Digital Copies of the Independent Reading Packets Are Available on the Class Webpage.

(Digital copies of the Independent Reading Packets are available on the Class Webpage.)

Please note: All of the reading assignments and worksheets are designed for students who have developed the skills necessary to successfully complete the assignments at this grade level. Should you find that you are having great difficulty with the reading, vocabulary, writing mechanics, analytical skills, and skills in synthesizing examples and evidence, you should sign up for the daily FLEX/FOCUS classes to develop these skills. Your grades for each assignment will reflect onlyyour skill levels (rather than completion or effort).

Metamorphosisby Frank Kafka

Reading and Assignment Packet

English II

NUMBER THE PAGES OF THE STORY

Reading assignments are weekly and must be completed and submitted on the dates specified below. The purpose of the independent novel assignment is to assess your ability to read, comprehend, and analyze text on your own and without assistance. Be sure that you are thorough in your responses for reflections and paragraph writing.

NOVEL TESTING:There will be a Reading & Comprehension Test for Metamorphosis

ASSIGNMENTS: You must complete the Annotation section (50 pts), Reflection section (50 pts), and the Written assignment (100 pts.) described for each due date. Assignments are due on the dates specified below (usually on Monday or the 1st class day of the week); ½ credit will be given for work that is one day past the due date; no credit will be earned for work that is more than one day late.

Follow the schedule closely. Read the pages indicated on the schedule. Stop at the quoted phrase in parentheses. You have an entire week for EACH assignment.It is expected that you will not wait until “Sunday” night to complete the work due on Monday. Please be sure to keep up with the reading so that you are prepared for in-class assignments and to successfully complete weekly assignments.

Absences should not affect your ability to submit novel assignments on time, since you have theassignment schedule.

Assignments andDUE Dates

(Reading 1) Due Monday, August 21:Read pp. 1-8 (read through”…his sister began to cry.”) and annotate for magical realism. Follow the Worksheet A1 instructions to complete the assignment. Respond to Reading 1 Questions.

(Reading 2) Due Monday, August 28: Read pp. 8-17 (read through “…all was quiet.”) and annotatefor use of figurative language and word choice. Follow the Worksheet B1 instructions to complete the assignment. Respond to Reading 2 Questions.

(Reading 3) Due Tuesday, September 5: Read pp. 17-24 (read through “…had done things.”) and annotate for elements of magic realism (review the page in the packet that discusses Magic Realism). Follow the Worksheet C1 instructions to complete the assignment.

(Reading 4) Due Monday, September 11: Read pp. 24-30 (read through “…on the floor.”) and annotate for elements of the story that connect magical realism and a human truth. Follow the Worksheet D1 instructions to complete the assignment.

(Reading 5) Due Monday, September 18: Read pp. 30-38 (read through “…all its noise.”) and annotate for symbols and metaphors for human isolation. Follow the Worksheet E1 instructions to complete the assignment during the last 2 readings. This completed assignment will be due on October 2.

(Reading 6) Due Monday, September 25:Read pp. 38-end of story and annotate for symbols and metaphors for human isolation. Follow the Worksheet E1 instructions to complete the assignment during the last 2 readings. This completed assignment will be due on October 2.

(Reading 7) Due Monday, October 2: “Literary Terms” worksheet and Worksheet E1 due today.

Magic Realism

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is story in the genre of magic realism. Magic realism is a metaphorical technique used by an author to convey their message in a more obvious way. Readers must be willing to suspend their disbelief and accept, as real, the “unreal” circumstances of the story. The impossible and fantastic become real in the story.

Magic realism is a chiefly Latin-American narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. Although this strategy is known in the literature of many cultures in many ages, the term magic realism is a relatively recent designation, first applied in the 1940s by Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier, who recognized this characteristic in much Latin-American literature. Prominent among the Latin-American magic realists are the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez, the Brazilian Jorge Amado, the Argentines Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortazar, and the Chilean Isabel Allende.

Magic realism tries to convey the reality of one or several worldviews that actually exist, or have existed. Magical realism is a kind of realism, but one different from the realism that most of our culture now experiences. It tells its stories from the perspective of people who live in our world and experience a different reality from the one we call objective. For example, if there is a ghost in a story of magical realism, the ghost is not a fantasy element but a manifestation of the reality of people who believe in and have "real" experiences of ghosts. Magical realist fiction depicts the real world of people whose reality is different from ours. It's not a thought experiment. It is not speculation. Magical realism endeavors to show us the world through other eyes. Magical realism can be used to explore the realities of characters or communities who are outside of the objective mainstream of our culture.

Reading 1 Questions

These questions will assist you in focusing on and analyzing the pertinent elements of the text. The questions require that you think about these elements and form a complex, analytical response.

What does Gregor’s plan to go back to sleep “forgetting all this nonsense” suggest about him?
Explain whether or not you feel Gregor’s boss would really fire him for being late.
Despite his amazing change, Gregor is only concerned with going to work. What does this tell the reader about him.
Why is Gregor having so much difficulty getting out of bed? Describe the scene. What finally enables him to get out of bed?
What is the connection between the image of the vermin and Gregor’s role a an employee as depicted in Chapter 1? What qualities of the working class does the vermin image convey?

Reading 2 Questions

How might Gregor’s unhappiness with his job relate to his sudden, unexpected metamorphosis?
Theme: the individual is alienated or cut off from others. How does Gregor’s strange, chirping voice support this theme?
Considering that a job he hates consumes Gregor, what is Kafka suggesting about the effects of commerce and materialism on people?
How do other people figure Samsa as an “object” or “thing”? Is this something that only starts happening after his transformation or are there ways that he was used before his metamorphosis? How does being perceived as a “thing” alter Gregor’s understanding of himself?

Gregor’s father is especially violent towards him and provides a terrible physical injury. What may this symbolize

WORKSHEET A1

Roots by Frida Kahlo

Roots focuses on an introspective look at Kahlo in an autobiographical depiction of magical realism.

Gregor Samsa details his metamorphosis on a physical and intellectual level, which offers a critique of family and society.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT: Analyze the painting, Roots, and the assigned pages of the text (pp. 1-8). Compare the two works and discuss, in writing, how the visual depiction of magical realism (Roots) communicates a human truth and how Gregor’s development and magical transformation develop a human truth.

There is no “right” or “wrong” response. The purpose of an analysis is to relate your own knowledge, understanding, and perspectives to the topic. You must include examples from the art and text to support your discussion.

You will be expected to exhibit the writing skills expected at this level. This includes TAG sentences (Title, Author, Genre), a thesis statement, organized paragraphs, complex sentences, and academic vocabulary.

WORKSHEET B1

“Sestina” is a poem that details the afternoon of a young girl and her grandmother interspersed with various magical
occurrences, and “Ode to Sadness” personifies sadness.

The poems contain figurative language and word choice that create a rich, magical look at a family afternoon or
sadness. These poems build upon a connection between myths and magical realism and connect tothemes of The Metamorphosis. Use the attached TP-CASTT Graphic Organizer (Worksheet B2) to analyze the poems.

Write a comparison analysis of the language and word choiceused in the poems and Metamorphosis.

“Sestina”, by Elizabeth Bishop

September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.
She thinks that her equinoctial tears
and the rain that beats on the roof of the house
were both foretold by the almanac,
but only known to a grandmother.
The iron kettle sings on the stove.
She cuts some bread and says to the child,
It's time for tea now; but the child
is watching the teakettle's small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house.
Tidying up, the old grandmother
hangs up the clever almanac
on its string. Birdlike, the almanac
hovers half open above the child,
hovers above the old grandmother
and her teacup full of dark brown tears.
She shivers and says she thinks the house
feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove.
It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.
I know what I know, says the almanac.
With crayons the child draws a rigid house
and a winding pathway. Then the child
puts in a man with buttons like tears
and shows it proudly to the grandmother.
But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself about the stove,
the little moons fall down like tears
from between the pages of the almanac

into the flower bed the child

has carefully placed in the front of the house.

“Ode To Sadness” by Pablo Neruda

Sadness, scarab
with seven crippled feet,
spiderweb egg,
scramble-brained rat,
bitch's skeleton:
No entry here.
Don't come in.
Go away.
Go back
south with your umbrella,
go back
north with your serpent's teeth.
A poet lives here.
No sadness may
cross this threshold.
Through these windows
comes the breath of the world,
fresh red roses,
flags embroidered with
the victories of the people.
No.
No entry.
Flap
your bat's wings,
I will trample the feathers
that fall from your mantle,
I will sweep the bits and pieces
of your carcass to
the four corners of the wind,
I will wring your neck,
I will stitch your eyelids shut,
I will sew your shroud,
sadness, and bury your rodent bones
beneath the springtime of an apple tree.

WORKSHEET B2

TP-CASTT GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

T / TITLE – What do the words of the title suggest to you? What denotations are presented in the title? What connotations or associations do the words possess?
P / PARAPHRASE – Translate the poem in your words. What is the poem about?
C / Connotation – What meaning does the poem have beyond the literal meaning? Fill in the chart. / Form / Diction / Imagery
Point of View / Details / Allusions
Symbolism / Figurative Language / Other Devices (sound devices, irony, oxymoron, paradox, pun, sarcasm, understatement)
A / Attitude – What is the speaker’s attitude? How does the speaker feel about himself, about others, and about the subject? What is the author’s attitude? How does the author feel about the speaker, about other characters, about the subject, and the reader?
S / Shifts – Where do the shifts in tone, setting, voice, etc. occur? What is the purpose of each shift? How do they contribute to effect and meaning?
T / Title - Reanalyze the title on an interpretive level. What part does the title play in the overall interpretation of the poem?
T / Theme – List the subjects and the abstract ideas in the poem. Determine the overall theme. The theme must be written in a complete sentence.

WORKSHEET B2

TP-CASTT GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Translated by Gregory Rabassa

On the third day of rain they had killed so many crabs inside the house that Pelayo had to cross his drenched courtyard and throw them into the sea, because the newborn child had a temperature all night and they thought it was due to the stench. The world had been sad since Tuesday. Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing and the sands of the beach, which on March nights glimmered like powdered light, had become a stew of mud and rotten shellfish. The light was so weak at noon that when Pelayo was coming back to the house after throwing away the crabs, it was hard for him to see what it was that was moving and groaning in the rear of the courtyard. He had to go very close to see that it was an old man, a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite of his tremendous efforts, couldn’t get up, impeded by his enormous wings.
Frightened by that nightmare, Pelayo ran to get Elisenda, his wife, who was putting compresses on the sick child, and he took her to the rear of the courtyard. They both looked at the fallen body with a mute stupor. He was dressed like a ragpicker. There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very few teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather took away any sense of grandeur he might have had. His huge buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked, were forever entangled in the mud. They looked at him so long and so closely that Pelayo and Elisenda very soon overcame their surprise and in the end found him familiar. Then they dared speak to him, and he answered in an incomprehensible dialect with a strong sailor’s voice. That was how they skipped over the inconvenience of the wings and quite intelligently concluded that he was a lonely castaway from some foreign ship wrecked by the storm. And yet, they called in a neighbor woman who knew everything about life and death to see him, and all she needed was one look to show them their mistake.
“He’s an angel,” she told them. “He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down.”
On the following day everyone knew that a flesh-and-blood angel was held captive in Pelayo’s house. Against the judgment of the wise neighbor woman, for whom angels in those times were the fugitive survivors of a celestial conspiracy, they did not have the heart to club him to death. Pelayo watched over him all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with his bailiff’s club, and before going to bed he dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop. In the middle of the night, when the rain stopped, Pelayo and Elisenda were still killing crabs. A short time afterward the child woke up without a fever and with a desire to eat. Then they felt magnanimous and decided to put the angel on a raft with fresh water and provisions for three days and leave him to his fate on the high seas. But when they went out into the courtyard with the first light of dawn, they found the whole neighborhood in front of the chicken coop having fun with the angel, without the slightest reverence, tossing him things to eat through the openings in the wire as if he weren’t a supernatural creature but a circus animal.