Summer Reading Assignment

AP English Literature & Composition and Senior English Seminars

   “Stories offer patterns of sound and association, of event and image. Suspended as listeners

and readers in these patterns, we might reimagine our lives…” –Barry Lopez The novelist Henry James famously observed that “summer” and “afternoon” are two of the most beautiful words in the English language. As you embark upon your summer adventures, we hope that your enjoyment of many a “summer afternoon” will be fortified and amplified by the power of great literature. Indeed, to ensure that this happens, the English Department has selected Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible and Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin—for this summer’s reading assignment. These two novels, both towering testaments to literature’s enduring power, will not only contribute to your summer fun, but will also go on to become central touchstones for us in English class throughout your senior year. As you set off on your summer reading journey, we would like you to keep in mind that to read a work of literature is to actively engage in a kind of imaginative collaboration with its author. Indeed, a text ultimately derives whatever “meaning” it might come to possess through the mysterious exchange that occurs between its author and yourself as reader. It is when your creative intelligence engages with that of the writer’s, effectively closing the imaginative circuit, that a text’s meaning is disclosed. To open the pages of a great novel and begin reading to is to enter into a creative partnership with its author. A lot is at stake! In the end, great literature has the power to impact the quality of your perception; to shape the way you see the world. Literature can also enhance and nourish your natural sensibilities in surprising and profound ways.

To ensure that your summer reading is both active and engaged, we have designed a number of summer reading assignments (see the pages that follow) for your to complete. Requiring you to reflect on what you read and then express your understanding in writing, necessarily deepens your level of engagement and sharpens your imaginative and analytical skills. By asking you to interact with what you read by responding to it in writing, it is our hope that you will come to regard writing as tool for refining and clarify your thoughts and ideas. The investment of time and imagination that you make in completing these assignments will pay off dividends as far preparing you well for the work that we will take up together in class in the fall. Please make sure that you complete each step of the assignments thoroughly and come to class on day one prepared to submit your work. Finally, we would like you to consider what Life of Pi author, and Man-Booker Prize winner, Yann Martel has to say about reading books and pursuing the literary endeavor:

Books make us climb higher, and I always have my hand on a book, as if on a banister. But unlike some readers I know who effortlessly bound up stairs four steps at a time, floor after floor, never stopping to catch their breath, I creep up slowly. If there is an autobiographical character in my novel Life of Pi, it’s not Pi, it’s the sloth. To me a good book is like a rich lode of leaves and I can read only so many pages before my tummy gets full and I nod off. My banister is more of a branch and from it I hang up- side down, nursing the book that is feeding my dreams. I read it slowly but continuously. Otherwise I would starve.

So, go off and find a proverbial branch from which to hang upside-down and spend your summer afternoons letting the nourishing lode of these two great books feed your dreams. Have a great summer! Sincerely, Mr. Canning & Ms. Wilson PS: If you have any questions about completing your summer reading assignments, feel free to email either of us over the summer months: JCanning@ghcds.org or LWilson@ghcds.org

Senior Summer Reading Selection #1

The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)

The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

The novel is set against one of the most dramatic political chronicles of the twentieth century: the Congo's fight for independence from Belgium, the murder of its first elected prime minister, the CIA coup to install his replacement, and the insidious progress of a world economic order that robs the fledgling African nation of its autonomy.

Dancing between the dark comedy of human failings and the breathtaking possibilities of human hope, The Poisonwood Bible possesses all that has distinguished Barbara Kingsolver's previous work, and extends this beloved writer's vision to an entirely new level. Taking its place alongside the classic works of postcolonial literature, this ambitious novel establishes Kingsolver as one of the most thoughtful and daring of modern writers.

****Note: It may be a good idea to research any of the concepts or historical references mentioned above that may be unfamiliar to you (Belgian Congo, biblical allusions, postcolonial literature, etc.).

Step #1: Read the novel

The first week of class in the fall will be spent discussing and writing an analysis of the novel. Please come to the first day of class with your copy of the novel and a critical understanding of it. Come prepared to ask questions, contribute your insights, and engage meaningfully with the text and your classmates. Several grades during the first weeks of school will stem from The Poisonwood Bible; including, but not limited to: A Summer Reading Assessment, your Reader Responses (see below), your Nathan Price Journal Entry and an in-class, timed essay response.

As you read, please look for and make notes on the following:

Thematic Concepts:

! Cultural/spiritual arrogance

! Reaction to and coping with guilt

! Justice vs injustice

! Stylistic and Literary Elements that create meaning-: Narrative point of view, imagery, metaphor, allusion, personification, syntax/sentence structure, symbols, repetition,

" Motifs: vision, light and dark, language as both unifier and separator etc.

Think about the questions the novel may be asking the reader—questions about society and human nature. Does the novel provide any answers, or does the novel fail to answer those questions? How can you prove your position? You may want to keep notes on these questions and possible answers (or lack of answers) and bring them to class to aid in our discussions.

NOTE: For students taking AP English Literature and Composit ion , we will be following up Kingsolver’s novel with Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness which is also based in the Belgian Congo. All that you learn in the course of reading The Poisonwood Bible will become an invaluable tool in helping you analyze and interpret Conrad’s novella. Indeed, The Poisonwood Bible will introduce questions and themes that we will continue to examine in subsequent works throughout the school year, so it is essential that you read the novel thoughtfully.

This novel will take a concentrated amount of time, so you should not wait until the last days of your summer vacation to begin the assignment. If you read the novel earlier in the summer, we suggest you review it and your response questions shortly before school begins. It is not acceptable to argue that you did not do well on/or are not prepared for the Summer Reading Assessment that will be administered in the Fall, because you “read the book too long ago.”

Step #2: Complete the Reader Response Questions

"Literature is the question minus the answer." -Roland Barthes

Please complete three responses as you read (you must choose and respond to one of the prompts/questions from each of the three sections outlined below). For each response, be certain to address the entire prompt and actively utilize and integrate, appropriate quotations from the reading to support your assertions. In the spirit of Roland Barthes’ observation above, please conclude each of your responses with a “lingering question” – a

question that remains unanswered at the end of that section of the reading. Each response should be typed, double-spaced and a minimum length of one page.

Books I & I I : Genes is and The Revelation

" The novel opens with a narrative directive, presumably to the reader: Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened. First, picture the forest. I want you to be its conscience, the eyes in the trees. What is the effect of this directive on you as a reader? What does it suggest about the novel that’s about to unfold? As Orleanna continues her narration, who does the “you” that she is speaking to appear to be? To what great disasters does she allude? Why is she telling the story looking back (past) on Africa while the girls seem to tell it as if it’s happening (present) in Africa? “And now we are here” (Kingsolver 13).

" How does Kingsolver use voice to characterize each sister? Which sister's voice is the most compelling for you?

" Kingsolver has said, in talking about how she names her characters that, “A name has to be just right: memorable, culturally appropriate, original but not silly. And ideally, it carries some meaning that coincides nicely with the person's intentions and character.” Consider the significance of names in The Poisonwood Bible.

" Book Two is entitled “The Revelation” and the girls’ section is entitled “The Things We Learned.” Whose revelation? What is the revelation? What do the girls learn?

" Patrice Lumumba: Kingsolver’s novel arguably is as much about Patrice Lumumba and the historical events in the Congo in the early 1960s as it is about the Price family. As you read, consider how the political events in the Congo affect and mirror what is happening to and within the Price family.

Books III & IV: The Judges and Bel and the Serpent

" What is the significance of the Kikongo word nommo and its attendant concepts of being and naming? How do the Price sisters’ Christian names and their acquired Kikongo names (210, 225) reflect their personalities and behavior?

" The African concepts of nommo and muntu are introduced in this section of the reading (209 - 210). Explain them. How do these ideas compare to similar western concepts of naming and existence?

" What ideas are examined about justice and balance/ betrayal and salvation/ guilt and innocence/ freedom and captivity?

Boos V, VI & VII : Exodus, Song the Three Children, The Eyes in the Trees

" Orleanna says, "To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story, and that is the only celebration we mortals really know" (385). Adah says, about her mother, "...she constantly addresses the ground under her feet. Asking forgiveness. Owning, disowning, recanting, recharting a hateful course of events to make sense of her own complicity. We all are, I suppose. Trying to invent our version of the story. All human odes are essentially one. ‘My life: what I stole from history, and how I live with it.' (492). What does this novel ultimately say about story-telling?

" Look again at the first and last chapter of the novel. Consider the ways in which the last chapter is a response to the first. Consider how the idea of “ruin” is reworked. Consider the significance of the okapi.

" Within the context of her novel, Kingsolver both introduces us to African concepts such as nommo and muntu and then goes a step further and requires us to accept those beliefs. Consider the significance of book 7, “The Eyes in the Trees” and its impact on the reader. What is Kingsolver doing with this final book of her “Poisonwood Bible”? Consider the significance of this quote: “The glide of belly on branch. The mouth thrown open wide, sky blue. I am all that is here. The eyes in the trees never blink. You plead with me your daughter sister sister for release, but I am no little beast and have no reason to judge. No teeth and no reason. If you feel a gnawing at your bones, that is only yourself, hungry” (Kingsolver 537).

" How can this novel be read as a political or religious allegory? Do you agree with Kingsolver's conclusions that everyone is complicit?

Step #3: Nathan Price Journal Entry In this novel, we hear directly from all of the Price family except Nathan. The Reverend, though, is a character who definitely has something to say. After reading the novel, choose one event or situation and tell the story from Nathan’s point of view. How would the solitary male Price write about this situation? What words would he be likely to use? What aspects of the event would he describe in detail? What would he avoid? This should be a typed, 2-3 page, double-spaced paper. Make sure to note, using internal (parenthetical) citations what pages in the book describe this event or situation. Review the attached rubric for more specifics and make sure to staple this to your paper when you turn it in.

Step #4: In-Class Essay Students taking AP English Literature & Composit ion : Be prepared to write your first, in-class, timed essay in response to the prompt below (taken from the 2010 College Board AP Eng Lit exam). This is an exercise we will repeat many times over the course of the school year in order to get you well-prepared for the rigors of the College Board exam in May. On this occasion, I am giving you the prompt ahead of time. Read it thoroughly and have it in the back of your mind as you read the novel. Jot down

notations and quotes that you feel may be relevant to your response. After we wrap up our class discussion of your summer reading, you will be writing your in class essay in response to this prompt.

2010. Palestinian American literary theorist and cultural critic Edward Said has written that “Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.” Yet Said has also said that exile can become “a potent, even enriching” experience. Using The Poisonwood Bible, reflect on a character who experiences such a rift and becomes cut off from “home,” whether that home is the character’s birthplace, family, homeland, or other special place. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the character’s experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

 

Step #5: Students intending to take AP English Literature & Composition: Prior to June 20th, please subscribe to the class blog: BIBLIOPHILIA: Mr. Canning's AP English Literature & Composition Class (https://ghcdsapenglish.wordpress.com/) and send me an email (jcanning@ghcds.org) stating why you have elected to take the class and what you hope to gain from it. I will be in touch with you either directly through email or indirectly through the BLOG during the summer. When subscribing to the blog, be sure to indicate that you would like email notices sent to you when the blog is updated.            

Creative Response Nathan Price Journal Entry Rubric

 

     

Senior Summer Reading Selection #2

Let the Great World Spin (Colum McCann)

In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann’s stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people.

Let the Great World Spin is the critically acclaimed author’s most ambitious novel yet: a dazzlingly rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s.

Corrigan, a radical young Irish monk, struggles with his own demons as he lives among the prostitutes in the middle of the burning Bronx. A group of mothers gather in a Park Avenue apartment to mourn their sons who died in Vietnam, only to discover just how much divides them even in grief. A young artist finds herself at the scene of a hit-and-run that sends her own life careening sideways. Tillie, a thirty-eight-year-old grandmother, turns tricks alongside her teenage daughter, determined not only to take care of her family but to prove her own worth.

Elegantly weaving together these and other seemingly disparate lives, McCann’s powerful allegory comes alive in the unforgettable voices of the city’s people, unexpectedly drawn together by hope, beauty, and the “artistic crime of the century.” A sweeping and radical social novel, Let the Great World Spin captures the spirit of America in a time of transition, extraordinary promise, and, in hindsight, heart-breaking innocence. Hailed as a “fiercely original talent” (San Francisco Chronicle), award-winning novelist McCann has delivered a

triumphantly American masterpiece that awakens in us a sense of what the novel can achieve, confront, and even heal. (From the publisher.)

The Assignment: While reading Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin, please compose paragraph-long responses to each of the following questions. For each response, include at least one quotation from the book (and indicate page number for each). Your responses should be typed and double-spaced. You do not need to include the wording of the questions in your response.

1. Let the Great World Spin is told through the eyes of eleven different characters. What is the effect of this chorus of voices? Why do you think the author chose to tell the story this way? If you had to choose a single character to narrate the whole book, who would it be, and why? What do you think might be lost, or gained, by narrowing the story to a single perspective?

2. As McCann explains in the author’s note, the book’s title comes from “Locksley Hall,” an 1835 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which was itself inspired by a series of ancient Arabic poems. Why do you think McCann chose to use this title for such a modern American story? What does the title mean to you, and do you think it affects your relationship to the book as a reader? Would this be a different novel, do you think, if it had been called something else, like “Highwire”?

3. The narrative takes place almost exclusively in New York City, but could it have taken place in any other city in the world? How can this be seen as a specifically “New York” novel, and how might it not be? Are there ways in which the characters are emblematic of their time and place, or is there an “everyman” quality to them?

4. The novel opens with an extraordinary tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers. This is a fictionalization of a famous stunt by Philippe Petit in August 1974—yet the tightrope walker in the novel remains anonymous, unrelated to any of the other characters. What do you think the effect is of weaving this historical fact into the fiction of the other characters’ stories? What do you think McCann intends toachieve with this, and in what ways do you think he succeeds?

5. How important do you think this historic walk is in the novel itself? In what ways would the stories–and story–McCann is telling be different if the novel had been set on a different day, or in a different era?

6. Do you see ways in which the tightrope might function as a metaphor, or symbol, throughout the book?

7. In the chapter titled “This Is the House That Horse Built” we get an intimate glimpse into the life of a New York prostitute in the 1970s. She considers herself a failure. Do you agree with her? Or do you think she achieves grace despite the circumstances of her life?

8. All but one of the chapters in Let the Great World Spin are set over the course of a couple of days in early August 1974. Why do you think McCann chose to jump thirty-two years, to 2006, for the final chapter? In what ways do these pages add to, complicate, or even change the story that came before? Why do you think he chose the character of Jaslyn to tell that final piece of the story?

9. What do you think Jaslyn discovers at the end of the novel?

10. What parallels do you see between the society of the 1970s, as McCann depicts it in the novel, and today? How do you believe these similarities and differences speak to the changes in America and the world over the past several decades? Would it be fair to say that America itself is one of the evolving characters in the novel, a separate figure whose story is also being told?

11. Adelita says: “The thing about love is that we come alive in bodies not our own.” What does she mean by this?

12. It can be argued that Corrigan and Jazzlyn are the book’s two main characters, yet they die in the opening chapters. Why do you think McCann chose to allow their lives to be destroyed so early in the book? Why did he choose not to tell any of the story through their points of view? In what ways do you think that decision makes these two people more–or less–central and powerful in the story as a whole? Could it be said that it is sometimes the stories not told that affect us the most? (Questions issued by publisher.)