literature. You may wish to keep notes documenting the evidence of this.
l Kesey employs symbolism throughout: note the symbols and what they represent.
Essay/Discussion Topics: After You Read
1. Evaluate the effect of Kesey’s choice of the Chief as narrator.
2. What does it mean to be “insane”? What is Kesey’s definition of the word? Who is insane in this novel?
3. How is McMurphy a Christ-figure, and what is the impact of this role upon the book as a whole?
4. If this book is not about a group of insane guys and a psycho nurse, what is it really about?
5. Explain the title.
AP Summer Reader’s Guide:
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston
Background Information: Before You Read
Written in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God was the very first representation of the much-overlooked voice of American black women. Initially shunned by white critics as unrealistic and rejected by black male critics as an inaccurate portrayal, Hurston’s rich novel was virtually ignored until it was “rediscovered” in the 1960s at the height of the civil rights movement and the dawn of the feminist movement. This book is thus a typical “coming-of-age” story with a very un-typical protagonist who struggles to reach her dreams and make her way in the world, despite a host of pressures and opposition. The movie is terrible. Avoid it at all costs.
Study Guide: As You Read
l Keep a list of characters that Janie encounters over the course of her experiences. What kind of people are they, and how do they impact or influence Janie’s life and her quest?
l Try reading the dialect out loud so you can understand both the characters’ words and their meanings, as well as hear the melody and cadence of their speech as Hurston intended it.
l This novel is driven largely by plot, so you may wish to make notes on the sequence of events as you read.
l Hurston’s book includes an implicit commentary on love and marriage. Be able to discuss Janie’s marriages and the reasons they were happy or unhappy.
Essay/Discussion Topics: After You Read
1. Explain the symbolism of the pear tree and the way it is described.
2. What is Hurston’s central message to her readers and how does she convey it?
3. Interpret Hurston’s subtle commentary on race. What is her opinion or message?
4. What is the most important lesson Janie learns? How does she learn it? (Be able to explain the lengthy process and cite specific examples.)
5. Explain the title.