The Catholic High School of Baltimore Summer Reading List

Transcription

1 Teacher s Name: Mr. Derosier The Catholic High School of Baltimore Summer Reading List School Year: Grade Level: 11 Course No.: 148 Course Name: English Language/Composition Academic Level (Honors/AP/CP1/CP2/CPA): AP Reading: The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston Assignments: ASSIGNMENT 1 Read The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston. Type a separate, well-structured response (most only require a few sentences to adequately answer) for each question below. Double-space the text of your paper, and use 12-pt Times New Roman font. Please refer only to the text itself and your annotations of the text, not the Internet. Use MLA parenthetical citation when appropriate for quotes from the text. No Name Woman Directions: Maxine Hong Kingston begins The Woman Warrior with a story her mother told her when she was an adolescent. Answer the following questions to analyze the opening chapter. 1. What irony do you see in the opening sentence? 2. Summarize the story of No Name Women. 3. What was the author s purpose in telling the story? 4. How does Kingston respond imaginatively to the story of No Name Woman? 5. What seems to be the purpose of this autobiography? 6. What issues seem to surface as major themes? 7. How does the subtitle, Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, relate to this chapter? 8. At the end of No Name Woman, what have you learned about Kingston s family background, character, and personality?

2 Fa Mu Lan Directions: Answer the following questions to analyze Kingston s use of the legend of the Chinese woman warrior. 1. What point of view does Kingston use? Why? How would the story differ if she had used third person to narrate the legend? 2. What is a hero? What are some typical patterns of stories of heroes? How well does Fa Mu Lan fit the pattern? 3. List the steps in Fa Lu Lan s development from ordinary child to heroic warrior. How long does the process take? 4. How do you interpret the section in which Fa Mu Lan s parents engrave their grievances in the flesh of her back? How does Kingston interpret it at the end of the chapter? 5. The stories in chapters 1 and 2 focus on what it means to be a Chinese woman. How do the stories relate to one another? How do they seem to have affected Kingston? 6. Who are the business-suited enemies Kingston mentions? 7. What is the meaning of Kingston s comments on politics in China? 8. Fa Mu Lan s enemies were those who harmed her family. Who are Kingston s enemies? What is her battle plan? Shaman or Brave Orchid s Story Directions: Use the following questions to analyze the blend of fact, memory, and imagination in Shaman. 1. The mother displays her medical diploma only rarely. What does this show about her? Why is she not a doctor in America? 2. Interpret the metaphor comparing China to a bat. What does it say about Kingston s attitude toward China? 3. What important evidence do the three scrolls provide? a. The first scroll b. The second scroll c. The third scroll 4. How was the mother able to attend medical school in China? 5. What facts are probably at the heart of the story about the Sitting Ghost? How did the facts get embellished? 6. The mother says that she lost a lot when she came to America. What does she mean? 7. Describe the market at Canton. 8. How did the mother maintain her spectacular reputation as a doctor? 9. Besides the story of Sitting Ghost, what other horror stories has the mother told her about life in China? How have they affected Kingston?

3 10. Why did Kingston include the details about food? 11. The chapter ends in the present. How does the closing image of the mother reflect a return to facts? 12. Why did Kingston entitle this chapter Shaman? At the Western Palace or Moon Orchid Directions: Answer the following questions to consider the role of culture shock in Moon Orchid s experience in the United States. 1. What did Moon Orchid seem to expect to find in America? 2. How did she respond to Brave Orchid s family and home? 3. To what extent was Brave Orchid herself out of touch with reality in dealing with Moon Orchid? 4. Moon Orchid herself did not seem particularly eager to see her husband. Why? 5. How did her dependence on Brave Orchid cripple her in the encounter with the doctor? 6. How did Brave Orchid s children respond to Moon Orchid? 7. How did the ethnic diversity of California differ from Moon Orchid s previous experiences? How did this diversity affect her? 8. Why was Moon Orchid happy in the mental hospital? 9. Why did Kingston devote an entire chapter totally to the story of Moon Orchid in America? A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe Directions: During the argument described during this chapter, Kingston s mother accused her of failing to distinguish jokes from reality, truth from falsehood. The discussion of the meaning of the phrase Ho Chi Kuei demonstrates the possibility of alternative meanings. Indicate what Kingston thought about each of the following topics; then indicate alternative meanings. 1. Cutting her tongue 2. Marriage 3. Her appearance 4. Her intelligence 5. Her value 6. Talking-story 7. Ho Chi Kuei

4 Talking-Story Directions: Throughout the book, Kingston refers to her mother, and later to herself, as someone who likes to talk-story. Although she never defines the term talk-story, we can infer its meaning from her examples, which are highlighted by the chapter titles. Answer the following questions to analyze the meaning of talking-story. 1. Identify the talking-story in each of the chapters. a. No Name Woman b. White Tiger c. Shaman d. At the Western Palace e. A song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe 2. What elements do all of these stories have in common? What are their purposes? How do they differ from other stories? 3. How are imagination and truth interwoven in each story? 4. What problems did Kingston have with understanding talk-story when she was growing up? Why? 5. Why does Kingston talk-story now? 6. In what sense is all of The Woman Warrior on extended talking-story? What is its message? There will be an AP style essay test on The Woman Warrior and a 50 question objective test during the first full week of the school year. A study guide will not be provided. Be sure to READ CLOSELY and ANNOTATE the text.

5 ASSIGNMENT 2 As you read The Woman Warrior, keep a dialectical journal. A dialectical journal is a conversation between you and the text you are reading. You should have one insightful and analytical response to a quotation or passage for approximately every 15 pages. Respond to the quotations; focus on ways in which the author uses language to create an effect. What is it about the language that stands out and makes the passage distinctive? How does the passage reflect the author s style and reveal larger themes of the work? I will read every single word for your dialectical journal. I expect responses to be developed thoughtfully and intellectually. Guidelines: The dialectical journal is to be handwritten in blue or black ink on college rule loose leaf paper; Write legibly; Complete individually; and Do not summarize, but analyze the quote or passage s meaning. The dialectical journal should be constructed as a handwritten table in the following manner: Quote Write the quote or passage from the book on the left side of the paper; be sure, as well, to note the page number on which the quote or passage was found. Follow MLA Guidelines for formatting quotations and passages to the letter. See Points will be deducted for not following directions and will significantly impact your grade on this assignment. Response Your response and analysis of the quote should be written on the opposite side of the page. For the RESPONSE column, you have several ways to respond to a text: Raise questions about the beliefs and values implied in the text Give your personal reactions to the passage Discuss the words, ideas, or actions of the author or a character Tell what it reminds you of from your own experiences Write about what it makes you think or feel Argue with or speak to the character or author

6 ASSIGNMENT 3 AP English Language Terminology Create flashcards for each of the terms in the chart below. On one side of the card, write the word. On the other side, define it and give an example. Then, place them in the order that they appear below, punch a hole in one corner and bind them with a note card ring or something similar. Be sure to study your cards throughout the summer. Diction (word choice) Terms: Abstract, Concrete, Connotation, Denotation, Colloquialism, Jargon, Neologism, and Archaism. Syntax (sentence structure) Terms: Anaphora, Epistrophe, Antithesis, Asyndeton, Polysyndeton, Ambiguity, Inversion, Parallelism, Cataloguing, Repetition, Juxtaposition, Aphorism, Chiasmus, Loose sentence, Periodic sentence, and Rhetorical question. Literary Devices & Figurative Language Terms: Imagery, Allusion, Archetype, Symbol, Caricature, Euphemism, Irony, Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, Hyperbole, Understatement, Analogy, Simile, Metaphor, Metonymy, Synecdoche, Paradox, Oxymoron, Personification, and Apostrophe. Styles of Writing Terms: Parody, Satire, Allegory, Sermon, Elegy, Narrative, Anecdote, Panegyric, Polemic, and Diatribe. Rhetorical Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Rhetorical Fallacies: Non sequitur, Ad hominem, Appeal to tradition, Bandwagon, Faulty causality, Either/or fallacy, Inductive error, Oversimplification, Slippery slope, Begging the question and argument from false authority. There will be several activities and assessments on these terms throughout the school year. ASSIGNMENT DUE DATES Assignment 1: to me by August 10, Assignment 2: Due on the day we meet as a class for the first time. Assignment 3: Due on the day we meet as a class for the first time. Late and/or incomplete work will not be accepted. My address: sderosier@thecatholichighschool.org.