TO: ENGLISH 11 AP STUDENTS
FROM: MRS. SIMEON AND MRS. KRATZ
SUBJ: SUMMER ASSIGNMENT 2008
Welcome to the world of AP English. We wish each of you a productive and successful upcoming year. Your year will include various readings, writings and discussions. The syllabus includes short stories, nonfiction essays, autobiographies, journals, plays, novels and poetry. We will be using the McDougal Littell Literature Anthology, 50 Essays, and other selected works in various genres.
To begin your academic year, please complete the following summer assignments and bring them with you on the first day of class. Each assignment will be graded. You are expected to complete the assignment alone and not collaborate with other students. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL AUGUST 31ST TO BEGIN THE ASSIGNMENTS. WE DO NOT ACCEPT ASSIGNMENTS AFTER THEIR DUE DATE.
ASSIGNMENT #1: LITERARY TERMS
Define the following literary terms. Include an example for each one. Cite your sources.
Allegory
Alliteration
Allusion
Ambiguity
Analogy
Analysis
Anaphora
Anecdote
Antecedent
Antimetabole
Antithesis
Aphorism
Apostrophe
Argument
Aside
Assonance
Asyndeton
Atmosphere
Attitude
Clause
Cliché
Coherence
Colloquialism
Conceit
Concrete
Connotation
Consonance
Denotation
Diction
Didactic
Ellipsis
Epic
Episode
Epistrophy
Euphemism
Exposition
Flashback
Foreshadowing
Genre
Homily
Hyperbole
Imagery
Irony
Juxtaposition
Metonymy
Mood
Narration
Onomatopoeia
Oxymoron
Paradox
Parallelism
Parody
Pedantic
Periphrasis
Personal Commentary
Point of View
Polemic
Polysyndeton
Prose
Pun
Rebuttal
Repetition
Rhetoric
Romanticism
Sarcasm
Satire
Semantics
Sentimentalism
Speculation
Stereotype
Style
Subjectivity
Suspense
Syllogism
Synecdoche
Syntax
Theme
Thesis
Tone
Transition
Understatement (Litotes)
Vernacular
Wit
ASSIGNMENT #2: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BY HARPER LEE
Read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. As you read, reflect on the significance of each of the themes listed below and write down the page numbers on which examples for each theme occur. During the first week of school, you will be assigned to a panel for a presentation on one of the themes. Please have examples for each theme.
GROUP #1 – Southern Gothic Literary Tradition
According to literary scholar Claudia Dunst Johnson, southern Gothic literature includes topics such as “murders, ghosts, witches, werewolves, vampires, monsters, imprisonment, ruins, nostalgia for the past, unnatural parents, haunted or decayed quarters, specters, forebodings, deformity, madness, magic, dark and forbidding secrets, sexual violence, rape, incest, insanity, mental breakdown, and cultural decay.” Another critic, David Panter, describes Gothic fiction as “an emphasis on portraying the terrifying, a common insistence on archaic setting, a prominent use of the supernatural, the presence of highly stereotyped character and the attempt to develop a perfect technique of literary suspense.”
With these definitions in mind, analyze how To Kill a Mockingbird can justly be termed a Gothic novel. Analyze the text for these qualities:
· archaic setting (description of location and architecture)
· Gothic subjects (murders, ghosts, witches, monsters, imprisonment) – Remember a child’s imagination
· Madness, magic, dark and forbidding secrets, degeneration
· Sexual violence, incest, rape
· Other possible topics: concern with the past, Gothicism and the family
GROUP #2 – Use of Symbol to Convey Theme
A number of symbols exist in the novel, some of which function as motifs throughout the novel. Analyze the significance of these symbolic events or objects.
· Atticus’ killing of the mad dog. Analyze the significance of this event and relate it to at least two other analogous scenes in the text.
· Mockingbirds/birds/innocence – Relate this symbol to and explain how the author links the two major story threads – Boo Radley and the trial of Tom Robinson – using this theme.
· Analyze the effects of prejudice and social injustice on Scout. Highlight the insights she has throughout the novel and comment in how she processes and internalizes these realities.
· Analyze how Jem and Dill are affected by their experiences with hatred and social injustice. Do they respond similarly or differently?
GROUP #3 – Gender Identity (especially in terms of the southern woman)
Most critics concur that Harper Lee’s portrayal of women’s roles in traditional southern society are among the strongest segments of the novel. What overall point is she making about the quintessential southern woman? Consider her goal in creating the following characters or character foils:
· Scout/Dill (obviously not a woman!)
· Aunt Alexander
· Miss Stephanie/Miss Maudie
· Mrs. Dubose
· Mayella Ewell
GROUP #4
Lawyers have found not only Atticus Finch but Lee’s portrayal of law and its role in achieving justice and social order quite inspiring. However, law in Maycomb exists on two distinct levels: de jure (codified, written law) and de facto ( unspoken, but intricate, social codes). Certain characters live beyond the scope of one or both of these types of “laws.” Analyze how certain characters, even Atticus, are essentially outlaws and why. Be sure to explain which codes they violate and why.
· Atticus Finch
· Boo Radley
· Bob Ewell
· Dolphus Raymond/Mr. Underwood
· Mayella Ewell
GROUP #5
Scout says to Jem, “I think there’s just one kind of folks – Folks.” However, she, Jem, and Dill learn that their town rigidly classifies people by race, class, and caste. Examine what the following people represent within this small southern town.
· Atticus, Judge Taylor, Heck Tate, Mr. Underwood
· The Cunninghams (Walter and his father)
· The Ewells (Bob and Mayella)
· African Americans (Calpurnia, Tom Robinson, church scene, courtroom scene)
ASSIGNMENT #3: THE TIPPING POINT BY MALCOLM GLADWELL
Read The Tipping Point. Gladwell tells us that “[t]he three rules of the Tipping Point - the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, the Power of Context – offer a way of making sense of epidemics.” Be sure that you understand Gladwell’s rules of epidemics. During the first cycle of school, you will be given an in class writing assignment which will ask you to apply each of these principles to a contemporary phenomenon that has tipped into an epidemic.
ASSIGNMENT #4: NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS – Purchase the following version: Signet classic – ISBN 0-451-52994-4
Read Douglass’s narrative and complete the following items for each chapter.
Chapter 1: Read the following passage and then read the passage in its entirety on page 23. What is the purpose of the passage? How does Douglass’s diction reinforce his purpose?
“He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine…I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it.”
Chapter 2: List an example of each of the following:
· Irony
· Comparison/contrast
· Analogy
· Tone
Chapter 3: What is the purpose and effect of the following passage?
“It was painful to stand near the stable-door, and hear the various complaints against the keepers when a horse was taken out for use. ‘This horse has not had proper attention. He has not been sufficiently rubbed and curried, or he has not been sufficiently fed; his food was too wet or too dry; he got it too soon or too late; he was too hot or too cold; he had too much hay; and not enough grain; or he had too much grain, and not enough hay; instead of old Barney’s attending to the horse, he had very improperly left it to his son.’ To all these complaints, no matter how unjust, the slave must never answer a word”(33).
Chapter 4: Discuss how Douglass’s use of diction conveys Mr. Austin Gore’s character. Cite specific examples from the text.
Chapter 5: What is Douglass’s attitude toward moving to Baltimore and living with the Aulds? Cite specific phrases which express his attitude.
Chapter 6: What is the ironic effect of Mr. Auld’s words on Douglass about teaching slaves to read?
Chapter 7: The following questions are based on paragraphs one to four, pages 51 – 53. Read the paragraphs and answer the questions.
1. The overall organization of this excerpt can best be described as
A. a chronological sequence of events.
B. a first-person narrative with little analytical commentary by the speaker.
C. an angry polemic against the evils of slavery.
D. a statement of the narrator’s accomplishment followed by an explanation of how he reached it.
E. a sympathetic portrayal of a system that is both the oppressor and the oppressed.
2. In paragraph 2, Douglass uses all of the following except
A. metonymy.
B. personification.
C. anaphora.
D. allusion.
E. connotation.
3. What is the rhetorical purpose of paragraph 3?
A. to qualify points made in the previous paragraph
B. to emphasize how Douglass’s reactions turned to actions
C. to offer a counterargument to the one presented in the previous paragraph
D. to qualify Douglass’s understanding of the importance of learning to read
E. to provide a transition from Douglass’s past experiences to those in the present
4. What is Douglass’s attitude toward the young boys he describes in paragraph 4?
A. angry reproach
B. studied indifference
C. condescending pity
D. reflective appreciation
E. grudging respect
5. Which of the following best describes Douglass’s tone throughout paragraphs 1 through 4?
A. sympathetic and reflective
B. respectful but firm
C. sarcastic and angry
D. passionate and determined
E. irate but carefully judicious
Chapter 8: Discuss Douglass’s use of imagery to portray the plight of his grandmother.
Chapter 9: Douglass presents several ironies in this chapter. Discuss two of them.
Chapter 10: Read page 74 beginning with “If at any one time in my life…” to page 76 “Thus I used to think…to my wretched lot.” Identify the stylistic elements in the third paragraph (“You are loosed from your moorings…”) that distinguish it from the rest of the passage and show how this difference reinforces Douglass’s rhetorical purpose in the passage as a whole.
Chapter 11: Read pages 110 – 114. Discuss how Douglass’s diction conveys his range of emotion during his quest for freedom.