Name: _________________________________________________
Date: __________
Prandi-Abrams
AP Literature and Composition
AP Literature & Composition
Summer Assignment 2014
Introduction: Welcome to AP Lit! I’m excited that you’ve all chosen to challenge yourself, and
I hope that we’ll all have a fantastic year together. The first key to a successful year is to ensure
you all keep practicing your critical reading skills over the summer. I would hate for your brains
to atrophy! =) It is vital that you complete all parts of this summer assignment as our first few
weeks of class (and therefore a large chunk of your first quarter grade) will be dealing with the
books you read this summer and the notes you take over them. You’ve all earned a welldeserved break, and I sincerely hope you enjoy your summer. Just do yourself a favor and don’t
put this all off until August. You’ll want to kick yourself if you have to spend the last two weeks
of break doing homework instead of enjoying your last summer hurrahs.
Why are we doing this assignment?
 This work provides a sampling of and tasks we’ll be completing.
 They will provide you with enough depth and complexity to get you thinking about key
themes and the elements used to express them.
 They begin/add to your literary storehouse of knowledge which you’ll need to pull from
when you take the AP exam next spring.
Reading/Research Assignments:
 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
 Mythological & Biblical Allusion Research
We have provided the text (Kite Runner) so that you can write in the book. Please mark the
margins of your book with your comments, observations, and questions.
* Please see the note on plagiarism and academic integrity at the end of this document!
Summer Work, Task 1: The Kite Runner

You will complete two close reading assignments for The Kite Runner:
 PART A  Dialectical Journal for every chapter
PART B  Three Textual Analysis Short Essays (to be completed after reading)
Kite Runner PART A  Dialectic Journal
What is a dialectical journal?
Simply put, “dialectical” means “the art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of
logical arguments” (dictionary.com). A dialectical journal, then, is used to arrive at the “truth” of
a written work through the written response to quotations from that work.
How many quotations should I have?
Two per assigned chapter. Make sure to include the page number for at the end of each quotes
(see format below). Also indicate the speaker if you are using dialogue from novel.
What exactly constitutes a meaningful quotation?
A quotation can be narration OR dialogue. You are NOT limited just to what the characters say.
Find passages that you think help us better understand the author’s subject matter,
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AP Literature and Composition
characterizations, attitude, and especially THEMES (messages/”big ideas”). If you find yourself
simply repeating what the quotation says, you might want to select a different quotation or
reevaluate how you are approaching the response. NO SUMMARIES!
What format should I use?
Summarize the events of the reading in a paragraph at the top of your paper.
Then, draw a line down the rest of the paper. Use the left side of the double column notes to
copy a significant quote or line from the story with its page number. Use the second column to
react to that line: question, predict, symbols, allusions, and literary devices, reflections.
Include each of these for each quote. Don’t be afraid to use ellipses like this … to shorten your
quote.
SUMMARY AND DIALECTICAL JOURNAL LAYOUT
Your Name
The Kite Runner
Chapter Number
Meaningful Quote 1:
Amir said, “Quote from the
reading” (11).
Questions you have about the quote:
List your questions
Predictions from this quote about what will happen:
Predict what might happen!
What does this quote reveal about the
characters/setting/plot/theme?
Explain what this quote reveals.
Meaningful Quote 2:
Hosseini introduces the scene,
“Really long quote… from the
reading” (11).
Questions you have about the quote:
Predictions from this quote about what will happen:
What does this quote reveal about the
characters/setting/plot/theme?
After reading The Kite Runner…
Kite Runner PART B  Textual Analysis
Choose THREE of the following topics and respond in a short essay response after you finish
reading The Kite Runner.
Use the questions in each category to guide and prompt your thinking. The questions for each
category are meant to guide you. Please do not answer every question listed for each section.
Choose a focus and address it completely. Provide examples from the text, but no more than
25% of each response should be quotes.
1. Characterization: Identify the protagonist, antagonist(s) and any foils or parallel characters.
How is characterization generally achieved – direct/indirect (through action, dialogue, physical
description, comments from other characters, direct telling by the author)? How does each key
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AP Literature and Composition
character illustrate some aspect of the theme? What quotes capture who the main characters are
and the ideas their struggles are meant to represent?
2. Technique(s): How does the author convey his or her thematic message? What point of view
(1st or 3rd ) is used? What effect does it have? Is the narrator reliable? Does the author use
intruding narrative devices such as letters, author comment, diaries, internal narration or
flashbacks? What is the effect on theme? Does the author use irony – either situational or
dramatic (look them up)? Does the author use humor? Pathos (look it up)? Does the author use
symbols? What do they signify? Note the author’s use of imagery. What colors, sounds, smells
or other images are significant? Are any repeated as a motif? What figurative language (simile,
metaphor, personification, irony) does the author use? What is the thematic effect?
3. Setting: How is the story’s time or place important to the conflict or thematic ideas of the
novel? Also consider when and where the novel was written. Did any events inspire the author?
What historical events or cultural developments helped influence or shape the novel? Is the novel
in any way autobiographical? What should we know about the author in order to fully understand
the work? What writers or thinkers influenced the author? What do critics have to say about the
work?
4. Style: Consider the language and attitude of the author. What seems to be the author’s
personality as demonstrated in the work? What can you say about the author’s syntax (sentence
structure)? Do sentences tend to be long, short, concrete, abstract, direct, indirect? What effect
does this have on the reader and the theme? Look at the diction (word choice). Is it direct,
forceful, colloquial, vulgar, sensuous, satirical? What is the tone of the writing? What seems to
be the author’s attitude about the theme? Try to come up with at least two unique adjectives that
describe the author’s tone/attitude. How does this tone help shape the theme?
5. Theme or Thesis argument(s): The writer’s main statement. What argument or idea is being
asserted through the work? What abstract concept is being made concrete through its
representation in person, action, or image within the work? What generalization does the work
make about the human condition? What is the author’s purpose in writing? What is the thematic
climax of the work and how is the thesis argument resolved? Where does the author leave us in
terms of the theme?
A few words on thematic statements:
A good theme statement is an assertion (yours) of what you feel to be the author’s main
argument (philosophical, moral, world-view, etc.) in the work. If your paper had to be reduced
to a single sentence, it should be your theme statement.
Non-Examples:
 “Material wealth is a theme in The Great Gatsby.” – This is not an appropriate statement
of theme. It says nothing.
 “The Buchanans illustrate the evil influences of wealth.” - This also is not an appropriate
statement of theme.
Example of a strong thematic statement:
“Material wealth corrupts the rich and destroys the poor.”
Now, this is an appropriate statement of theme. WHY? It is in the form of a complete declarative
sentence. It expresses an opinion. It is written in a general format without specific references to
characters or situations in the novel.
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AP Literature and Composition
Summer Work, Task 2: Mythological & Biblical Allusion Research
Mythological/Biblical Allusion Notes and Reading
When you read about mythology and biblical allusions, enjoy it! You are reading stories people
have been telling for thousands of years! Many authors allude to classical mythology through
the characters, settings, plots and themes of their works. This will build our knowledge of
mythology so that we can look for mythological allusions to these stories in modern texts.
Definition: An allusion is a reference, within a literary work, to another work of fiction, a film, a
piece of art, or even a real event. An allusion serves as a kind of shorthand, drawing on this
outside work to provide greater context or meaning to the situation being written about.
Research and read about the following stories and draft notes on each story. Do the following
for each of the allusions on the lists below:
-Type your work in a legible 12- point font, single- spaced
-Number them from 1-20
-Write a brief explanation of the situation or summary of the quote or allusion’s meaning. The
length of this explanation will differ from story to story. The important thing is to specifically
identify the reference so you’ll be able to spot allusions.
-A citation can be provided but is not required
Some suggestions for resources are listed, and examples have been provided for you.
Make sure that this is your own original work—your entries should not be identical to anyone
else’s in AP English, even if you did share resources!
Greek/Roman Mythology Allusions:
1. Aphrodite and Hephaestus
2. Apollo and Daphne
3. Daedalus and Icarus
4. Dido and Aeneas
5. Echo and Narcissus
6. Helen of Troy and Paris
7. Odysseus and the Trojan horse
8. Pandora's box
9. Prometheus and the gift of fire
10. Sisyphus' curse
Biblical (aka anagogical) Allusions:
1. Exodus
2. Four horsemen of the Apocalypse
3. Judgment Day
4. Cain and Abel
5. Song of Solomon
6. forbidden fruit
7. Garden of Eden
8. Sodom & Gomorrah
9. David & Goliath
10. Judas Iscariot
Prandi-Abrams
AP Literature and Composition
Model Allusion Entry
1. Achilles and the Trojan War
Achilles was the greatest Greek hero of the Trojan War and was the central character in
Homer’s The Iliad. He was the son of the goddess Thetis and the mortal man Peleus. Thetis
wanted to make her son immortal, so she held him by the heel and dipped him in the River Styx,
one of the rivers of the Underworld. Everything the water touched became immortal, but his heel
remained dry and was therefore vulnerable (hence the name “Achilles tendon” for the sensitive
back part of your heel). Achilles distinguished himself by his fighting during the Trojan War,
eventually killing the Trojan hero Hector as retribution for Hector’s killing of Achilles’ friend.
He was eventually killed in battle by being struck in the heel with an arrow from the bow of
Paris, which was guided by the god Apollo.
Sources you might find helpful for finding more information on mythology allusions:
http://www.pantheon.org/
http://www.thanasis.com/homewk01.htm
http://www.online-mythology.com
http://www.greekmythology.com/
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
Zimmerman, J. E. Dictionary of Classical Mythology
Sources you might find helpful for finding more information on Biblical allusions:
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/pdf/IndexofBibleAllusions.pdf
http://sb169.k12.sd.us/Allusions-in-literature.pdf
http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/sfarris/Files/AP%20Lit%20Files/Poetry/Mythology%20PDF.pdf
You will have an exam on both The Kite Runner and Mythological/Biblical Allusions on the
first day of school.
If you need assistance or have questions, please contact Ms. Prandi-Abrams at
lpabrams@noscihigh.org (email) or 828-773-5474 (cell phone).
I look forward to working with you in this exciting and challenging experience.
Best,
Ms. Prandi-Abrams
* Note Regarding Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
It is my expectation that you will not use outside sources, such as study guides (Internet or
otherwise), to aid you in producing your summer assignments. However, if you do choose
to visit such sources for help or to affirm your own thinking it is absolutely imperative that
you properly document any sequence of ideas or direct quotations that you may take from
them. Failure to do so is an act of plagiarism and a violation of SciHigh’s academic integrity
policy. This violation will result in a permanent zero on the assignment!