Dallas
High School
Mrs. Anne Butler
Advanced Placement
Literature and Composition
Summer 2006
Dear Future AP Scholar,
I look forward to our time together in Spring 2007. In preparation for your advanced study of literature, and because AP English is a college-level course, we need to make sure you have both the breadth and depth of literature experience required. To that end, you will be required to complete three summer reading selections.
Below is a list of possible selections for next year’s AP Literature and Composition class. Some of them are classics, and may test your reading stamina to finish them; others will be easy and comfortable reading throughout. Choose any THREE of the titles listed below. It is my hope that you will choose at least one that is difficult for you – either in terms of subject matter, reading level, or sheer mass – as a personal challenge. You will be required to complete at least one independent novel per month in addition to class reading, so starting to pace yourself now can only aid in that attempt.
After reading each selection, complete a discussion guide prep sheet (sample attached – form available from my web site) AND select one of the eleven essay questions attached (from previous AP exams) and write an organized, complete, and concise essay of not more than three typewritten pages (MLA format) using the selection you read to answer the question. Please reproduce the question in place of a formal title. Use specific references to the text, with quoted material as appropriate, to thoroughly answer each question. Do not merely summarize the plot.
During the first week of AP Literature and Composition, I will be collecting all three discussion guides and all three literary analysis papers for analysis and grading. You MUST complete the summer reading; failure to do so will result in failure for the course.
Please do not hesitate to email me with questions or comments throughout your journey. You may reach me at abutler@dallassd.com. I am usually reasonably responsible about checking my email daily; but it is my summer vacation, too, so please allow a couple of days for a response. In an emergent situation, you may call the high school office, who will contact me directly.
Happy reading!
Anne M. Butler
AP
Essay Questions – Taken from Past Exams
**Directions: Choose any of the following to answer using the book you selected from the summer reading list. You will complete a total of THREE essays using the THREE books you complete in preparation for AP Lit and Comp. Write the question at the top of your response, in the spot where an essay title would normally be placed**
1) Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the source of conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.
2) Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, to houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.
3) In a novel or play, a confidant (male) or a confidante (female) is a character, often a friend or relative of the hero or heroine, whose role is to be present when the hero or heroine needs a sympathetic listener to confide in. Frequently, the result is, as Henry James remarked, that the confidant or confidante can be as much “the reader’s friend as the protagonist’s.” However, the author sometimes uses this character for other purposes as well. Choose a confidant(e) from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you discuss the various ways this character functions in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.
4) “The true test of comedy is that it shall awaken thoughtful laughter.” – George Meredith. Choose a novel or play or long poem in which a scene of character awakens “thoughtful laughter” in the reader. Write an essay in which you show why this laughter is “thoughtful” and how it contributes to the meaning of the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.
5) In some works of literature, a character who appears briefly, or does not appear at all, is a significant presence. Choose a novel or a play of literary merit and write an essay in which you show how such a character affects action, theme, or the development of other characters. Do not merely summarize the plot.
6) Novels and plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters, and the society in which they live. Select a novel or play that includes such a scene and in a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.
7) Some works of literature use the element of time in a distinct way. The chronological sequence of events may be altered, or time may be suspended or accelerated. Choose a novel and show how the author’s manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.
8) Choose a novel in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological: for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot.
9) Some novels or plays seem to advocate changes in social or political attitudes or in traditions. Choose such a novel or play and note briefly the particular attitudes or traditions that the author apparently wishes to modify. Then analyze the techniques the author uses to influence the reader’s or audience’s views. Do not merely summarize the plot.
10) Select an important character who is a villain. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the character’s villainy and show how it enhances meaning in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.
11) The eighteenth-century British novelist Laurence Sterne wrote, “Nobody, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects or equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.” From a novel or play, choose a character (not necessarily the protagonist) whose mind is pulled in conflicting directions by two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences. Then, in a well-organized essay, identify each of the two conflicting forces and explain how this conflict within one character illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.
Choose THREE from among the
following:
The
Stranger –
Albert Camus
The
Awakening –
Kate Chopin
Lord
of the Flies
– William Golding
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
Life
of Pi –
Yann Martel
The
Fountainhead – Ayn Rand
Othello – William Shakespeare