HISP 11th grade Summer 2010 Reading Assignment
This summer, you will read:
Tortilla Curtain, by TC Boyle, and The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair.
Effective readers interact with a text, actively questioning and taking note of their own reading process. An efficient method of
tracking your experience with the complexity of a novel is to keep a journal of responses. Writing about quotes from a novel is
not easy; it requires practice, and is not always a self-evident way to generate your own ideas about fiction. The chart that
follows is a structured guide to develop, or reinforce, this skill of “close reading.” If you have any questions regarding this
assignment during the summer, e-mail us:
Danielgatten@comcast.net
What you are to do:
1) While reading, select FIVE quotations from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, representatively taken from throughout the
story, beginning to end. List, then respond, to your passages as explained below.
2) While Reading, select FIVE quotations in the same manner from The Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle.
Quotations Clarified
Qualities of a Good Quote
• a quote is any word, sentence, or passage taken from a
written text
• the words can be but are not necessarily spoken dialogue
• whatever appears between quotations marks should be
exactly what the text/person wrote or said
• it is meaningful: to you, to the author, or to the characters
• it is about something important: an event, person, idea
• you know that you can write about it
• invites/helps you make connections between the book and
yourself
Quote
Quote and page # here
Questions/
Comments
(done during reading)
3-5 questions or comments that will
help you write well about the quote
Possible question/comment
“starters”:
• I keep wondering why….
• What caused….
• I think….
• This is similar to….
• This is important because….
• What do they mean by….
• What I find confusing is….
• What will happen next is….
• I can relate to this because….
• This reminds me of….
• As I read, I keep wanting to ask….
• (others of your choice)
Responses
(done after reading the segment that prompted
the question or comment)
Use the questions to help you write about the quote here
Use this area to summarize, analyze, synthesize, or
evaluate the quotation you have chosen
Possible response “starters”:
• The important idea is….
• This point is important because….
• The author wants me to think….
• At this point the story is about….
• I still don’t understand because….
• What interests me most is….
• The author’s purpose here is….
• A good word to describe (tone, character, plot, etc.)
is…because….
• This idea is similar to…and is significant because….
• (others of your choice)
Sample Quote
(from the Young
Adult novel Seedfolks
by Paul Fleischman)
• “I can change
that. Can
change it big.
Better to put my
time into that
than moaning
about the other
all day. That
little grammarschool girl
showed me that.”
(p. 16)
Sample Questions /
Comments
Sample Response
• What can’t he change —
“the other” — and why
can’t he change it?
• Should he change it?
If yes, what might
happen?
• What does he “moan”
about?
• How did Kim, the
“grammar-school girl,”
show him this?
• This is an important moment for
Gonzalo: he begins to look at the
glass as “half-full” instead of halfempty. By this I mean he begins to
focus on what he CAN do instead of what
he can’t do. I can’t change the
attitudes or mistakes others will make.
Already we see what happens if you
change things: Kim’s seeds started a
chain reaction that is beginning to
change the neighborhood and the people
in it. She showed people — without
meaning to or even realizing it — that
anything is possible if you have
courage.
3)
Based on your charted responses to The Jungle and The Tortilla Curtain, be prepared to write a well-developed essay that
explores what you feel is the most meaningful comparison or contrast between the two books. They may at first seem to have
nothing in common nor have a meaningful connection, but consider the traditional literary elements — plot, character, setting,
tone, themes, style — and find a way to discuss both books, even if your point is how different they are. A possible starting
place (but not a required one) is to consider how the author and/or the characters experience what it means, within these stories,
to be an American.
These notes will be collected in the first several days of class in September, followed by a quiz simply for accountability. Make
an effort to avoid the SparkNotes approach in which familiar quotations are easily downloaded, without reflection on your part.
Do your own thinking, without fear that there is a “wrong” response to your novels — avoid only the writing of an unsupported
response. Make whatever arrangements are necessary to have these two novels with you for at least the first two weeks of
class.
In summary: 1) read The Jungle and The Tortilla Curtain; 2) chart your responses to both novels as
formatted here
(If you are downloading this assignment, the hard copy handout has three full pages formatted in blank columns for note-taking,
like the page following this one. For more writing space, you may simply draw columns on your own stationery.)
Reminder: all components of this assignment must be typed.
Quote
Quote and page # here
Questions/
Comments
(made during reading)
3-5 questions or comments that will
help you write well about the quote
Responses
(after reading a segment)
Use the questions to help you write about the quote here
Use this area to summarize, analyze, synthesize, or
evaluate the quotation you have chosen