Literature Circle Reading
Advanced English 3-4
Dialectical Journal Assignment: 100 Points
You will be keeping a dialectical journal throughout your reading of your Lit. Circle novel. Why? These
journals will prepare you for Literature Circles, Socratic Seminar, essays, and our study of literary reading
devices. Keeping your journals will also develop your close reading (#1 AP skill) abilities. This is NOT
“busywork”. In your dialectical journals (15+ entries, handwritten in your notebooks), please note the
following:
Characterization: Note passages that reveal characters- their goals/motivations, changes, conflicts,
points of view, role as foil, propensity for good and evil, possible archetype, etc…). Also note your
author’s TONE towards these characters.
The Joy Luck Club
Into Thin Air
Fahrenheit 451
Wuthering Heights Ethan Frome
Woo Family
Jon Krakauer
Guy Montag
Heathcliff
The Narrator
Jong Family
Adventure
Consultant Guides
Mildred Montag
Catherine
Ethan Fromme
Hsu Family
Sherpas
Cpt. Beatty and the The Earnshaw's
men (and dogs) of
the fire department
Zeena
St. Clair Family
Clients
Professor Faber,
The Linton's
Clarisse McClellan,
Granger
Mattie
Themes:
The Joy Luck Club
Into Thin Air
Fahrenheit 451
Wuthering Heights Ethan Frome
Cultural Identity
Commercialism on
Everest
Censorship
Love as a Destructive Society and Morality
Force
Storytelling
Loyalty & Trust
Knowledge v.
Ignorance
Social Status
Obtaining Desires
Language and
Translation
Unanswered
Questions
Prophecy for the
Future
Abuse of Class
Winter
Motifs and Symbols:
The Joy Luck Club
Into Thin Air
Fahrenheit 451
Wuthering Heights
Ethan Frome
Control over one's
destiney
Solitude & SelfReliance
Animal & Nature
Imagery
Moors & Ghosts
Illness & Disability
Sexism
Man's Dominance
over Nature
Religion
Doubles
Snow & Cold
Sacrifices for Love
Ropes & Knots
The Hearth & The
Salamander
Repetition
Mattie's Red Scarf &
Ribbon
The Phoenix
Nature v. Nurture
The Cat & The Pickle
Dish
The Candle, The Vase Camp & Oxygen
& The Pendant
Form:
Discuss form in your novel:
Genre: How does your novel exemplify a specific genre?
Point of view shifts:Where, when and why does your novel seem to deviate from a specific point of
view?
Literary Devices: Identify and explain specific examples of literary devices employed by your
author.