AP English Language and Composition Summer Assignments The summer work will be due throughout the summer instead of when we return to class. Your work will be work 10% of your first trimester grade. Also, these books will be the foundation for initial discussions and assignments in the first trimester. The expectation is that since you are in AP you will be taking these assignments seriously and do them to the best of your ability. Please get a copy of each book. You can purchase them online, Barnes and Noble, or get them from the city library. You can also buy them used from Amazon.com. If you need to contact me with any questions or concerns please do so at 909 816 5564, anunez@cvusd.us or through Haiku. Haiku is a learning management system. We have a class website through Haiku that you will use as a home base. Since your work will need to be turned in through Haiku, please set up your account and join as soon as possible. A Thousand Splendid Suns is by Khaled Hosseini. It is an engrossing take of struggle and war of two women in Afghanistan. Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neal Hurston is an autobiography discussing her life and how it shaped her. Your assignments include: Read each book One dialectical journal per novel Write one essay per novel Participation in Haiku discussion boards Novel analysis questions
Organization of work: Copies of your work should all be held in a binder or folder, to back up your electronic submissions. All work must be typed and submitted through Haiku All essays must be typed and in MLA format (Google it!) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ The Dialectical Journal One entry per chapter A dialectical journal is a conversation between you and what you are reading. It highlights the questions, connections, and ideas that you have as you read. This process is an important way to understand a piece of literature. By writing about literature, you make your own meaning of the work in order to truly understand it. When you do this yourself, then the text belongs to you--you have made it yours. The passages are there for everyone to read; however, the connections and interpretations are uniquely yours. You are neither right nor wrong in your response. So be willing to take risks, try your ideas, and be honest. Since the journal is a conversation between you and the text, you ll need to record parts of the text and your thoughts about the text. On the left side of your journal page, record phrases, sentences or short passages that interest you. On the right side of the page, write your thoughts about the quoted text. Use literary terms in your reflections and elaborate as you express your thoughts! Aim for a mix of comments about: what you think something means the personal connections you make (to a character, setting, event) patterns you notice predictions you can pose commentary on important decisions made by characters, ideas expressed, or key events observations about a character what seems unusual recognition of a literary technique and ideas about its meaning and purpose PROCEDURE: As you read, choose passages that stand out to you and record them in the left-hand column the chart (ALWAYS include page numbers). In the right column, write your response to the text (ideas/insights, questions, reflections, and comments on each passage) You must label your responses using the following codes: (Q) Question ask about something in the passage that is unclear (C) Connect make a connection to your life, the world, or another text
(P) Predict anticipate what will occur based on what s in the passage (CL) Clarify answer earlier questions or confirm/disaffirm a prediction (R) Reflect think deeply about what the passage means in a broad sense not just to the characters in the story/author of the article. What conclusions can you draw about the world, about human nature, or just the way things work? (E) Evaluate - make a judgment about what the author is trying to say Some sentence leads could include: Why did This setting reminds me of This character reminds me of because What would happen if This idea/event seems to be important because When the author does, it creates a tone that Who is This doesn t make sense because If I were (character), at this point, I would Now, I understand The language makes me feel the author is The details create / show The is compared to a and it really makes me see how The symbolizes and it (the effect) With the, the author creates an image of that Grading: Entries will be evaluated on details, thoughtfulness, and variety in the type of entry. You must have at least four entries for each section. CHOOSING PASSAGES FROM THE TEXT: Look for quotes that seem significant, powerful, thought provoking or puzzling. For example, you might record: Effective &/or creative use of stylistic or literary devices Passages that remind you of your own life or something you ve seen before Structural shifts or turns in the plot A passage that makes you realize something you hadn t seen before Examples of patterns: recurring images, ideas, colors, symbols or motifs. Passages with confusing language or unfamiliar vocabulary Events you find surprising or confusing Passages that illustrate a particular character or setting Basic Responses- these are for just the minimum grade.
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 character(s) Tell what it reminds you of from your own experiences Write about what it makes you think or feel Agree or disagree with a character or the author Higher Level Responses- doing any of these will get you more points Analyze the text for use of literary devices (tone, structure, style, imagery) Make connections between different characters or events in the text Make connections to a different text (or film, song, etc ) Discuss the words, ideas, or actions of the author or character(s) Consider an event or description from the perspective of a different character Analyze a passage and its relationship to the story as a whole Essays: I expect these essays to be no less than four paragraphs, typed, and MLA format. Also, should I find you have plagiarized your essays administration shall be contacted and you will receive an F on the summer assignment. Make sure you are using decent support for your claims and that you document all quotes. Choose one prompt for each novel. The essay should be two to three pages, typed, double spaced, and submitted through Haiku. Please do not use personal pronouns ( I think or In my opinion ) in your essay. I know that it is your opinion; your name is on the essay. I expect all essays to have textual evidence to support all claims being made and relate to the thesis statement. Thousand Splendid Suns 1. Hosseini has said that he wrote A Thousand Splendid Suns to focus on the experiences of women in Afghanistan. Describe how the changing political situation affects women s position in Afghan society over the course of the novel. When do women have the most rights? The least? Use specific textual evidence to support your statements. 2. The theme of shelter, emotional and physical, is central to the novel. Discuss the different types of shelter Mariam and Laila find throughout the novel and how they reflect the theme. Use textual evidence from the novel to justify your claims.
Dust Tracks on the Road 1. Explain how the autobiography is a feminist history through Hurston s critiques of the parameters and boundaries men create for women. Analyze and connect how historical context affects the parameters placed on women. 2. Critique how Hurston uses colloquial dialect to relate the African American experience to her audience. Due Dates- All work submitted through Haiku A Thousand Splendid Suns June 21- part one questions due July 1- first installment of dialectical journals, July 3- part two questions due July 15- second installment of dialectical journals July 17- part three questions due July 24- part 4 questions due July 31- essay due Dust Tracks on the Road August 9- first half of dialectical journals due August 16- second half of dialectical journals due August 20 th - essay due Writer s Style Terminology What is a writer s style? Once you begin to analyze literature closely, you will see how all the parts of a piece of literature work together, from the structure of the piece down to the individual word choices. The following terms provide the essential vocabulary needed to discuss literature in a deeper context. When asked to analyze the style of a piece of literature, reach into your style tool box for the right terminology. These terms are also important so that you develop your own style of writing and distinct voice as a writer. Pay attention to them as you write your essays. Diction: the author s word choice.
Denotative: the dictionary meaning of the word. Connotative: the emotional implications and associations the word carries. Authors choose their words carefully to convey precise meaning. A word can have more one meaning and sometimes words are chosen based on the tone of the piece. For you this also includes the use of dead words and dynamic vocabulary, are you using the same twenty, tired words or are you making exciting word choices? Syntax: the arrangement of the words in a sentence. When reading closely we look at syntax in order to examine the emphasis and tone. Are the sentences simple, complex, parallel, short, long, questions, exclamations, imperative or declarative? Are the same types of sentences being used over and over again? Detail: the description of the individual parts that make up something. For authors they use details to enhance the setting or action. For you, you use details to support your thesis and ideas. Tone: reflects the speaker s attitude toward the subject of the work. Try to identify the authors tone. Try to set your own tone of your essays. Point of View: the perspective from which the work is told. The author may use first person, third person, or third person omniscient. You should mostly use third person, only use third person if it is a personal statement!
Rubric: This is how you will be graded. Category Advanced (A) Proficient (B) Basic (C) Below Basic (D) Far Below (F) WC 1.1 Demonstrate control of grammar, diction, and paragraph and sentence structure and an understanding of English usage. The student went beyond mastery in including sentence fluency and variation in length and structure. demonstrated mastery of the standard. demonstrated understanding of the standard. has demonstrated limited understanding of the standard. gave no evidence of understanding the standard. LC 1.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the elements of discourse when completing [expository] writing assignments. The student went beyond mastery and was able to use tone and voice appropriate for the audience. demonstrated mastery of the standard. demonstrated understanding of the standard. has demonstrated limited understanding of the standard. gave no evidence of understanding the standard. Spelling, Capitalization, and Punctuation Essay contains no more than two errors. Essay contains no more than two or three errors. Essay contains four to six errors. Essay contains many errors that distract from meaning. Essay contains so many errors the reading is interrupted. Content of Answer The student went beyond mastery by consistently enforcing the thesis statement. answered all parts of the question with comprehensive detail and mastery. answered most parts of the question with some detail and mastery. provided a partial response demonstrating limited understanding. made a minimal or incomplete response that failed to communicate. Format Essay follows formatting rules and is complete and uses transitions to enhance the essay. Essay follows formatting rules and is complete. Essay follows most formatting rules and is complete. Essay follows some formatting rules, but is not a complete paragraph. Essay does not follow formatting rules and is not complete.
A Thousand Splendid Suns Part 1 Questions Chapter 1-15 Answer each question in complete sentences using specific evidence for support. 1. The novel opens with a curse word, uttered in frustration by Mariam s mother, when Mariam breaks a treasured heirloom. What does Mariam s memory of this suggest about her sense of herself and her relationship with her mother? How does this opening set the tone for the novel? 2. Based on Nana s and Mariam s experiences, what can you infer about the lives of women in Afghanistan in the sixties? Why does Nana forbid Mariam to go to school? What does Nana want for her and Mariam? Is Nana s goal realistic? 3. Jalil, Mariam s father, is a complex character. Does he love his daughter? How does he show his love? How does he show that he does not fully recognize her as his daughter? Why does he treat her as he does? 4. Why does Mariam ask her father to take her to the cinema for her fifteenth birthday present? What does she want? 5. Is Mariam right to feel guilt about the suicide death of her mother? 6. What is the motive of Jalil s wives in finding a suitor for Mariam? Why does Jalil go along with them in this plan? 7. Why does Mariam finally say yes in the marriage ceremony to Rasheed? What does Mariam realize about her father? How does that make her feel? Does this explain why she goes along with the marriage to Rasheed? 8. The beginning of Mariam s marriage to Rasheed seems to promise happiness. What are signs that this may be short lived? 9. How does Rasheed feel about the westernization of Afghanistan? What shows his ambivalence? 10. What are Rasheed s reasons for making Mariam wear a burqa and what do they tell us about his ideas about his role as a husband and man and his expectations for Mariam? 11. Mariam learns some of her husband s history when she looks inside the drawers in his room. Why does she rationalize about what she sees? 12. Why does Rasheed want a boy? How might life have been different for the family if Mariam could have had a baby? 13. Why does Rasheed become abusive?
A Thousand Splendid Suns Part 2 Questions Chapter 16-26 Answer each question in complete sentences using specific evidence for support. 1. In this section we are introduced to nine-year-old Laila and her family. What were Laila s parents like when they were young? How have they changed? What is undermining their relationship? How does their relationship affect Laila? 2. Why does Laila feel such a strong attachment to her father? 3. Why does Laila s father believe in the importance of education for women? 4. What is wrong with Laila s mother? 5. Laila s friend, Tariq, lost one leg to a land mine explosion when he was five. How does Tariq deal with his disability? What does his behavior suggest about his character? 6. Laila enjoys spending time with Tariq s family. How does her family differ from Tariq s and why? 7. How is Laila s family affected by the deaths of their two sons? How do you understand Laila s reaction? 8. What is the role of religion in the novel? Does it give consolation to the people? 9. Why were Laila s brothers fighting? What are the motives for the rebels fighting against the communists? 10. Why does Laila s father take her to see the two Buddhas at Bamiyan? Later these statues are destroyed by the Taliban. Why? 11. Why does Laila s father stay with his wife? How are the mother s and father s dreams different and why? 12. On their outing Laila s father relaxes, re-reading Hemingway s Old Man and the Sea. Why does the novel resonate with the father? 13. In what ways is Laila like her mother, and in what ways is she like her father? 14. How does the relationship of Laila and Tariq change? 15. What is the impact of the Soviet withdrawal on the citizens of Kabul? 16. What finally convinces Laila s mother to leave Kabul? 17. How do Laila s feelings about leaving Kabul contrast with her parents feelings?
A Thousand Splendid Suns Part 3 Questions Chapter 27-47 Answer each question in complete sentences using specific evidence for support. 1. Rasheed digs Laila out of the rubble of the explosion that kills her mother and father and takes her into his home. Does his behavior seem unusual? What are his motives for taking care of Laila? 2. How has U.S. foreign policy led to the continuing chaos in Afghanistan? 3. Why does Laila agree to marry Rasheed, a sixty-year-old man, even when she considered the act dishonorable? 4. Why does Rasheed demand total submission from the two women? 5. Why does Mariam blame Laila for marrying Rasheed? Why does she see Laila as a competitor for Rasheed? 6. How has the death of his son affected Rasheed? 7. Why does Rasheed continue to taunt Mariam when he has absolute control over her? 8. What is the effect of wearing a burqa on Laila? 9. What are Mariam s changing feelings as Rasheed becomes more upset with Laila? 10. What is the significance of Mariam and Laila having tea together? 11. How is the violence in the streets of Kabul parallel to the violence in Rasheed s home? 12. Mariam and Laila ask a young man for help when they are trying to leave Kabul. Why does he betray them to the soldiers? 13. Why has Rasheed become so cruel to Mariam and Laila? How has the breakdown of society, as a result of the war, allowed this to happen? 14. How does the presence of the Taliban in Kabul affect Rasheed differently from Laila? 15. Why does Laila not go through with aborting Rasheed s baby? 16. What does Mariam come to understand about motherhood? 17. How is Laila s son being educated in the male-dominated culture of the Taliban? How does Zalmai show that he is following his father s example in how he responds to Laila and Mariam? How is Laila s daughter taught to conform to the role laid out for women? 18. What is it about the movie, Titanic, that is so interesting to the people of Kabul?
19. Why does Laila confront Rasheed with his inability to keep a job when she risks being beaten by him? 20. How does Mariam feel when she finds out that her father tried to visit her when he was dying and she refused to see him? 21. What does the suffering that Laila endures to visit her daughter in the orphanage say about the Taliban s effect on society? 22. How is Aziza changing in the orphanage? 23. Is Mariam justified in killing Rasheed? How is the act of murder a kind of fulfillment for Mariam? 24. After the murder of Rasheed, how has the relationship between Mariam and Laila changed? 25. How will Laila s lying to her son affect him when he realizes the truth? 26. What enables Mariam to have the courage to bring about Laila s escape from Rasheed s home? 27. Why does Mariam request no visitors when she is put in prison? 28. What is ironic in what the judge says to Mariam about carrying out God s laws? 29. How does Mariam show that she has grown into a woman of strong character before her death? 30. How does Mariam find peace before she dies? A Thousand Splendid Suns Part 4 Questions Chapter 48-51 Answer each question in complete sentences using specific evidence for support. 1. How does Laila s life in Murree contrast with her life in Kabul? 2. Is Laila s expectation that Zalmai will learn to accept his father s absence realistic? 3. Will Laila s nightmares about her life in Kabul ever cease? What is the worst thing that happened to her there? 4. Why is Laila afraid to hope for peace in Afghanistan, after the U.S. war on the Taliban is over? 5. What forces tug on Laila to return to Afghanistan? 6 Why does Laila want to visit the home where Mariam had lived as a girl?
7 How does the letter of Mariam s father show his character? Does it redeem him in some way? In what ways is it ironic? 8 What is fitting about Laila s return to Kabul and her work at the orphanage? 9 How do the drawings by the children in the orphanage express their experiences? How do they show the contrast between the time when Aziza was there and now? 10 How has Mariam become a symbol of Kabul for Laila?