Dear Students,
The English II Pre-AP curriculum is a challenging journey through world literature. The course examines major literary works from the Hebrews, Greeks, Middle Ages, Renaissance, 17th and 18th centuries, and 19th-21st centuries (Romanticism, Realism, etc.). You will discuss and connect the historical, social, and economic trends behind the literature, and will grasp the connection between history and literature.
Writing will also constitute a major part of your sophomore English lives. To improve your analytical skills, we will continue to demand detailed analysis and insightful commentary. To broaden your stylistic command of language, we will look at more sophisticated methods of sentence building. To insure coherent, well-written essays, we will insist on attention to revision and proofreading. Good writing and analysis demand that you write, write, write!
We hope to accomplish these literary and composition objectives AND have some fun. Be prepared to participate in group presentations, to act/dress up in skits, to sing, to draw, to cut and paste, to enjoy music and art, and to discuss. The only basic requirements are that you come to class prepared, with a desire to learn and a commitment to do your best.
To encourage you to continue your reading and writing over the summer, we are requesting that you choose one of the novels listed below and complete the assignment that follows. We will begin discussion of your reading and writing during the first and second weeks of school. We will check that you have read and annotated your book the first day of class. If you have not done this, you will be severely behind, lose points, and possibly make a less than favorable first impression. The assignment itself is due the beginning of the third week after school starts.
We wish you a wonderful vacation and look forward to meeting you in August. If you have questions, please feel free to see us at school before May 28, 2010. You can also contact us during the summer.
Ms. Pilant Room 330 monica.pilant@austinisd.org
Mr. Uhler Room 347 juhler@austinisd.org
Mrs. Hamlin Room 348 chamlin@austinisd.org
2010 Sophomore Summer Self-Selected Text Assignment
Choose one of the following:
Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger The Once and Future King by T.H. White The Great Gatsby by F.S. Fitzgerald
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Life of Pi by Yann Martel The Essential Odyssey, trans. by Stanley Lombardo
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel The Once and Future King by T.H. White
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin The Essential Odyssey translated by Stanley Lombardo
Once your reading is complete, follow the directions below:
1. Mark your book for devices, diction, and theme. You do not need to mark the entire book. You may identify and label the following: imagery, symbol, contrast, allusion, characterization, metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration, and syntax. You need to make comments about the significance of these items (what the usage of these items suggests about author’s purpose) in the margins. You should have at least one example of identification and significant marking for every fourth page. Ultimately, your teacher’s discretion will decide whether or not you have adequately marked your book.
2. Choose 3 passages – evenly allocated throughout the text (1-1 ½ pages long). Make sure the passages you choose are stylistically relevant, incorporate a character, and that they have personally affected you. They should speak to you in some way, so that you are able to provide a thoughtful and complete response. Here are the requirements for the 3 passages: Mark these passages heavily, identifying and labeling literary devices, diction, syntax, tone, and theme. For these passages, nearly every sentence must be marked.
3. After you have marked your passages heavily, please create three charts in which you identify literary techniques (3 techniques per chart), provide at quotations that contain examples illustrating the literary techniques, and provide themes and explanations of how the literary techniques illustrate themes in the text.
See the sample chart (below). Remember, you must have three examples per chart, three charts total.
Literary Technique
Quotation(s)
Identification and Explanation of Theme
Contrast – description of Simon
Imagery – alternating light and dark
Tone – mysterious/ tone suggests isolation
“bright” and “black”
“delightfully” and “wicked”
“darkish” and “glistened”
“just perceptible path”
“high jungle closed in”
“unexpected pale flowers”
“dark canopy” “air here was dark”
“more sunshine fell” “open space”
“strange” “utterly alone”
“furtive” “creepers”
“creepers” “screened off”
“holding his breath” “shivered”
“delicately” “stirred”
Appearance versus Reality – The contrast used in describing Simon parallels his role on the island, that of helper and enigma. Although he appears to be a strange and, possibly, mischievous boy, in reality he is kind and caring.
Heaven/Paradise/Utopia/Sanctuary – The environment that he finds that is filled with light suggests stability, whereas the dark environment that surrounds him suggests instability. The scene created, with alternating light and dark imagery, suggests that this space that Simon has found is a sanctuary, an escape, away from the darkness and conflict that is beginning to take hold throughout the island.
Alienation – The mysterious tone suggests that, at this point in the passage, the character is unsettled and isolated. Simon’s tension and anxiety parallels the tension on the island.
4. Write ONE seven-sentence chunk paragraph (using the chuck, or Schaffer, format) based on the best of your three charts wherein you assert the author’s thematic purpose. Questions to consider: Why has the author included these devices, this tone, this character, and what do they suggest about man, society, or human nature in general? Avoid using “the author shows that” or “this quote shows that.” Instead, try using elicits, emphasizes, presents, exhibits, expresses, represents, symbolizes, portrays, depicts, conveys, considers, proposes, serves, suggests, implies, offers, indicates, hints, intimates, reveals, exposes, connotes, establishes, or illustrates.
See the sample paragraph (below). Remember, you only have to write ONE seven-sentence paragraph, total.
In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding contrasts the description of Simon, alternates images of light and darkness in the forest, and creates a mysterious tone, suggesting the inconstant role that spirituality can play in a person’s life. Throughout the book, Simon, a “bare” foot, helpful boy whom Ralph had originally thought “gay and wicked,” leaves the group and travels around the island by himself, so that when Jack and Ralph are looking for him, he is “not in the bathing pool as they had expected,” but is actually walking “into the forest with an air of purpose” (Golding 55). The description of Simon suggests that he is Christ-like, as the other boys on the island are often unable to find Simon, though he is incredibly present, near, and willing to help, and often misunderstand him, considering him to be an enigma. Similarly, many men and women experience a mystery with regard to spirituality, as at times in their lives they feel an overwhelming sense of spirit that helps to guide them, while at other periods they find themselves lost, perplexed with regard to its purpose, or are unable to locate it entirely. The contrast of Simon’s “black hair…darkish color” and “bright” eyes with skin that “glistened with sweat” parallels the description of the forest, a place where one could find a “dark canopy…air [that] was dark too” and “an open space…where more sunshine fell,” along with “darkness [that] poured out” and “candle-buds [that] opened their wide white flowers glimmering under the light that pricked down from the first stars” (55, 56, 57). Simon’s appearance is filled with contrast, and he inhabits both the dark and the light parts of the island, which lends to the roles that he plays – both helper and enigma. Simon’s appearance, coupled with the diction used to describe the forest, create a mysterious tone that connects to the spiritual journey in which many men and women are confronted with contrasting messages, illustrating the mystery associated with spirituality.
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