WELCOME To Honors American Below are four literary works you are to read for your summer reading assignment. Directions for your paper in response to these readings follows. PLEASE print them out in color if possible. Do NOT wait until the last minute to write this. The Great Gatsby.F. Scott Fitzgerald The Catcher in the Rye.J.D.Salinger The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Dinaw Mengestu The Age of Miracles Karen Thompson Walker These four works capture dominant themes in American literature: a search for self combined with major conflicts that entail combating antagonistic forces that derive from internal and external origins. Two are based in New York City while another is based in Washington, and another could be any town or city in America. The Catcher in the Rye Since his debut in 1951 as the catcher in the rye, Holden Caulfield, the novel s alienated, mourning and cynical protagonist, narrates a few days in his sixteen-yearold life, following his expulsion from prep school. Holden is furious with somewhat normal teenage anger; however, the loss of his younger brother, Allie, to leukemia, has emotionally paralyzed him. This novel, which has survived many rounds of being banned, remains as one of the most significant and popular books with American youth. In addition, films and other books have been inspired by Salinger s novel, including the now popular The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The Great Gatsby: This classic, set in1920 s, explores the misconception that money can buy devotion, can guarantee eternal youth, can purchase an ideal. The ideal is found in Daisy Buchanan, a beautiful, selfish, rich Southern belle to whom Gatsby devotes his life. As narrated b y Nick Caraway, Daisy s cousin who is spending summer in New York City to work, the novel reveals Gatsby s devotion is pure; however, Gatsby is
blind to Daisy s emptiness. He truly undergoes a religious quest but uses money to capture his object of devotion. This has become known as non-material materialism. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears: This first novel tackles the questions of identity, dislocation and loneliness through the life of anethiopian émigré in the United States. It narrates the story of Sepha Stephanos, a young man who fled to America to escape the violence of Ethiopia s Communist revolution after witnessing his father s death at the hands of junta soldiers. Seventeen years later, running a struggling convenience store in a once grand but now dilapidated neighborhood of Washington, D.C., Sepha is still trying to find his place in the new world. The deeply felt pain in Mengestu s novel is offset by the solace of friendship..whether it is a friendship that hovers on the verge of romance, a friendship between an adult and a child or the sustaining friendships of fellow immigrants. Rob Nixon explains in a New York Times book review, Again and again, Sepha s story makes us consider what it means to be displaced: from a local community,from a distant nation, from a love you had hoped to settle into. Sepha s rhetorical question, How was I supposed to live in America, when I had never really leftethiopia? remains a presence throughout the protagonist s wanderings. The title derives from Dante s Inferno., Dante is finally coming out of hell and that is what he sees, Some of the beautiful things that heaven bears. This proves to relate to his little store tilted at a daunting angle to the official American dream (Rob Nixon, New York Times Book Review).
The Age of Miracles: Told from the point of view of the protagonist, Julia, who is on the verge of turning 12, this is another novel focused on the movement from innocence to experience. However, the framework is very different. In this novel, the rotation of the Earth has begun to slow causing days and nights to grow longer and longer. All normal life has come to a halt. As days and nights become longer, people begin to grow sick and to act abnormally. Crops begin to fail, oceans rise, flooding homes; soon food and water are hoarded, just likewhen a major storm is coming. There is talk about the end of the world and even the possibility of moving to another planet. Julia is a quiet, observant girl with a major crush on a boy, Seth. As the the slowing begins, Julia says she remembers feeling, not fear but a thrill a sudden sparkle amid the ordinary, the shimmer of the unexpected thing. As the slowing continues, Julia realizes it is not temporary. Rather it is species-threatening as the changes to Earth s gravity make people sick. Soon the widespread use of sunlamps and artificial heating during the longer and colder nights will create energy shortages and periodic blackouts. While the drastic change to life on the outside narrates a large part of the novel, Julia s transition towards adulthood is as eventful as the earth s gravity shifting. Light unhooked from day, darkness unchained from night could also describe the turmoil occurring within Julia. (some wording taken from Kaukutani, The New York Times Book Review) Below are very important details related to writing this paper. READ THEM OVER CAREFULLY before you begin and use as a checklist when you finish. PART I BIOGRAPHY (15 pts) Select ONE of the four authors. Look for sophisticated information. Make it interesting. Connect it to the novel. For example, Mengenstu saw a storekeeper which, along with his own life, inspired the novel. Do not begin with: was born on.
Do not give me the author s resume (dates, who they married, etc. unless it connects to the novel). If you choose Fitzgerald or Mengenstu, then much of the history of their lives did inspire their novels. No use of author s first name alone** EVER Required Use of primary sources* and recent information *letters, interviews (either written or youtube/audiouse of good sources shows effort and digging/exploring Not like a Wikipedia entry.. Offers insight into the writer s subject matter/connects to work analyzed Most verbs will remain in PAST tense. Do NOT forget to vigorously provide in text citation. 3 paragraphs REQUIRED (no more and no less) PART II PROMPTS: (50 pts) Prompt selection based on initial of last name Each prompt response must be 4-5 pages..no LONGER OR SHORTER The PROMPTS: You MUST respond to one prompt depending on the first letter of your last name. A-O: select prompt 1 PROMPT 1: Using The Age of Miracles(must use) plus either The Catcher in the Rye or The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, discuss how both protagonists are displaced by forces beyond their control.**for Catcher, you must advance from the fact that Allie s death has triggered Holden s loss of self and home. In The Age of Miracles, the protagonist attempts to hold onto the present, pushing away the threat of the future, while in the other novel, the protagonist (Holden or Sepha) remains affixed to his past,
struggling to extricate himself from its grip. USE ALL OF THIS AS YOUR THESIS OR FIRST SENTENCE for prompt 1. SELECT THIS PROMPT IF YOUR LAST NAME BEGINS WITH P- Z: PROMPT 2 PROMPT 2: Selecting any one of the four novels, discuss how a search for identity is amplified or enlarged by distinct settings: While Gatsby religiously follows a holy grail that he believes will bring him the green light to which he is devoted, both Holden and Sepha wander through streets and various settings to recapture their identities as well as to shed the profound tragedies that have relentlessly imprisoned them. Finally, Julia s normal coming of age evolution suffers upheaval by an unnatural, cataclysmic event where the schoolyard, the classroom and home all transform into foreign places, usurping the normality of life. *If you select Catcher, you MUST work from the premise that Holden s trauma is rooted in Allie s death. *If you select Gatsby, you MUST work from the premise that his love for Daisy is not normal and that Daisy is an empty vessel; thus, his devotion is directed at a nothingness he will not allow himself to accept Use the following as your first sentence and overall guiding thesis for whichever novel you select to analyze: In (title of novel choice) search for identity is amplified by the distinct settings. *Your next sentence will specifically identify which settings hold symbolic weight for the novel you chose. REQUIREMENTS FOR RESPONSES to Prompt 1 OR Prompt 2
4-5 pages 1.5 spacing 11 font Each paragraph should incorporate text support*, critical outside support and your own words. GENERAL INFORMATION/REQUIREMENTS FOR BOTH PROMPTS You must use direct quotations for all discussion. If you are stating, for example, that Holden is emotionally paralyzed, SHOW where this occurs in the text itself.it is always your best evidence You must use some outside critical sources that logically support your paragraph focus and your direct quotations. DO NOT TELL THE PLOT OF ANY WORK HOWEVER You must provide context; you must write this as if I have not read the novels. FOR EXAMPLE, Holden finds support from his sister, Phoebe. (Phoebe is the context). STYLE, CITATION AND ALL THAT AWFUL STUFF: Use().after quotations.remember the period comes after the(). Any quotation beyond 4 lines..must be separated. Do NOT NOT NOT use quotation marks for these. Please limit these and
never use two in a row. For your response to this summer reading prompt, use ONLY ONE since you are limited to 5 pages. USE PRESENT TENSE for verbs. Holden FEELS lost..not FELT. *Biography will be in past tense. Avoid the conditional tense (could, would) Use context (who, what, when, where). Use wording APPROPRIATE for a FORMAL paper. NO CONTRACTIONS No SLANG VARY SENTENCE STRUCTURE. IF your sentences begin the same or are filled with ands REVISE. USE STRONG AND SOPHISTICATED verbs. IS DOES HAS SHOULD remain very limited. WORDS YOU CANNOT USE: *any word with THING in it you get, got, go.went mindset issue I think, I feel, you any contractions Eliminate Have,Has or Had as Major Verbs OTHER: * Do not define any literary terms like symbolism, etc. I know what they mean.
Works cited and in text citations must match; make sure spacing is correct on Works Cited page and that alphabetizing is accurate. PARAGRAPHS, FONT AND SPACING: No new points at the end of a paragraph NO PARAGRAPH should be short. It means you have not developed. No Paragraph should be longer than ¾ of page 1.5 SPACES BETWEEN EVERY LINE..NO MORE/NO LESS 11 font Use Times Roman or Calibri font style refer to Writer s Inc. or online sources for citation rules or any other usage questions. DO NOT GUESS WHEN discussing the novels, make sure you include use of SYMBOLISM (It is abundant in all works) ORGANIZE logically; do not shift focus within a paragprah PROVIDE TRANSITIONS between paragraphs or whenever necessary for clarity. AGAIN: With Catcher, work from the premise that Allie s death activates Holden s trauma and journey. With Gatsby, do not depict Gatsby and Daisy s love as typical. Daisy is truly a religion for Gatsby. Make sure to specifically address to what EXACTLY he is devoted; WHAT does green light symbolize? SCORING: Biography: 15 pts Prompts: 50 pts Grammar: including citation (make sure works cited and in text citations agree;* careless errors, spacing, agreement, RO, FRG, titles in italics, correct punctuation, verb tense *do not forget to include the novels on works cited: 25 pts Overall effort/following directions: 10pts
TOTAL POINTS= 100 FINALLY: PUT YOUR LAST NAME AND PAGE NUMBERS ON ALL PAGES and STAPLE PAPER..NO PAPER CLIPS PUT YOUR NAME and block/color day on title page. Do NOT count title page as the first page. All other pages should show just the page number and your last name. ** How do I put this paper together? COVER PAGE BIOGRAPHY * 3 paragraphs PROMPT RESPONSE (dependent on initial of last name)4-5 pages *Biography does not count towards the 4-5 pages of prompt response Works Cited page ON Title Page, include Block and whether Yellow day or Blue day Papers are due as follows: August 29 th Monday or OR August 30 Tuesday ***-5 pts every day late/automatic F for no works cited Bring these books to class the second day of classes. GOOD LUCK. Do not wait until the last minute. This is worth 100 points./i look forward to meeting you and to discussing these remarkable novels. Please come to see me if you have any questions or you can email me over the summer, but do not wait until the last minute.
Listen for announcements the week we return regarding turnitininformation. You will receive I.D. numbers and passwords in your email.