AP English III, Language and Composition, 11th Grade: Summer Reading Text and Assignment
In preparation for the commencement of 11th grade AP Language and Composition, I ask that you read The House of
Mirth by Edith Wharton. The required edition of this text is edited by Shari Benstock and published by Bedford / St.
Martin’s. ISBN-10: 0-312-06234-6. It is imperative that our entire class explores the same edition, for pagination and
critical apparatus. You will find that it is much easier to prepare for and participate in discussion if you can easily
reference page numbers in class. This text can be ordered easily on Amazon. Make sure to obtain this exact edition.
Please read this text carefully. As you read, I would like you to consider the trajectory of Wharton’s protagonist, Lily
Bart. To chart your character exploration, please write a five-paragraph essay of approximately 750-1000 words.
As you read The House of Mirth, please keep in mind the question “Do you sympathize with Lily, or not, and why?” Your
essay will answer this question. Please make sure that you choose one argumentative position or the other: do you
sympathize with the protagonist or not? Allow this one opinion to drive your argumentation and explanations in your
paragraphs. Your thesis, the last sentence of your introductory paragraph, should answer this question. Thus, your thesis
can be as simple as, “In Edith Wharton’s novel The House of Mirth, the protagonist does not deserve sympathy” or “In
Edith Wharton’s novel The House of Mirth, the protagonist deserves sympathy.” If you would like to be more specific in
your thesis, this is fine. Please keep in mind that a thesis must contain author, text, and the argument you’ll prove in your
essay.
Structure: This is a five-paragraph expository essay. Your paragraphs must include an introduction (the last sentence of
which is your thesis), three body paragraphs (each of which begins with an argumentative topic sentence, and explores
exact language from the text to prove your argument, ending with a concluding sentence emphasizing the main
argumentative point of your paragraph), and a concluding paragraph where you analyze the significance of your
argument. When forming your conclusion, ask yourself the question, “why must a reader understand the protagonist and
the novel in the way that I’ve explored them?”

Topic sentences are the first sentences of each body paragraph, and must present the argument you will prove
in your body paragraph. Plot summary does not constitute a topic sentence. Make sure that your topic
sentence contains a debatable point, which you will prove via linguistic analysis.

Quotations from the novel are required. The text’s language is your evidence. Plan on one-two well chosen
quotations per body paragraph. The rest of the body paragraph must be composed of your analysis.
I expect that your essay will be grammatically proper, paying close attention to syntax and semantics. Use of the 2nd
person perspective (“you,” “your,” “you’re”) is not permitted. Use of the conditional (“would,” “could,” “should”) is not
permitted. Write in the present tense whenever possible when discussing literature. Stylistic accompaniment to your adept
literary and character analysis is also expected, along with careful proofreading.
Although annotations are not required, you are strongly encouraged to take notes in your books as you read. These notes
will be valuable both for class discussions and for eventual formation of your essay. Taking notes as you read is a
necessary habit to foster now, as your notes will be essential for reading comprehension needed to match the pace
maintained in AP Language and Composition. Your text’s cover should look like this:
Here is the Amazon link to this text: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=searchalias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+house+of+mirth+shari+benstock