Welcome to Advanced Placement Literature and Composition!
I congratulate you for accepting this academic challenge and for loving
fine literature. Your efforts will be rewarded!
NOTE: This document is also available online at:
http://www.paintsville.kyschools.us/olc/class.aspx?id=7890&s=1012
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Here are a few tips on how to survive and thrive in AP Lit:
Communicate. If you’re absent or something is impairing your ability to focus on schoolwork,
let’s talk. I’m a good listener.
Ask questions. If you have any about this summer assignment, please ask. During the summer,
contact me with serious questions at elizadoolittle_ky@msn.com or text me at 606.793.1828.
Please excuse in advance a delayed response.
Try not to stress. The only way you fail in AP Lit. is the way you fail in any endeavor–you don’t
do the work. Most AP Lit. students earn an A or B in the class if they are present each day. You
will receive 10 points each day just for showing up and participating in reading, discussion,
group work, etc… These are points that you can’t make up so it’s important to be here.
If you have skipped the MLA Research paper in AP Lang., you will be required to pass an exam
over MLA at the start of school. Refer to Diana Hacker Research and Documentation for help
with understanding MLA over the summer. You will also be required to complete a research
paper as a parallel assignment in addition to your other AP Lit assignments.
Develop a vision of yourself as a scholar of literature and an idea for a senior project that explores
a genre or historical period. What areas of interest would you like to explore or what skills
would you like to develop?
Read closely and actively with a pen or pencil always in hand.
Guess! You may think Madame B is a butterfly or a young girl, but as you struggle with meaning,
be sure to guess. The beauty of great literature is that its study is subjective and therefore open to
any interpretation as long as you can support your interpretation by
quoting the literature itself.
Stay organized and keep up. You will need to read and work ahead; monthly calendars will help.
AP Literature is not a class that gets you ready for college, it is college. I will not remind you of
missed assignments and I do not accept late work in AP.
Be brave. Going from 0 (summer) to 120 mental MPH (AP Lit.) is not easy and the first month
will be tough. I promise it will get easier as we go, and I’ll support and encourage you all the way
down the road.
Love to think! Your brain might get tired once in a while, but if you keep asking the question,
“What does this mean?” you will quickly learn to come up with really good answers!
Books We Will Read:
I haven’t decided the works we will read this year. I have a large repertoire of books to work from but I
need to know more about what you’ve read before I make the decision. Unfortunately, our library does
not carry all of the books we read so be prepared to purchase a few paperbacks. Paperbacks we read can
usually be found on eBay or Amazon for pennies, fortunately!
AP Literature ~ Summer Homework for the 2013-2014 Year
To prepare for the class, please read two of the novels/plays from the list below
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,
Tom Stoppard *read with Hamlet
Atonement, Ian McEwan
The Bluest Eye or Beloved, Toni Morrison
Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
Moll Flanders, Daniel Dafoe
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
We Were the Mulvaneys, Joyce Carol Oates
MacBeth, William Shakespeare
For Whom the Bell Tolls or A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams
Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
*read with MacBeth
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
The Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Reading both novels and completing the two summer work assignments below is worth 300 points if your summer
work is turned in on the first day of school. Any edition of these novels will do. Please don’t hesitate to ask about
these assignments during the summer by e-mailing me.
A little help from your friends? Of course I hope you’ll discuss the novels and assignments with fellow readers, but
DO NOT share your written work or read your written work aloud to anyone. If you use a study guide, please cite it
informally e.g. (Sparknotes) where you used it.
Copying other peoples work will result in a grade of ZERO and dismissal from AP Lit.
Two Written Assignments based on your choice of novels/plays:
Background: Searching for Self-actualization
“Self-actualization” is a term coined by Abraham Maslow to describe the highest pinnacle of human achievement. It
is “the desire to become . . . everything that one is capable of becoming.” As Maslow puts it, “A musician must make
music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is ultimately to be at peace with himself. What a man can be, he
must be.” Becoming self-actualized involves realizing your potential and developing it to the full by accepting evergreater challenges and learning from mistakes. People who achieve self-actualization are wise, peaceful, in harmony
with the world, creative, very efficient, and self-fulfilled. Whether we realize it or not, we are all striving for selfactualization. This is true of the protagonists in almost every work of literature, and it is true of characters in these
selections
1. ) PART 1
A. Select a protagonist you wish to analyze from one of the novel(s)/play(s) you read and do the following:
B. List at least five internal forces for one of them (example: Marlowe from Heart of Darkness or Grace from Alias
Grace) that prevent self-actualization and five external forces (circumstances outside his or her control) that
prevent self-actualization. Briefly explain how each force limits
the character by identifying a negative mindset or character, a plot point or the limiting circumstances. Note that
physical characteristics such as being small, plain, or young are not personality traits.
C. List at least five internal and five external forces that advance or aid in Huck/Jane’s self-actualization and explain
them briefly using examples from the text.
• When finished, you should have four labeled lists of five phrases for either Marlowe or Grace.
2.) PART 2
A Self-actualization Essay: Do Marlow or Grace ever achieve self-actualization? How do you know? Handwrite in
ink one essay of at least one full page (two sides of the paper) in which you assess the degree to which Marlowe or
Grace do or do not achieve self-actualization and explain your opinions. Refer to specific evidence in the novel for
support.
NOTE: Be prepared to write an essay on the other work during the first week of class.