Course Information

AP English Literature and Composition will be a demanding college-level course, and you will be expected to function at a higher level than you ever have before. The teacher will guide, support, and coach you, but you must become an independent thinker and worker in many ways.

To acquaint yourself with the general description and expectations for the AP English Literature and Composition course, I recommend that you visit the College Board Advanced Placement Program web site and then read specifically about the AP English Literature course. There you will also find study skills, reading tips, sample questions, and other information about the exam and the course.

AP Literature &

Composition

Summer Assignments

Introduction

Summer Reading

Research suggests that you need to read at least ONE book per month during the summer in order to prevent the detrimental “summer slide.” So, for the summer assignments for AP Literature and Composition, students will review literary terminology necessary for this course. In addition, students will read TWO books of their choice from the attached list. You will CREATE TWO SKETCH NOTES that synthesize your reading and analysis skills. The students are expected to purchase the texts or check them out from the local library. Please plan ahead, and don’t wait until August. Additionally, I have listed here the books you will need to purchase for the school year. Please procure each title early because school copies will not be provided.

PART I: AP Prep: Review Literary Terms (quiz on Day 2 of school)

PART II: Choice Books and Sketch Notes

This packet contains the following information:

Part I: Literary Terms Review

Part II: Reading & Sketch Notes

Sketch Notes Guidelines

Sample Sketch Notes

The Five Essential Elements of Fiction Analysis: a review of your English classes in high school. Reading List

Rubric for Sketch Notes

Texts for School Year (additional texts will be copied):

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York, Random House, 1994. Print.

Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Random House, 1984. Print.

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2003. Print.

McEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York: Random House, 2003. Print.

Part I: Literary Analysis ReviewDue Day 2 of School

This is not a conclusive list of literary terms for AP Literature; students should be familiar with these terms at the beginning of the year. Please review the terms and ensure that you know each definition and could identify an example. Terms with * by them are referenced on “The Five Essential Elements of Fiction Analysis.”

AP Literature Summer Assignment

Narrative

Point of View*

· First person narration*

· Third-person narration

· Omniscient narration*

· Limited omniscient narration*

· Free indirect discourse

· Objective Narrator*

· Unreliable narrator

· Stream-of-consciousness narration*

Character*

· Protagonist*

· Hero/Heroine*

· Antagonist*

· Stock character*

· Dynamic character*

· Flat character*

· Round Character*

· Foil*

· Confidant/Confidante*

· Mentor*

Characterization*

· Direct characterization*

· Indirect characterization*

Setting*

Plot

· Conflict*

· Rising action

· Climax

· Falling action

· Resolution

Elements of Style

Figures of Speech

· Alliteration

· Apostrophe

· Assonance

· Cacophony

· Cliché

· Hyperbole

· Metaphor

· Metonymy

· Onomatopoeia

· Oxymoron

· Paradox

· Personification

· Rhetorical Question

· Simile

· Synaesthesia

· Synecdoche

Literary Techniques

· Antithesis

· Allusion

· Foreshadowing

· Irony

· Verbal irony

· Situational irony

· Dramatic Irony

· Juxtaposition

Thematic Meaning

· Imagery

· Motif

· Symbol

· Theme*

· Thesis

· Tone

Part II: Reading Due Week 2 of School

Read 2 books and annotate. When you are finished with each text, synthesize the content of your reading and your analysis of fictional tropes and stylistic choices into sketch notes.

Sketch Notes Guidelines

Core Writing Skills:

·

· Making an argumentative, risky claim with each theme statement

· Supporting your position with textual evidence

· Integrating and citing evidence

Assessment:

· Each Sketch Note will be worth 60 points and graded using the attached rubric.

Formatting Requirements:

· Each sketch notes should be one page double-sided and done BY HAND.

Content Requirements:

· Claims: Each sketch notes will culminate into THREE claim statements that argue a prominent, risky theme in the text with evidence and analysis. Your claim should be argumentative, focused, specific, and a FULL SENTENCE. The best claims will go beyond what is obvious.

· Analysis: Break down each element of fiction and style with textual evidence and commentary.

Directions:

1. Pick a book from the text list.

2. Read said book and annotate for meaning and with the information required on the grading rubric.

3. Distill your book down to the most important tropes/analysis and visually communicate this in a sketch note (front and back of one page):

Sketch notes Basics:

1. This is not strictly drawing! Sketch notes visually communicate ideas—it is about structuring your thoughts into a hierarchy and with an organizational method that help to prioritize different textual elements. You can do this using text, lines, bullets, colors, boxes, bubbles, other containers, arrows or connectors, frames, icons or graphics, stick figures, shading, color.

2. Consider how to best organize the information: could be linear or abstract—decide the best organization based on your personality and the text.

3. Gather your tools: text, blank paper, pencils, pens, colored markers/pencils/pens—or you could try to do this visually (sounds scary, but go for it if you prefer).

4. Plan your notes—consider first distilling the information in “chunks” and then plan out the visual representation to ensure you have room for everything!

5. Don’t feel like you have to be perfect—this is content-driven doodling not “perfect art”—if you mess up something, draw over, scratch out, we can figure it out.

6. Feel free to add your commentary along with the textual evidence.

Review The Five Essential Elements of Fiction Analysis

One: A character is a person presented in a fictional work, one fitting a type and fulfilling a function.

· Types of characters: A static character does not change throughout the work, and the reader’s knowledge of that character does not grow, whereas a dynamic character undergoes some kind of change because of the action in the plot. A flat character embodies one or two qualities, ideas, or traits that can be readily described in a brief summary. These are not psychologically complex characters and therefore are readily accessible to readers. Some flat characters are recognized as stock characters; they embody stereotypes such as the "dumb blonde" or the "mean stepfather." They become types rather than individuals. Round characters are more complex than flat or stock characters, and often display the inconsistencies and internal conflicts found in most real people. They are more fully developed, and therefore are harder to summarize.

· Functions of characters: A hero or heroine, often called the protagonist, is the central character who engages the reader’s interest and empathy. The antagonist is the character, force, or collection of forces that stands directly opposed to the protagonist and gives rise to the conflict of the story. A foil is a character who through contrast underscores the distinctive characteristics of another. Usually a minor character serves as a foil for a major character. A confidant/confidante is a character who is not integral to the action but who receives the intimate thoughts of the protagonist without the use of an omniscient narrator. A mentor is a character who serves as a guide for the protagonist.

Two: The point of view is the perspective from which the action of a novel is presented, whether the action is presented by one character or from different vantage points over the course of the novel.

These are common narrative positions:

· The omniscient narrator is a third-person narrator who sees, like God, into each character’s mind and understands all the action going on.

· The limited omniscient narrator is a third-person narrator who generally reports only what one character (often the protagonist) sees and who only reports the thoughts of that one privileged character.

· The objective, or camera-eye, narrator is a third-person narrator who only reports what would be visible to a camera. The objective narrator does not know what the character is thinking unless the character speaks of it.

· The first-person narrator, who is a major or minor character in the story, tells the tale from his or her point of view. When the first person narrator is insane, a liar, very young, or for some reason not entirely credible, the narrator is unreliable. Some first-person narratives include multiple narrators.

· The stream of consciousness technique is like first-person narration, but instead of the character telling the story, the author places the reader inside the main character’s head and makes the reader privy to all of the character’s thoughts as they scroll through his or her consciousness.

Characterization, an effect of point of view and narrative perspective, is the process by which a writer reveals the personality of a character, making that character seem real to the reader. Authors have two major methods of presenting characters: telling (direct characterization) and showing (indirect characterization).

· In direct characterization, the author intervenes to describe and sometimes evaluate the character for the reader. For example, the narrator may tell the reader directly what the character’s personality is like: humble, ambitious, vain, gullible, etc.

· Indirect characterization allows the author to present a character talking and acting and lets the reader infer what kind of person the character is. There are five different ways that a writer may provide indirect characterization:

o by describing how the character looks and dresses,

o by allowing the reader to hear the character speak,

o by revealing the character’s private thoughts and feelings,

o by portraying the character’s effect on other individuals—showing how other characters feel or behave toward the character, and

oby presenting the character’s actions.

Characters can be convincing whether they are presented by showing or by telling, as long as their actions are motivated. Motivated action by the characters occurs when the reader or audience is offered reasons for how the characters behave, what they say, and the decisions they make. Plausible action is action by a character in a story that seems reasonable, given the motivations presented.

Three: The setting is the physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs. The major elements of setting are the time, the place, and the social environment that frames the characters. Setting can be used to evoke a mood or atmosphere that will prepare the reader for what is to come. Specific elements of the setting include:

· the geographical location (its topography, scenery, and physical arrangements),

· the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters,

· the time period in which the action takes place (epoch in history or season of the year), and

· the general environment of the characters (social, religious, cultural, moral, and emotional conditions and attitudes).

Four: The conflict in a work of fiction is the struggle within the plot between opposing forces—the issue to be resolved in the story. The protagonist engages in the conflict with the antagonist, which may take the form of a character, society, nature, or an aspect of the protagonist’s personality. Thus, conflict may be external, a struggle against some outside force, another character, society as a whole, or some natural force; or internal, a conflict between forces or emotions within one character.

Five: Theme is the author’s opinion of the central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work. A theme provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other elements of a work are organized. It is important not to mistake the theme for the topic of the work; the theme expresses an opinion about an abstract concept (i.e. freedom, jealousy, guilt, unrequited love, self-pity) but is NOT simply that topic. A theme must make a statement or claim that can be supported by the text and others.

Theme should be written in a

complex statement:

The [genre] [title] by [author] is

about [topic/abstract concept] and

reveals that [opinion].

AP Book List

Wuthering Heights—Emily Bronte King Lear—Shakespeare Catch 22—Joseph Heller Invisible Man—Ralph Ellison Great Expectations—Charles Dickens The Trial—Franz Kafka The Metamorphosis—Franz Kafka The Loved One—Evelyn Waugh Benito Brave New World—Aldous Huxley All the Pretty Horses—Cormac McCarthy Bless Me, Ultima—Ruldolfo A. Anaya The Color Purple—Alice Walker Cry, the Beloved Country—Alan Paton Emma—Jane Austen A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man—James Joyce The Portrait of a Lady—Henry James A Raisin in the Sun—Lorraine Hansberry Song of Solomon—Toni Morrison Their Eyes Were Watching God—Zora Neale Hurston Twelfth Night—Shakespeare As I Lay Dying—William Faulkner Bleak House—Charles Dickens Cat’s Cradle—Kurt Vonnegut Jane Eyre—Charlotte Bronte The Optimist’s Daughter—Eudora Welty The Turn of the Screw—Henry James Waiting for Godot—Samuel Beckett Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?—Edward AlbeeAn American Tragedy—Theodore Dreiser Another Country—James Baldwin

The Bluest Eye—Toni Morrison The Diviners—Margaret Laurence The Grapes of Wrath—John Steinbeck House Made of Dawn—N. Scott MomadayLight in August—William Faulkner Middlemarch—George Eliot Native Son—Richard Wright Othello—Shakespeare The Sun Also Rises—Ernest Hemingway Winter in the Blood—James Welch A Passage to India—E.M. Forster A Tale of Two Cities—Charles DickensThe Woman Warrior—Maxine Hong Kingston Anna Karenina—Leo Tolstoy Mansfield Park—Jane Austen The Scarlett Letter—Nathaniel Hawthorne A Farewell to Arms—Ernest Hemingway The Age of Innocence—Edith Wharton Alias Grace—Margaret Atwood The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man—James Weldon Johnson Daisy Miller—Henry James Ethan Frome—Edith Wharton Go Tell It On the Mountain—James Baldwin The Handmaid’s Tale—Margaret Atwood Our Town—Thornton Wilder Pride and Prejudice—Jane Austen Slaughterhouse Five—Kurt Vonnegut Snow Falling on Cedars—David Guterson A Doll’s House—Henrik IsbenThe Glass Menagerie—Tennessee WilliamsThe Poisonwood Bible—Barbara Kingsolver

This is a general warning: many of these books discuss issues that may be disturbing to some readers. Do your due diligence and choose wisely.

Sketch Notes Rubric

Expectations and Criteria

Pts. Possible

Text 1:

Text 2:

TAG Information (Title, Author, Genre)

Lists all correctly

1

Biographical and Historical Information

· Includes date of publication

· Includes a brief description of author’s biographical background with one supporting quotation (with parenthetical citation)

· Includes a brief description of historical time period with one supporting quotation (with parenthetical citation)

2

Plot

· Describes exposition, RA, climax, FA, resolution

· Has 2 key quotations with parenthetical citation as evidence of plot development

· Explains purpose of the overall plot structure to show insight beyond the obvious interpretation

5

Style

Figurative Language

· Includes five examples of figures of speech with appropriate label and textual example of each (with parenthetical citation)

· Explains purpose of figurative language that shows insight beyond the obvious interpretation

Literary Techniques

· Includes five examples of literary techniques with appropriate label and textual example of each (with parenthetical citation

· Explains purpose of each literary technique to show insight beyond the obvious interpretation

Thematic Meaning

· Includes three examples of thematic meaning elements (imagery, motif, symbol, or tone) with appropriate label and textual example of each (with parenthetical citation

· Explains purpose of each thematic meaning element to show insight beyond the obvious interpretation

5

5

3

Point of View

· Correctly labels point-of-view with textual example (with parenthetic citation)

· Explains purpose of point of view to show insight beyond the obvious interpretation

2

Characters/

Characterization

· Identifies/describes key major/minor characters with

1) their role (use character terms)

2) three adjectives describing the character

3) one quotation showing direct characterization (with parenthetical citation)

4) one quotation showing indirect characterization (with parenthetical citation)

· Explains significance of each character to show insight beyond the obvious interpretation

10

Setting

· Correctly identifies the time(s) and place(s) of the setting with one quotation (with parenthetical citation)

· Explains the significance of the setting to show insight beyond the obvious interpretation

2

Claims: Theme Statements

· Lists three theme statements (a full, arguable claim sentence NOT a topic) to include with each:

1) Explanation of the theme statement’s significance to the overall meaning of the text including one quotation (with parenthetical citation) each to support the theme statement

2) Explanation of how the theme is developed according to the narrative elements (point of view, character/characterization, plot, and setting)

3) Explanation of how the theme is developed according to style elements (figurative language, literary techniques, thematic meaning elements)

15

Professionalism and Visual Aspects

· Sketch notes effectively use drawing, graphing, bulleting, color, highlighting, and visuals to supplement writing

· Sketch notes are organized and created to facilitate understanding and highlight analysis

· Sketch notes demonstrate pride, professionalism, and critical thinking of the text and literary-analysis skills

· Sketch notes demonstrate distilled and prioritized thinking so that ONLY words/visuals that demonstrate the required analysis skills are used

8

Works Cited

· Uses MLA citation

· Cites the IR text and any texts used for research

2

Total

60