AP LITERATURE SUMMER ASSIGNMENT 2009!

World Language High School
AP English Literature and Composition
Summer Assignment: 2009
Due Date: Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

1. Read the entire play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller.

2. Before reading, complete the handout “The Art of Pre-Reading.” It is due along with the Reading Guide Questions.

3. Complete the Reading Guide Questions in a notebook. All question responses are short answers, most ranging from 1-2 sentences. Please respond in complete sentences.
- I strongly demand that you do not copy these answers from each other. Of course, you may discuss the play with each other; I encourage it. However, if you do not read and then copy the answers from someone, it will be a disastrous mistake, perhaps resulting in a complete zero for both people.

4. This is your first assignment of the 2009-2010 school year. It is worth a total of 50 points.

5. Plan to have your notebook and responses in front of you for our first few days of school. We will discuss the book in depth. You must read and complete the questions to be prepared for both the small group discussions of the play as well as the whole class discussions.

6. Additionally, your first essay of the year will be focused on Death of a Salesman. The essay assignment will be given to you during the first few days of school.

7. This assignment, as well as a copy of the reading questions, will be available all summer on the website below. Also, by June 12th, there will be new postings that may help guide you through the play, such as links to vocabulary, discussion questions, etc. This is the website: http://www.juliusaplit.blogspot.com/

8. This is a independent assignment, but if you are really lost and need assistance, feel free to email me at: popilius@yahoo.com

"Death of a Salesman" Reading Guide Questions

ACT ONE (p. 9-69)

1. Why is Willy home? Why is Linda alarmed that he’s home?
2. Why is Willy annoyed at Biff? How does he describe Biff? What does this tell us about Willy?
3. How has the neighborhood changed? Why does it matter to the story that his surroundings are no longer the way they used to be?
4. How does Linda treat Willy?
5. Why won’t Happy go out West with Biff, and why won’t Biff stay? Why doesn’t either son get married and settle down?
6. How does Willy feel about Charley and Bernard?
7. What does Willy’s reaction to Biff ’s theft of the football tell us about Willy?
8. Willy praises and then curses the Chevrolet; he tells Linda that he’s very well liked, and then says that people don’t seem to take to him. What do these inconsistencies tell us about Willy?
9. “Five hundred gross in Providence” becomes “roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip.” How does Linda take Willy’s stories, and what does this reveal about her?
10. Why does Charley visit and how does he feel about Willy?
11. Who is Ben? Why does Ben appear?
12. Why is Willy interested when Biff mentions Bill Oliver? Why do they argue?

ACT TWO (p. 71-136)

1. Why is Willy’s mood upbeat at the start of Act Two?
2. Why does Willy tell Howard about Dave Singleman?
3. How does Biff as a football hero embody his father’s dreams?
4. What is Willy’s impression of Bernard when he sees him in his father’s office?
5. Why won’t Willy work for Charley?
6. In the restaurant, how does Happy reflect Willy’s values?
7. How does Biff ’s realization that his life is a lie underline the theme of the play?
8. Why did Biff go to Boston? What does he discover when he sees the Woman?
9. Why does Linda tell the boys, “Get out of here, both of you, and don’t come back!”?
10. Why does Willy keep planting seeds where they’ve never grown before?
11. Why doesn’t Willy want to see Linda?
12. What does Biff do that makes Willy very happy?

REQUIEM (137-139)

1. What is a requiem? What is the purpose of this final act? To what extent is it successful?
2. Charley says: “No man only needs a little salary.” To what is he referring? What else does a man need?

A Place for Poetry

A great website to discover new poetry- you can search in many different ways.

http://www.poets.org/

Start Your Own Blog!

Use this website to start your own blog- it's a way you can write and publish on your own website! It's pretty easy once you start exploring. . .

BELOVED- STUDY WEBSITES

Beloved at Homework Online

http://www.homework-online.com/beloved/index.asp

Beloved- Great Works Discussion Questions

http://www.stanford.edu/group/areaone/clross/quarter6/morrison/

THE THINGS THEY CARRIED --- Critical Analysis Writing Assignment

Ø Choose FIVE of the following prompts and write at least 2-3 well-organized, detailed, and well thought-out paragraphs for each.
Ø This is a paper that must be typed in double space, 12 point font, Times New Roman.
Ø Do not copy the question; merely include which number you are responding to.
Ø Each prompt is worth 10 points, making the entire assignment worth a whopping 60 points.
Ø DUE: TUESDAY, APRIL 21st, 2009

PROMPTS

1. At the end of "On the Rainy River," the narrator makes a kind of confession: "The day was cloudy. I passed through towns with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war" (61). What does this mean?

2. Why is the narrator of "On the Rainy River" concerned about what "the community" will think of him if he does not go to war? What is "community?" Why wouldn't anyone is Norman Bowker's town listen to him in the story "Speaking of Courage"?

3. In the set of review snippets on the front pages of our paperback edition of the book, the one from The New Yorker says that "...events are recalled and retold again and again, giving us a deep sense of the fluidity of truth and the dance of memory." What does this comment refer to? Are there examples in the text that gave rise to it? What makes truth fluid? And how can memories dance?

4. What do the following sentences mean? "I want you to know what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth" (179).

5. In "The Lives of the Dead," a nine year old friend of the narrator dies of cancer. How do children cope with death? Is the narrator's reaction typical, realistic, or merely a literary device? What effect does the narrator's behavior have on his daughter? How does this chapter relate to the other sections of the book?

6. Re-read the long discussion of emergency medical procedures in "The Ghost Soldiers" (189). What accounts for the failed response of Bobby Jorgenson in that story?

7. How and why do people cope with war differently? What happened to Mary Anne? (114). Why did Norman commit suicide? ("Notes" 154). Why did Rat Kiley shoot his foot? (220).

8. "I watched Lemon turn sideways. He laughed and said something to Rat Kiley. Then he took a peculiar half step,... and the booby-trapped 105 round blew him into a tree. The parts were just hanging there, so Dave Jensen and I were ordered to shinny up and peel him off. The gore was horrible, and stays with me. But what wakes me up twenty years later is Dave Jensen singing 'Lemon Tree' as we threw down the parts" (83). What is the significance of this passage?

9. Faced with the decision of going to Vietnam or evading the draft by fleeing to Canada, the narrator says, "I would go to the war -- I would kill and maybe die -- because I was embarrassed not to... I was a coward. I went to the war" (59-60). What ethical principles appear to govern the narrator's decision?

10. "Enemies" (62), "How to Tell a True War Story" (67), "Style" (135), and "Ghost Stories" are chapters that deal with difficult situations. Analyze these situations from an ethical perspective taking into account, "did they do the right thing, a good thing, what causes this behavior, what would happen if everyone did this" and so forth.

11. How does the landscape and physical setting of Vietnam play a role in these stories? Give examples.

12. Describe three actions that led to deadly consequences and explain how the characters involved were affected by those actions.

13. Find at least three examples of juxtaposed images of beauty and horror. What can you conclude from these examples?

14. Choose three of the most important characters from the book. Choose one key action for each of those characters. What does that action tell you about the kind of person he or she is?

15. O’Brien provides only a few female characters in the book. List them and describe their role or purpose in the narrative. What conclusions can you draw based on the evidence you discover?

16. Why did O’Brien write this book? Why do you think he wrote it as a "work of fiction" rather than as an autobiographical work, or a memoir?

The Things They Carried: Web Questions

***Answer the Following Questions on a Separate Sheet***

1.Read the epigraph at the beginning of the text of The Things They Carried.

a. What is an epigraph? How do writers use them?

b. This epigraph is a citation from John Ransom's Andersonville Diary. Go to the website below and answer the following questions: Who was he? What was Andersonville? What is the book about?

http://www.amazon.com/Ransoms-Andersonville-Diary-Bruce-Catton/dp/0425141462/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237213843&sr=1-1

c. Given what you discover about the “Andersonville Diary” epigraph and what it introduces, what do you think is the purpose of it introducing The Things They Carried?

2."On the Rainy River" questions the American war in Vietnam, referring to a series of names and places. Look them up.

a. What was the USS Maddox?
b. Where is the Gulf of Tonkin and what is its relationship to the Vietnamese War?
c. Who was Ho Chi Minh?
d. What was SEATO? What were the Geneva Accords?
e. What was the Cold War and why are dominoes mentioned?

3. Browse the photos on the following websites. Warning: some photos are graphic. Choose any three photos and write: 1) a description of the photo, 2) the significance of the imagery in the photo, 3) the emotion or tone of the photo

a. Vietnam War Pix: On this site, browse the categories near the top. (Note: the “Hippies” category sometimes freezes).
http://www.vietnampix.com/

b. Vietnam Gear (Photos arranged by category).
http://vietnamgear.com/gallery.aspx

4.At the end of "On the Rainy River," the narrator makes a kind of confession: "The day was cloudy. I passed through towns with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war" (p. 61). What does this mean?

5. Carefully read the following quote by author Tim O’Brien. Then write your personal reaction to the quote. For example, do you agree with O’Brien, or disagree? Explain your response.

"Good movies -- and good novels, too -- do not depend upon 'accurate portrayals.' Accuracy is irrelevant. Is the Mona Lisa an 'accurate' representation of the actual human model for the painting? Who knows? Who cares? It's a great piece of art. It moves us. It makes us wonder, makes us gape; finally makes us look inward at ourselves."

MacBeth: Critical Essay Assignment

Critical Essay: MacBeth

DUE DATE:
Ø TUESDAY, MARCH 10th, 2009

-Friday, March 6th: “Essay Workshop”

DESCRIPTION

Length: 2-3 pages

Format: typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman font, 12 point

Ø The requirements for the actual body of your paper are included on the rubric.
Ø For this essay, there will be 1 draft for revision and 1 final draft
Ø This essay will be assigned a letter grade, and will be worth a total of 50 points.
Ø Mr. Julius’ email address: ajulius@lvlhs.org


ESSAY PROMPT

--- Choose themes, conflicts, or literary elements in Shakespeare’s MacBeth. Form a thesis about how these aspects of the play contribute to the overall meaning, or how they play an important role in the story of the play. Write a well-structured essay in which you support your thesis, remembering to use textual quotes, as well as notes from class handouts and discussions.

This is more of an ‘open question’ essay, so make sure you have a good idea for a thesis and a good outline before you start writing. Don’t wait to start your essay- start soon. On Friday, March 6th, we will have an “essay workshop” in which to share ideas, comments, and guide you through your essay. Please have some kind of outline or draft at that point.

Critical Essay: "The Stranger"

Critial Essay: The Stranger
DUE DATES:
FIRST DRAFT: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2nd
FINAL DRAFT: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9th
DESCRIPTION

Length: 2 pages

Format: typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman font, 12 point

Ø The requirements for the actual body of your paper are included on the rubric.
Ø For this essay, there will be 1 draft for revision and 1 final draft
Ø A copy description of this assignment can be found on the AP Lit blog, at http://www.juliusaplit.blogspot.com/
Ø This essay will be assigned a letter grade, and will be worth a total of 50 points.
Ø Mr. Julius’ email address: ajulius@lvlhs.org
Ø Choose only ONE of the following prompts.


ESSAY PROMPTS

1. Discuss the questions: Is Meursault really a threat to his society? Does he deserve the death penalty? Is he more dangerous, or less dangerous, than a criminal who commits a clearly motivated crime? Use specific quotes from Meursault’s own thoughts and dialogue that express whether Meursault (and people like him) might be considered ‘dangerous.’

2. How does The Stranger explore the theme of the ‘meaningless of human life’? Choose and discuss specific scenes or internal dialogue in which the novel expresses this concept, which is one of the central themes of the novel. Focus on Meursault’s worldview, and tackle the question as to why you think Meursault becomes so detached from the world, and so seemingly indifferent or emotionless.

3. Since Meursault is the first person narrator of the novel, the reader sees characters through his eyes only. Using the information that Meursault provides, choose three characters and analyze them closely. For example, what does Meursault really think of each character, and how do they react to (and interact with) Meursault, and what general role do they play in Meursault’s story?

4. Compare and contrast the relationship between Salamano and his dog with the relationship between Meursault and his mother. What are the similarities? What are the differences? Comment on the role of emotions in each relationship; such as love, antagonism, unhappiness, etc.

5. Analyze the role that heat, the sun, and general weather plays in The Stranger. At what plot points in the story does Meursault comment the heat and the sun, and what effects do they have on him? What relationships can be drawn between the heat, the action taking place, and Meursault’s outlook on life?