English II Midyear Study Guide 2011
Summer Reading
Unit
Title (and location)
Genre
Century
Dawn
(Hungary and
France)
Topics
 Elisha’s moral dilemma
 Terrorism
Elie Wiesel
Novel
Late 20th
century1
Set in Palestine
“The Fisherman and the
Jinnee” from A Thousand
and One Arabian Nights
(World Masterpieces 8496)
Storytelling
Author and
Country of
Origin
“Federigo’s Falcon”
from The Decameron
(World Masterpieces 742750)
Promises
(documentary)
9th
century
Oral Tradition/
Anonymous
(Persia,
Baghdad, Cairo,
India)
Giovanni
Boccaccio
Folk Tale
Novella
(First
translated
from
Persian:
850 CE)
14th
Late
century
 Frame story
 Why do we tell stories?
 Storytelling as a defense or
justification
 Sense of right and wrong
(moral universe)
 Characteristics of folktales
 Frame story
 Fact/inference/judgment
(Florence, Italy)
Justine Shapiro
and B.Z.
Goldberg
(Israel/USA)
 Master narrative
Documentary
21st
century
Main Characters
Elisha
Gad
Ilana
Catherine
John Dawson
Old Man
Beggar
Young Elisha
David Ben Moshe
Sheherazade /
Shaharazad
King Shahriyar
Fisherman
Jinnee
King Yunan
Vizier
Dr. Duban
Sinbad
Falcon
Federigo
Monna Giovanna
Monna’s husband
Monna’s son
Falcon
Yarko and Daniel
Mahmoud
Shlomo
Sanabel
Faraj
Moishe
1
By "late" I mean roughly the second half of the century, post-World War II. Similarly, "early 20 th century" means the first half of the century. Lessing and
Narayan wrote for the entire century more or less, so for othem, know 20 th century.
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English II Midyear Study Guide 2011
Storytelling
(cont.)
Unit
Title
(and location)
“The Brave Little Tailor”
(online reading)
Author and
Country of
Origin
Oral Tradition
collected by
Jacob and
Wilhelm Grimm
Genre
Folk Tale
Century
Topics
Main Characters
 folktales
Tailor
Giants
King
King’s daughter
 Achebe’s purpose in writing
the novel
 Cultural Relativism
 Proverbs
 Rise and fall of Okonkwo
Unoka
Okonkwo
Ekwefi
Ezinma
Nwoye’s Mother
Nwoye
Ikemefuna
Ojuigo
Chielo
Agbala
Ezeudo
Obierika
Uchendu
Enoch
Mr. Kiaga
Mr. Brown
Mr. Smith
Distr. Commiss.
Egwugwu
Early 19th
century
Novel
(Germany)
Chinua Achebe
Things Fall Apart
Novel
(Nigeria)
Late 20th
century
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Unit
English II Midyear Study Guide 2011
Title
“The Moment Before the Gun
Went Off”
(Reading the World 333-339)
Author and
Country of
Origin
Nadine Gordimer
(South Africa)
Genre
Century
 Apartheid
 Unreliable (biased) narrator
Short
Story
Late 20th
century
Doris Lessing
“No Witchcraft for Sale”
(Reading the World 324-332)
Masks
“From Behind the Veil”
(Reading the World 422-428)
(Zimbabwe/
England)
Dhu’l Nun
Ayyoub
Topics
Short
Story
Late 20th
century
Short
Story
20th
Late
century
 Why Gideon doesn’t give up
his secret
 Relationship between
Gideon and Farquars
 Teddy’s development
 Conflicting attitudes towards
the veil and tradition
 paradoxes
(Iraq)
 Truth
“Like the Sun”
(Reading the World 451-455)
R.K. Narayan
(India)
“The Youngest Doll”
(Reading the World 81-87)
Rosario Ferré
“Another Evening at the Club”
(Reading the World 365-372)
Alifa Rifaat
(Puerto Rico)
(Egypt)
Short
Story
20th
century
Short
Story
Late 20th
century
Short
Story
20th
Late
century
 Magical Realism
 Role of women
 Women as objects (dolls)
 Gender roles in marriage
 Power structures
Main Characters
Narrator
Lucas
Van der Vyver
Captain Beetge
Alida
Lucas’s mother
Gideon
Teddy
Mrs. Farquar
Doctor
Ihsan
Siham
Siham’s father
Veiled girls
Unveiled girls
Sekhar
Sekhar’s wife
Headmaster
Aunt
Youngest niece
Doctor
Young Doctor
Dolls
Prawns
Samia
Abboud Bey
Gazia
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The Odyssey
English II Midyear Study Guide 2011
Homer
The Odyssey
Epic Poem
(Greece)
Late 8th
Century
BCE
 Telemakhos’ journey
 Athena’s intervention in
Telemakhos’ life
 Relationships between gods
and mortals
 Xenia, Kleos, Nostos
Odysseus
Penelope
Telemakhos
Athena
Poseidon
Zeus
Nestor
Menelaos
Helen
Agammemnon
Lady Klytaimnestra
Aigisthos
Orestes
Antinoos
Exam Topics:
I. Chart – Matching (Title, author, country, genre, century [you do not need to know “early” or “late”])
II. Quotation identification by title and/or character
III. Multiple choice questions on the readings.
IV. Vocabulary. Multiple choice.
V. MLA Citations, quotation sandwiches, formal writing rules, how to write titles, quotation marks for dialogue
VI. Essay (more details later)
What to Study:
 Handouts of supplemental material, such as the “Escape and Interpretation” article
 Reading guides
 Reading Rewards
 Vocabulary Quizzes
 Class notes
 Notes written in books
 USE THE WEBSITE TO HELP YOU REVIEW!
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