AP ENGLISH IV SUMMER WORK ASSIGNMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS
General Instructions:
1. Each assignment is due on turnitin.com by midnight of the due date indicated. Add the course AP
English 2013-14 using course id # 6466596 and enrollment password huxley. Should there be a
problem with turnitin at any time during the summer e-mail your essay to me at
cwilliams@fenwickfalcons.org.
2. If you know that you will be unable to make a deadline, call or e-mail me at least three days before
the deadline. Otherwise, I will wonder what happened to your assignment and then assign a late
penalty when it does arrive.
3. If you are struggling to understand something, please feel free to call or e-mail me with your
questions. I am always happy to help you, but do not get into the habit of getting an explanation
from me, Sparknotes, or a classmate for each assignment. At this point, you should be able to do
this yourself; however, if you are truly stuck, I am happy to help you.
4. You are reminded that your work needs to be of high quality – the best of which you are capable. If
your work does not meet my expectations (80% or higher) and I don’t think you are putting forth your
best effort, I can, and will, drop you from the class.
5. Each assignment consists of answering 5-10 analysis questions for each book read and writing an
essay. Both parts should be typed and submitted to turnitin.com.
6. Additionally you will begin working on journals for a book on analysis called How to Read Literature
Like a Professor. Journal responses for the chapters in this book will be due on turnitin.com every
other Thursday throughout the year with the first introduction and first 2 chapters due on August 16.
7. Works and due dates:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys due July 8.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley due July 29.
The Stranger by Albert Camus due August 12 and 19.
How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster introduction and chps. 1-2
due August 5.
8. How to reach me during the summer:
Address: 7085 Harriet Ave.
Franklin, OH 45005
Phone: (937) 232-5160
e-mail: cwilliams@fenwickfalcons.org
9. Essays will be graded as promptly as possible with grades and corrections visible on turnitin.com two
weeks after the assignment due date.
10. Please read the instructions for keeping the reading response journal and the essay prompts
carefully.
11. A familiar list of “do’s and don’t’s” for essay writing are included to help you understand what I will
be looking for in your essays.
GENERAL WRITING INSTRUCTIONS
1. Don’t use “I” even when an opinion is called for. You are the author of the essay, therefore I know that
this is your opinion.
2. Don’t speak directly to your audience by using the pronoun “you.” When a writer uses “you,” it sounds
as though he/she is instructing his/her audience on how to read and/or understand the work under
discussion and is, therefore, insulting to the reader.
3. TYPE all of your work and use the correct heading in the upper left hand corner. Name on 1st line,
course name on the second line, and date on the third line.
4. All essays should use the five paragraph format.
5. Don’t use words like “a lot” and “so.” You should have a better working vocabulary than that.
6. Human beings require the use of the word “who” not the word “that,” as in “the girl who . . .” NOT “the
girl that . . .” Characters in a literary work, by the way, are human.
7. Be aware of the proper use of commas.
8. Use present tense verbs to discuss the events of a literary work. Every time a reader opens the novel
the characters are doing the actions of the novel, therefore it is the present in the novel at all times.
9. Be concise but completely explain your points. I find that students who write excessively in response to
a question and/or have paragraphs of more than a page in an essay have no confidence in what they are
saying. They are either rewriting the Cliff notes on the topic or spewing out everything they can think of
in the vain hope that the answer they think I want is contained within.
10. Make sure you explain your thinking and support your ideas with solid textual evidence.
11. Relax and go with what you see in the novel. As long as you do #9 and #10 and actually read the novel, I
won’t tell you that you are out of your tree.
12. Finally, don’t expect a 100% on any of these assignments: no one, especially not high school students, is
perfect which is what a 100% represents. Therefore, don’t expect one even if your essay is the finest
piece of analysis written in the 21st century.
SUMMER ASSIGNMENTS
Assignment #1 – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys due July 8.
Questions for Jane Eyre
1. 1. Analyze the way in which Charlotte Brontë uses the five settings in the novel to structure the novel,
develop the plot, develop Jane’s character, and create the novel’s conflict. The five settings are:
Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield, Moor House, Ferndean. For two of the settings, assess the following:
a. Briefly describe the setting itself and how the setting reflects Jane’s life at that point.
b. List the other characters associated with this particular setting and the influence that they have
on Jane’s development.
c. Explain the growth /development of Jane’s character in the setting. Use/find three quotes from
each section that demonstrate Jane’s development.
d. Examine the conflicts (both internal and external) with which Jane is confronted in the setting.
2. Charlotte Brontë used a number of allusions in writing the novel. Find five; then explain the meaning of
the allusion and why Bronte used it in that particular place. For example in chp. 3 Jane says “Abbot, I
think, gave me credit for being a sort of infantile Guy Fawkes.” Guy Fawkes was one of the ringleaders
of the Gunpowder Plot (a plan to blow up Parliament in 1605). Brontë wants the reader to see Abbot’s
fear of Jane’s violent nature.
3. Beginning with the serving of coffee in chp. 17, Brontë shifts Jane’s narrative from past tense to present
tense. Why does she do this, and what is the effect on the reader and the story?
4. What is a Gothic novel? What elements of the Gothic novel may be seen in Jane Eyre?
5. What is a “Byronic hero.” How might the qualities of a Byronic hero be applied to Rochester in this
novel?
6. Brontë populates the novel with many female characters roughly the same age as Jane – Georgiana and
Eliza Reed, Helen Burns, Blanche Ingram, Mary and Diana Rivers, Rosamund Oliver. Choose one or two of
these young women and explain how she(they) serve as a foil to Jane.
7. Determine one potential theme for the novel and find at least three quotes to support each of your
potential themes. Remember that a theme is statement not a word.
Questions for Wide Sargasso Sea
1. This novel is set in Jamaica sometime after 1834 when slavery was prohibited in British colonies. What
role does the setting --– both time and place --- play in the novel? Would this story work in a different
time and place or is the setting essential to the story? Explain.
2. Social status also plays a significant role in this novel. In the Jamaican society of the 1830’s and 1840’s,
what is the meaning of “white people,” “Creoles,” and “black people”? What is Antoinette’s status in
this society? How does this affect her state of mind?
3. The novel uses a first-person point-of-view; however, the first person changes, and even when the
narrator remains the same, the audience changes and so therefore, do the details of the story. Why
does Rhys use such a “messy” narrative? What effect does this narrative have on the reader?
4. What is the significance of the novel’s title?
5. What role do names and naming play in the novel? Why is Rochester essentially unnamed in the novel?
Why does he begin to call Antoinette Bertha?
6. What is the significance of fire in the story? What roles does it play in the plot and the meaning of the
novel?
7. How and why is the ending of the novel ambiguous?
Essay prompt:
These two novels tell two parts of the same story from the perspective of two different female
characters, both of whom have a relationship with the primary male character in both novels, Edward Rochester.
The second book does allow Rochester the opportunity to narrate a portion. Based on the evidence in the two
novels, write an essay explaining the true nature of the character, Edward Rochester. Is he a hero or a villain?
Misguided or cruel? A victim of his own circumstances and era?
Assignment #2 – Brave New World by Aldous Huxley due July 29.
Questions for Brave New World
1. Look up “dystopia” and explain why Brave New World is considered a novel in that genre. Toward
the end of the book, the Controller Mustapha Mond sums up the benefits of living in the "brave new
world" Utopia: "The world's stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never
want what they can't get." It sounds like perfection, and yet the world Mond describes is deeply,
intentionally horrifying. Why? What exactly is so bad about this society of the future? Is there
anything good about it, anything we could learn from and try to adapt to our own uses?
2. John Savage and Mustapha Mond discuss civilization in chapter 17. John says two startling things:
“What you need is something with tears for a change. Nothing costs enough here.” And “But I don’t
want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I
want sin.” Think about what John means and why Mond is mystified by John’s statement. Take the
side of Mond and Savage and clarifty the points of view of each in this discussion.
3. What is the significance of choosing Henry Ford as “God”?
4. How is the name John Savage ironic? What kind of irony is this?
5. The two greatest obscenities in the society of Brave New World are birth and mother. Why?
6. One of the most striking - and comic - aspects of Huxley's Utopia is the way our sexual mores and
assumptions have been turned on their head: monogamy is bad, passion is deviation, casual,
meaningless sex is the socially approved norm. What is Huxley getting at here? Is there any
expression of human sexuality that he finds acceptable? Is sex at the heart of the "problem" in his
view of human nature?
7. When John first starts reading Shakespeare, he discovers that the words make his emotions "more
real" - they even make other people more real. Talk about the power of language in the book, the
power of the word to influence thought and behavior. Why did Huxley choose Shakespeare as the
medium of John's intellectual awakening?
Essay prompt:
One of the most interesting and scary aspects of this novel are the creepy similarities between the world
Huxley envisioned in the 1932 and the world in which we live today. Write an essay that compares life as Huxley
described it in the World State with life in the United States today. Include at least three of these aspects of life
in your paper: Human life/death, love and marriage, art (literature, film, architecture, etc.), consumption of
goods and services, use of drugs (including alcohol and tobacco), pleasure/self-indulgence, and religion. Come to
conclusion as to the accuracy of Huxley’s predictions.
Assignment #3 – The Stranger by Albert Camus questions due August 12 and essay due August 19.
Questions for The Stranger
1. Choose two of the following images and/or symbols and explain the significance of Camus’s use of
them in the novel. What do they represent or signal to the reader? Why does Camus use them in
this manner?
The sun, heat, and weather
Colors
The old, odd, robotic woman in Part 1 chp. 5 and Part 2 chp. 3
The crucifix
The young reporter in the courtroom
The courtroom
Laughing and swimming
2. Read the addendum on existentialism and the absurd. Explain how both related philosophies are
present in the novel.
3. What is the effect of Mersault’s detached first-person narration of the story? Remember, he’s
committed a crime and will be guillotined if convicted.
4. Explain the meaning of the title thinking about the following bit of information. This novel was
originally written in French with the title L’Étranger which can be translated as either The Stranger
or The Foreigner. Does the translation matter? If so, why?
Essay prompt:
The senior talon is “Faith” and this novel deals with how people behave when they have little or no
spiritual or religious faith or belief in a higher power or life after death. Camus considered himself an absurdist
while many critics label him an existentialist. In both cases, these writers believe that there is no great purpose
in life beyond the here and now. After class discussion in the first day(s) of these concepts in relation to the
novel, write an essay which examines Mersault’s motivation, or lack of motivation, and how it affects the people
around him and how Mersault’s actions, thoughts, and beliefs demonstrate what a world lacking faith-filled
people would be like.
Assignment #4 – How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster journals for Introduction and
chps. 1-2 due August 5.
Journal responses:
This is NOT a novel, obviously. It is a succinct and occasionally humorous non-fiction piece which brings
together some of the things you have learned about looking at literature over the past three years and
introduces some additional ideas. You do not need to keep the typical response journal for this; instead you
must respond to the prompts for the various chapters of the book on the attached page. Each response should
be about a page long. The first three (the Introduction, chp.1, and chp. 2) are due on turnitin.com on August 5.
The remainder will be due one at a time every other Thursday until we finish the book. The list of prompts for
the ENTIRE YEAR is attached so DON’T LOSE IT!!!
Addendum for The Stranger:
Many critics label Albert Camus as an existentialist writer. What exactly does that mean? During the 1930s and
1940s, many writers and intellectuals adopted a popular philosophy, existentialism, which views human beings in
a different light:
“It pulls them out of an ordered or even disordered universe and sets them apart and alone in an empty
world to fend for themselves. They have the freedom to make choices, but very little stimulus and almost no
will to do so. They are therefore moved about by forces they cannot resist and do not understand. Their
suffering is the product of loneliness, alienation, and incomprehension. This dying is not the result of actions by
themselves or an adversary, or of an attrition caused by sickness or age. The protagonist’s heroism takes the
form of acceptance. He will protest his condition, but in the end, because he cannot avoid his inevitable doom,
whether it be to remain forever in a state of suspended anticipation, or to be absorbed into emptiness without
leaving a trace of having had ‘being,’ the existential hero says, “So be it,” and dropping protest, submits. His
quiet submission in the face of the powerful forces that annihilate him gives him nobility and heroism – in effect
his ‘essence,’ his ‘existence.’
The surprise and wonder in response to the incomprehensible events about him lead the existential hero
to bizarre performances. He often becomes a comic figure, almost mechanical, whose gestures and behavior he
cannot control. He is therefore amusing, but in a way that jolts an audience into the realization that all human
beings are clowns and that the world is either an empty stage or an empty circus. The drama is tragicomedy or
pure tragedy.”
The above description is seen as almost a blueprint for the story of Meursault, the protagonist in The Stranger,
by those critics who label Camus as an existentialist.
On the other hand, Camus himself did not see himself as an existential writer but as a writer of the absurd. This
is a much misunderstood philosophical category, due in part to the differences in linguistic qualities and
connotations present (or not) in French and English. Camus is French and wrote in French so his works are
translated and sometimes the connotations given to something in French do not exactly translate into English.
The word “absurd” in English has an automatic negative judgment and feeling that all further discussion is closed
when the word is applied to a topic. It does not have the same connotation in French. Below is an explanation
of the Absurd as Camus saw it:
“. . . presumes the absence of any kind of universal logic or direction generally associated with the idea
of divinity. [One] doesn’t even miss or desire God. . . .
Without divinity there can be no presumed code of conduct for human beings, not any explanation of
life’s meaning. We are simply thrown into this world and the outcome is death, pure and simple. There is only
life before and nothing beyond. And yet, this absence of explanation is not, in itself, the idea of the Absurd.
‘What is absurd is the confrontation between the sense of the irrational and the overwhelming desire for
clarity which resounds in the depths of man.’
The Absurd is thus a pointless quest for meaning in a universe devoid of purpose. It is a totally human
foible and, once again, only defines the beginning of the questioning of existence. Coming to terms with the
Absurd is what essentially concerns Camus, because this accounts for the terrible ‘weight and strangeness’ of the
world as experienced by every human being. The feeling of absurdity is ‘the separation between man and his
life,’ an actor walking out on stage and not recognizing the scenery or knowing the lines of the play he is
supposed to speak, a sense of permanent displacement and un-belonging.”
Addendum for How to Read Literature Like a Professor;
Introduction: How'd He Do That?
How do memory, symbol, and pattern affect the reading of literature? How does the recognition of patterns make it easier to
read complicated literature? Discuss a time when your appreciation of a literary work was enhanced by understanding symbol
or 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 35.
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.
Chapter 4 -- If It's Square, It's a Sonnet
Select two sonnets (each should be by a different poet) and show which form they are. Discuss how their content reflects the
form. (Submit copies of the sonnets, marked to show your analysis).
Chapter 5 --Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?
Define intertextuality. Discuss three examples that have helped you in reading specific works.
Chapter 6 -- When in Doubt, It's from Shakespeare...
Discuss a work that you are familiar with that alludes to or reflects Shakespeare. Show how the author uses this connection
thematically. Read pages 44-46 carefully. In these pages, Foster shows how Fugard reflects Shakespeare through both plot
and theme. In your discussion, focus on theme.
Chapter 7 -- ...Or the Bible
Read "Araby" (available online). Discuss Biblical allusions that Foster does not mention. Look at the example of the "two great
jars." Be creative and imaginative in these connections.
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
Discuss the influence of Greek mythology in any work you have read or watched.
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.
Interlude -- Does He Mean That
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?
Use the process described on page 106 and investigate the symbolism of the fence in "Araby." (Mangan's sister stands behind
it.)
Chapter 13 -- It's All Political
Assume that Foster is right and "it is all political." Use his criteria to show that one of the major works assigned to you over
the past three years is political.
Chapter 14 -- Yes, She's a Christ Figure, Too
Apply the criteria on page 119 to a major character in a significant literary work. Try to 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 15 -- Flights of Fancy
Select a literary work in which flight signifies escape or freedom. Explain in detail.
Chapter 16 -- It's All About Sex...
Chapter 17 -- ...Except the Sex
OK ..the sex chapters. The key idea from these chapters is that "scenes in which sex is coded rather than explicit can work at
multiple levels and sometimes be more intense than literal depictions" (141). In other words, sex is often suggested with
much more art and effort than it is described, and, if the author is doing his job, it reflects and creates theme or character.
Choose a novel or movie in which sex is suggested, but not described, and discuss how the relationship is suggested and how
this implication affects the theme or develops characterization.
Chapter 18 -- If She Comes Up, It's Baptism
Think of a "baptism scene" from a significant literary work. How was the character different after the experience? Discuss.
Chapter 19 -- Geography Matters…
Discuss at least four different aspects of a specific literary work that Foster would classify under "geography."
Chapter 20 -- ...So Does Season
Find a poem that mentions a specific season. Then discuss how the poet uses the season in a meaningful, traditional, or
unusual way. (Submit a copy of the poem with your analysis.)
Interlude -- One Story
Write your own definition for archetype. Then identify an archetypal story and apply it to a literary work with which you are
familiar.
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 24 -- ...And Rarely Just Illness
Recall two characters who die of a disease in a literary work. Consider how these deaths reflect the "principles governing the
use of disease in literature" (215-217). Discuss the effectiveness of the death as related to plot, theme, or symbolism.
Chapter 25 -- Don't Read with Your Eyes
After reading Chapter 25, choose a scene or episode from a novel, play or epic written before the twentieth century.
Contrast how it could be viewed by a reader from the twenty-first century with how it might have been viewed by a
contemporary (meaning at the time the work was written) reader. Focus on specific assumptions that the author makes,
assumptions that would not be made in this century.
Chapter 26 -- Is He Serious? And Other Ironies
Select an ironic literary work and explain the multivocal nature of the irony in the work.
Chapter 27 -- A Test Case
Read “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield, the short story starting on page 245. Complete the exercise on pages 265266, following the directions exactly. Then compare your writing with the three examples. How did you do? What does the
essay that follows comparing Laura with Persephone add to your appreciation of Mansfield's story?
Envoi
Choose a motif not discussed in this book (as the horse reference on page 280) and note its appearance in three or four
different works. What does this idea seem to signify?