AP ENGLISH IV: SUMMER WORK

Transcription

1 1 AP ENGLISH IV: SUMMER WORK Dear AP English IV Student, To prepare more thoroughly for AP English IV, summer reading is needed. This summer you will read the classic novels Jane Eyre and Frankenstein. Below you will find three assignments you will need to complete while and after reading the books. They are: 1. A Quotation Journal 2. Rhetorical/Literary Device Log 3. One Literary Essay All of this work will be due the first day of class, August 24, If you need to contact me during the summer with questions regarding the reading or work, you may reach me via through the address < David_Peters@abss.k12.nc.us >. Best, Mr. Peters

2 2 ESSAY ASSIGNMENT: Respond to ONE of the following prompts with a well-developed multi-paragraph essay that uses evidence from one or both of the summer reading texts in support. Do not summarize! The paper should be typed, double-spaced, and use Times New Roman or Courier New 12pt fonts. It should include specific passages or quotations from the summer reading in support. When doing so, follow proper MLA parenthetical citation style with (Author s last name page #), such as (Johnson 23). Your essay should also include a formal MLA Works Cited page crediting the book(s) used in your paper. The paper should follow proper MLA Format. (A good guide to learn about MLA Format is through Purdue University Online Writing Lab or Purdue OWL online. The Purdue OWL website is easily found through Google, but a link also can be found through my webpage.) 1. Contrast the portrayal of women in the two novels, examining particularly the portrayal of Jane from Jane Eyre and Elizabeth from Frankenstein. How does the portrayal of women illuminate the meaning of both works? 2. Prometheus was a Titan who so cared for mankind that he gave fire to mankind against the will of the God Zeus. Zeus punished Prometheus by having him chained against a mountain, doomed to have an eagle eat out his liver every day. Mary Shelley titled her story Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus. How does Frankenstein contrast with the Prometheus of Greek myth? Explain how this departure is significant for the meaning of Frankenstein as a whole. 3. The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes declared famously that primitive man s life was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Part of his argument focused on the idea that mankind was naturally given to selfishness and needed law and society to become a live in harmony with his fellow man. How does Frankenstein contradict this idea? Explain why this contradiction is important for the meaning of Frankenstein as a whole? 4. Palestinian American literary theorist and cultural critic Edward Said has written that Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted. Yet Said has also said that exile can become a potent, even enriching experience. Write an essay in which you analyze how the Jane s experience with exile in Jane Eyre is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. 5. Many works of literature not readily identifiable as a mystery or detective story genre nevertheless involve the investigation of a mystery. In these works, the solution to the mystery may be less important than the knowledge gained during the investigation. Identify the mystery in Jane Eyre and explain how that mystery illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.

3 3 QUOTATION JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT: For this assignment you will record quotations that you found personally meaningful and significant for the overall meaning of the book from each of the novels you read this summer. You need to record FIFTEEN quotations per book. The quotations should be at least two sentences in length. Record the page number where you found the quotation after recording the quotation. After you record a quotation, write four to six sentences. In these sentences you need to describe why the passage is meaningful to you personally. Then you need to explain why the passage is particularly significant for the meaning of the book. EXAMPLE: QUOTATION EXPLANATION How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a favourable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and compassion? Believe me, Frankenstein; my soul glowed with love and humanity: but am I not alone, miserably alone. Page: 87 This quotation impacted me significantly. It is a heartrending moment, when the Creature draws a direct connection between his mistreatment and his later evil acts. It shows the Creature s natural goodness and the tragic nature of his fall, a fall caused largely by neglect, something I can see in kids who are neglected by their parents. This quote is also important for the overall meaning of Frankenstein because it demonstrates that the Creature was once benevolent or good and only fell and became evil through the neglect and abuse by his master and society. It is a scathing indictment of humanity s ability to engender evil in others through mistreatment.

4 4 RHETORICAL LITERARY DEVICE LOG For this assignment, find TWELVE passages or quotations from each book that contain either rhetorical or literary devices (see device list below). Record each passage and the rhetorical or literary device contained in it; then, in three to four sentences describe the effect that the device has upon the meaning the book. PASSAGE DEVICE(S) EFFECT Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful. I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom. Metaphor & Symbolism The literary devices have many effects. For one, metaphor compares Frankenstein s creature to a snake, showing the seriousness with which the monster takes the charge he has given Frankenstein, stressing that there would be severe negative consequences if Frankenstein refused to create another creature. Two, since the snake is a frequent symbol for evil or the devil in Christian tradition it continues the presentation of the creature as evil or as Frankenstein s fallen angel in the text.

5 5 RHETORICAL AND LITERARY DEVICES Alliteration: repetition of the same initial consonant sound at the beginning of words (Sally sells seashells.) Allusion: Reference from a person, place, or event from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, etc. Anaphora: repetition at the beginning of lines (We fought. We struggled. We conquered.) Apostrophe: addressing an abstraction, idea, or personification that is not physically present as if it were capable of hearing. Cacophony: a harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds Character (Static): a character who stays the same throughout a text Character (Dynamic): a character that changes by the end of a text Characterization (Indirect): when an author reveals a character s personality through the way a character dresses or looks, speaks and acts, thinks and feels, and the way others respond to the character Characterization (Direct): when an author reveals a character by stating directly what his or her personality is like Dialect: way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular group of people Diction: an author s pr speaker s choice of words Hyperbole: figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion or to create comic effect Idiom: (or idiomatic expression) a phrase or expression in one language that cannot be matched or directly translated word-for-word in another language. The phrase or expression cannot be understood literally; instead, it has a cultural meaning (such as to kick the bucket, raining cats and dogs, etc.) Imagery: language that appeals to the senses Irony (dramatic): the reader or audience knows something that the character in a story or play does not know Irony (situational): a contradiction between what we expect to happen and what really does take place Irony (verbal): a writer or speaker says one thing but really means something completely different Metaphor: figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, without the use of the words like or as Metaphor (extended): a common metaphor that continues its comparison for a reasonable length of time Motif: a word, character, object, image, metaphor, or idea that recurs in a work. Onomatopoeia: the use of words that sound like what they mean

6 6 Oxymoron: where an author uses contradictory or contrasting concepts placed together in a manner that actually ends up making sense Parallelism: the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity Personification: kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing is talked about as if it were human Repetition: purposely repeating a word or phrase to emphasize Rhetorical question: question that does not require an answer but is rather used to make a point Simile: figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things by using the words like or as Symbol: person, place, or thing that stands for itself and for something beyond itself (something abstract) Understatement: expressing an idea with less emphasis or in a lesser degree than is the actual case (the opposite of hyperbole)