AP Literature Summer Reading
Bilse
2013-14 AP English Summer Reading Assignment Overview
Incoming AP Literature students are required to read two books over the summer and complete
short assignments for both. Our first weeks of course-work -- including discussions, group-work,
writing assignments, and tests -- will require completion of this summer assignment.
If you have questions, contact me through the school or email bilsemolly@mhasd.k12.wi.us. My school
web page, available through the MHHS web page (http://www.mhasd.k12.wi.us/mhhs) will have
downloadable copies of this assignment and other course information.
Requirements
1. Read Thomas C. Foster’s, How to Read Literature like a Professor.
As you read, take notes. At a minimum you should write down the main idea of each
chapter and supporting details that illuminate the main idea. Also include connections
that you make between the ideas in the chapter and other literary works you’ve read. You
will take an open-notes quiz on this material when you return from break.
Also as you are reading, complete five How to Read Literature Like a Professor short
reflection assignments (Appendix A) and submit them to Turnitin.com by August 1st.
*Important Note: you will have to stop reading before Chapter 27 in order to complete
one of the required reflection assignments. (See Appendix A for more details)
2. Read Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre LIKE A PROFESSOR.
Read the entire novel, and in your assigned chapters (see Appendix B), analyze the
significance of five quotations or events “like a professor.” From your analysis, it should
be clear that you have read How to Read Literature like a Professor: Is there a quest? A
dark and stormy night? Baptism? How does geography matter?
Also, select two SHORT passages from anywhere in Jane Eyre – a few sentences each -that seem important and worthy of analysis. Copy these on separate paper, leaving space
between each. (No commentary or analysis is necessary for these passages.)
Use MLA in text citation format to include the page number; “If this were a direct quote
from page 122 of a novel by Charlotte Bronte, I’d cite it like this” (Bronte 122). Notice
where the punctuation falls above.
Submit the analysis notes on your assigned Jane Eyre chapters to Turnitin.com
and bring a copy of those notes and your selected passages to class on
Monday, September 9th
AP Literature Summer Reading
Bilse
Why These Texts?
o
Why How to Read Literature Like a Professor? Understanding literature need no longer be a
mystery… Professors and other informed readers see symbols, archetypes, and patterns because
those things are there -- if you have learned to look for them. As Foster says, you learn to
recognize the literary conventions the "same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice" (xiv).
o Why Jane Eyre? Well, aside from being tied as the 3rd most frequently listed work on the Free
Response Question of the AP Exam, check out what Shmoop.com has to say:
When you look at Jane Eyre, you might just see a long novel about a gal in an ugly gray dress
whose life – a lot of the time – totally sucks. Whether she’s gagging on burned porridge at her
horrible boarding school or…wandering around on the moor starving to death, life is often painful
for Jane.
The thing is, it’s not painful to read about it. In fact, we start to get kind of obsessed with all the
gory details after a while. … Will Jane marry her cousin or agree to bigamy? Is there a ghost at
Thornfield Hall or is it a vampire? They could make a reality show out of this; it would be like
Supernanny + The Bachelorette + Ghost Hunters.
Of course, apart from the whole thirst-for-voyeurism thing that we all have, Jane Eyre also about
something else: The Man getting you down. Over and over, Jane’s put into situations where she’s
too young, too poor, or too powerless to win, but she has to try anyway, and we all know about
that. We’ve all been the kid who was completely mistreated by some random adult like Mrs.
Reed or Mr. Brocklehurst just because that person has a stick up you-know-where. We’ve all had
to accept that everyone would believe the adults just because they are adults, so they get away
with it. Maybe some of us have also been the young employee who gets pressured to do
something immoral by our boss. Or the girlfriend who finds out that her boyfriend’s taking
someone else out on Friday night. That "someone else" might not be an insane vampiric arsonist,
but hey, parallels only go so far.
What we’re trying to say is: half of Jane Eyre is pure get-the-popcorn omigosh-she-didn’t
spectacle, and the other half is looking pretty familiar.
Note from Mrs. Bilse: Don’t let the length of Jane Eyre intimidate you. It’s the longest book we read all
year, so we get it over with first. Stick with it! Get Jane through Low Wood (a “low point” in reader
entertainment) and then the real DRAMA begins!
AP Literature Summer Reading
Bilse
Appendix A: How to Read Literature like a Professor Writing Assignments
These short writing assignments will let you practice your literary analysis and they will help me get to
know you, your writing, and your literary tastes. Whenever I ask for an example from literature, you
may use short stories, novels, plays, or films. (If your literary repertoire is thin and undeveloped, use
the book’s appendix to jog your memory or to select additional works to explore. At the very least,
watch some of the "Movies to Read" that are listed on pages 293-294.) Please note that your
responses should be paragraphs -- not pages!
Remember to capitalize and punctuate titles properly for each genre. (A poem or short story is in
quotation marks, while longer works --like a novel, play, movie, or television-- series are italicized.)
Complete responses to five of these questions. Underlined/* chapters are required and you should
select three other chapter topics to explore. Submit responses to Turnitin.com by August 1.
(Turnitin.com Class ID: 6523527 Password: read)
Introduction: How'd He Do That?
How does the recognition of patterns/symbols
make it easier to read complicated literature?
Discuss a time when your appreciation of a work
was enhanced understanding symbol/pattern.
*Chapter 1: Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When
It's Not)
List the five aspects of the QUEST and then apply
them to something you have read (or viewed) in
the form used on pages 3-5.
Chapter 2: Nice to Eat with You: Acts of
Communion
Choose a meal from a literary work and apply the
ideas of Chapter 2 to this literary depiction.
Chapter 3: Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires
What are the essentials of the Vampire story?
Apply this to a literary work you have read or
viewed.
alludes to or reflects Shakespeare. Show how the
author uses this connection thematically.
Chapter 8: Hanseldee and Greteldum
Think of a work of literature that reflects a fairy
tale. Discuss the parallels. Does it create irony or
deepen appreciation?
Chapter 9: It's Greek to Me
Write a free verse poem derived or inspired by
characters or situations from Greek mythology.
Chapter 10: It's More Than Just Rain or Snow
Discuss the importance of weather in a specific
literary work, not in terms of plot.
Chapter 11: ...More Than It's Gonna Hurt You:
Concerning Violence
Present examples of the two kinds of violence
found in literature. Show how the effects are
different.
Chapter 12: Is That a Symbol?
Chapter 4: If It's Square, It's a Sonnet
Use the process described on page 106 and
Select a sonnet and show which form it is. Discuss investigate the symbolism of the fence in "Araby."
how the content reflects the form. (Submit a copy (Mangan's sister stands behind it.)
of the sonnet, marked to show your analysis).
Chapter 13: It's All Political
Chapter 5: Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before? Assume that Foster is right and "it is all political."
Define intertextuality. Discuss three examples that Use his criteria to show that one of the major
have helped you in reading specific works.
works assigned to you in high school (Romeo and
Chapter 6: When in Doubt, It's from
Juliet, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, A
Shakespeare...
Midsummer Night’s Dream, something from
Discuss a work that you are familiar with that
American Lit…) is political.
AP Literature Summer Reading
Bilse
Chapter 14 -- Yes, She's a Christ Figure, Too
Apply the criteria on page 119 to a major
character in a literary work. Choose a character
that will have many matches. This is a particularly
apt tool for analyzing film -- for example, Star
Wars, Cool Hand Luke, Excalibur, Malcolm X,
Braveheart, Spartacus, Gladiator and Ben-Hur.
Chapter 21: Marked for Greatness
Figure out Harry Potter's scar. If you aren't familiar
with Harry Potter, select another character with a
physical imperfection and analyze its implications
for characterization.
Chapter 22: He's Blind for a Reason, You Know,
Chapter 23: It's Never Just Heart Disease...
Chapter 15: Flights of Fancy
Chapter 24: ...And Rarely Just Illness
Select a literary work in which flight signifies
Recall two characters who died of a disease in a
escape or freedom. Explain in detail.
literary work. Consider how these deaths reflect
Chapter 16/17: It's All About Sex...Except the Sex the "principles governing the use of disease in
literature" (215-217). Discuss the effectiveness of
OK ..the sex chapters. The key idea from this
the death as related to plot, theme, or symbolism.
chapter is that "scenes in which sex is coded
rather than explicit can work at multiple levels and Chapter 25: Don't Read with Your Eyes
sometimes be more intense that literal depictions" After reading Chapter 25, choose a scene or
(141). In other words, sex is often suggested with episode from a novel, play or epic written before
much more art and effort than it is described, and, the twentieth century. Contrast how it could be
if the author is doing his job, it reflects and creates viewed by a reader from the twenty-first century
theme or character. Choose a novel or movie in
with how it might be viewed by a contemporary
which sex is suggested, but not described, and
reader. Focus on specific assumptions the author
discuss how the relationship is suggested and how makes that would not make it in this century.
this implication affects the theme or develops
Chapter 26: Is He Serious? And Other Ironies
characterization.
Select an ironic literary work and explain the
Chapter 18: If She Comes Up, It's Baptism
multivocal nature of the irony in the work.
Think of a "baptism scene" from a significant
*Chapter 27: A Test Case
literary work. How was the character different
Read "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield,
after the experience? Discuss.
the short story starting on page 245. Complete the
Chapter 19: Geography Matters...
exercise on pages 265-266, following the
Discuss at least four different aspects of a specific
directions exactly. Then compare your writing with
literary work that Foster would classify under
the three examples. How did you do? What does
"geography."
the essay that follows comparing Laura with
Chapter 20: ...So Does Season
Persephone add to your appreciation of
Find a poem that mentions a specific season. Then Mansfield's story?
discuss how the poet uses the season in a
Envoi
meaningful, traditional, or unusual way. (Submit a
Choose a motif not discussed in this book (as the
copy of the poem with your analysis.)
horse reference on page 280) and note its
Interlude: One Story
appearance in three or four different works. What
Write your own definition for archetype. Then
does this idea seem to signify?
identify an archetypal story and apply it to a
literary work with which you are familiar.
Adapted from assignments originally developed by Donna Anglin.
AP Literature Summer Reading
Bilse
Appendix B: Jane Eyre Quotation Analysis Examples and Chapter Assignments
*Quotation Analysis Example: first chapter of Jane Eyre (notes by Charlie Nettesheim)*
FORMAT for analysis/commentary assignment:
a. Quotation, Symbol, Theme or Point of Interest (with MLA in-text citation)
b. Analysis and Commentary (showing understanding of Foster’s ideas)
a. “…the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so somber, and rain so penetrating, that
further outdoor exercise was not out of the question.
I was glad of it: I never liked long walks” (Bronte 11).
b. Almost immediately, weather and season are set into play, but along with them is
irony. The weather, while terrible, seems to bring Jane joy, and if there is any truth in
foreshadowing, this book will likely be very depressing.
a. “John Reed was a school-boy of fourteen years old… large and stout for his age, with a dingy
and unwholesome skin” (Bronte 13).
b. Immediately your radar goes off while reading the before, during, and after of this
description, but John Reed, while cruel and quite ugly, doesn’t fit the devil “norm.”
He’s just not smart enough, and he doesn’t tempt: he demands.
a. “He ran headlong at me; I felt him grasp my hair and my shoulder: he had closed with a
desperate thing” (Bronte 15).
b. Violence almost always has a point. This is no exception. Reed’s “tender
ministrations” serve as a catalyst for Jane’s cathartic release, which, unfortunately,
sends her to the red room and puts the plot into overdrive.
Jane Eyre Quotation and Analysis Chapter Assignments
While you need to read the whole book, your five pairs of Quotation Analysis notes should
cover only your assigned chapters.
Last names beginning
A-F
G-L
M-P
Q-Z
Chapters 2-11
Chapters 12-20
Chapters 21-27
Chapters 28-36