Advanced Placement

Synopsis: Incoming Advanced Placement Literature and Composition students are required to read several books over the summer in preparation for this course. The goal of Advanced Placement Summer Reading is to encourage students to read diverse and well-written literature. Students will be required to read three books and will be required to write an in-class essay during the first week of school.

Some students may be thinking “I am holding a packet for Summer Reading!” It will be all right!

Some students are thinking of ways to get around this assignment. If you are looking for ways around this reading assignment, you should not enroll in the class.

AP Literature and Composition is a college course; it is not a preparation for college.

Each student must do the following:

1.      Choose one pair of books.

2.      Purchase, read, and annotate How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. (Note: Numerous used copies of this book are on www.amazon.com.)

3.      Read the chosen books, take notes, or annotate as needed. These notes are for the student: Ms. Collins will not evaluate them. Don’t get carried away! Note, just enough information to help you think about and write a great essay about the books during the first week.

4.      Write an in-class essay on the books in which you use the ideas from Foster’s book as a guide to analyze the literature.

Titles: The following pairs of books have some theme (or idea) in common. You must comprise a conversation that should take place between the books, their authors, the characters, and yourself.

1.      Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck The Road by Cormac McCarthy	2.      The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
3.      No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy Wise Blood  by Flannery O’Connor	4.      The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbary
5.      Blindness by Jose Saramago Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card	6.      The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak Obasan by Joy Kagawa
7.      Dracula by Bram Stoker The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson	8.      Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Possible Questions for How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster:

1.      Introduction: How’d He Do That?

a.       How do memory, symbol, and pattern affect the reading of literature? How does the recognition of patterns make it easier to read complicated literature? Discuss a time when your appreciation of a literary work was enhanced by understanding symbol or pattern.

2.      Chapter 1: Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)

a.       List the five (5) aspects of the quest and then apply them to something you have read (or viewed) in the form used on pages 3-5.

3.      Chapter 2: Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion

a.       Choose a meal from a literary work and apply the ideas of Chapter 2 to this literary depiction.

4.      Chapter 3: Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires

a.       What are the essentials of the Vampire story? Apply this to a literary work you have read or viewed. (Warning: Please look at works that have vampire-like characters, not a vampire story, so please students do not write anything from the Twilight series. Hint: Wuthering Heights)

5.      Chapter 4: If it’s Square, It’s a Sonnet

a.       Find a Shakespearean sonnet or one of John Donne’s Holy Sonnets and read it. Use TPCASTT-Title, Paraphrase, Connotation/Denotation, Attitude, Shift, Theme, and Title.

6.      Chapter 5: Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?

a.       Define intertextuality. Discuss three examples that have examples that have helped you in reading specific works.

7.      Chapter 6: When in Doubt, It’s from Shakespeare…

a.       Discuss a work that you are familiar with that alludes to or reflects Shakespeare. Show how the author uses this connection thematically. Read pages 44-46 carefully. In these pages, Foster shows how Fugard reflects Shakespeare through plot and theme. In your discussion, focus on theme.

8.      Chapter 7: …Or the Bible

a.       Read Araby by James Joyce (available online). Discuss biblical allusions that Foster does not mention. Look at the example of the “two great jars.” Be creative and imaginative in these connections.

9.      Chapter 8-Hanseldee and Greteldum

a.       Discuss the parallels between a story (real or fiction) and a fairy tale. Does it create irony or deepen appreciation.

10.  Chapter 9-It’s Greek to Me

a.       Discuss the parallels between a story (real or fiction) and a Greek or Roman myth. Does it create irony or deepen appreciation.

11.  Chapter 10-It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow

a.       Discuss the importance of weather in a specific literary work, not in terms of plot.

12.  Chapter 11…More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence

a.       Discuss the use of violence in a work of literature and what it means

13.  Chapter 12-Is That a Symbol?

a.       Use the process described on page 106 and investigate the symbolism of the fence in “Araby” (Mangan’s sister stands behind it), or you may use another work.

14.  Chapter 13-It’s All Political

a.       Assuming that Foster is right, and it is all political! Use his criteria and apply it to either both or one of the novels that you were asked to read for Summer Reading.

15.  Chapter 14-Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too

a.       Apply the criteria on page 119 to a major character in a significant literary work. Try to choose a character that will have many matches. This is particularly apt tool for analyzing a film—for example Star Wars, Braveheart, Gladiator, Matrix Trilogy, The Green Mile, Chronicles of Narnia, Joan of Arc (1999), and The Lord of the Rings.

16.  Chapter 15-Flights of Fancy

a.       Think of your favorite superhero. What do his superpowers or heroic acts represent? How would you as Foster says “soar into interpretation and speculation?”

17.  Chapter 16-It’s All About Sex…

a.       When we discuss issues of sexuality in literature, I expect my students to behave like logical young adults. If you want to giggle and make snide or crude remarks, you should not take part in the discussion.

18.  Chapter 17-…Except Sex.

a.       Read the first chapter of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man “The Battle Royal.” We will be reading the novel in class.

19.  Chapter 18-If She Comes Up, It’s Baptism

a.       Think of a baptism scene from a significant literary work. How was the character different after the experience? Discuss

20.  Chapter 19-Geography Matters

a.       Discuss at least four different aspects of a specific literary work that Foster would classify under “geography.”

21.  Chapter 20-...So Does Season

a.       Discuss the importance of the season in a work of literature or film.

22.  Chapter 21-Marked for Greatness

a.       Figure out Harry Potter’s Scar. If you are not familiar with Harry Potter, select another character with a physical imperfection and analyze its implication for characterization.

23.  Chapter 22-He’s Blind for a Reason, You Know   

a.       Read the chapter and pay attention to the information concerning Oedipus

24.  Chapter 23-It’s Never Just Heart Disease

25.  Chapter 24-…And Rarely Just Illness

a.       Recall two characters that died of a disease in a literary work. Consider how these deaths reflect the “principles governing the use of disease in literature” (215-217). Discuss the effectiveness of the death as related to plot, theme, or symbolism.

26.  Chapter 25-Don’t Read with Your Eyes

a.       After reading Chapter 25, choose a scene or episode from a novel, play, or epic written before the twentieth century. Contrast how to could be viewed by a reader from a previous century with how it might be viewed by a contemporary reader. Focus on specific assumptions that the author makes; in other words, assumptions that would not make it in this country.

27.  Chapter 26-Is it Serious? And Other Ironies

a.       Select an ironic literary work and explain the multi-vocal nature of the irony in the work.

Sample questions: Please note Ms. Collins gives her students outlines for in-class writing.

1976 AP Question-The conflict created when the will of an individual opposes the will of the majority is the recurring theme of many novels, plays, and essays. Select a fictional character that is in opposition to his or her society. In a critical essay, analyze the conflict and moral and ethical implications for both the individual and the society. Do not summarize the plot or action of the work you choose.

1982 AP Question-In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Choose a work of literary merit that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary.

2007 AP Question-In works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present actions, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character’s relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid plot summary.