Advanced Placement Literature and Composition

Summer Reading Assignment 2017-2018

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Albert Einstein

To all students who have accepted the challenge of becoming better and more informed readers,

welcome! The purpose of the AP Literature course is to analyze and interpret literature through

careful reading and critical analysis from various genres and time periods.

In order to prepare you for the aforementioned task, you are required to complete the following

assignments for summer reading.

1. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (Find the attached “Jargon, Slang and

Acronyms” list to assist you in your reading).

2. “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, plus one additional poem from the provided

list below.

3. “The Soldier’s Dilemma”

4. Independent Novel

These assignments will be due the first two weeks of school. They have varying due dates, so

please pay attention! All assignments must be completed independently. Any student caught

working with another or plagiarizing work will be subject to a referral for academic integrity.

1. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien: Please purchase your own copy of the novel

and annotate. Annotations will not be graded for thoroughness; however, please mark

passages, themes, motifs, diction, etc. that will be discussed in the Socratic seminar.

In addition to reading, complete the Socratic Seminar questions that are attached. Be

ready for a seminar the first block day of the first full week: August 14-15.

Lastly, be prepared to write an essay the following week.

2. “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen: Please read and annotate the poem. It is also

attached to this document. You will have an AP style quiz on the poem when you return.

In addition, please choose one more poem from the following to annotate:

a. “Nefarious War” by Li Po

b. “APO 96225” by Larry Rottmann

c. “War is Kind” by Stephen Crane

You will need to complete a TPCASTT for each poem. The form is attached.

These poems will be due Thursday-Friday, August 17-18.

3. “The Soldier’s Dilemma”: Read the scenario and answer the questions attached. All

responses must be typed and in MLA format. This will be due Wednesday, August 16th.

4. Independent Novel: There will be four independent novels throughout the course of the

year. Each quarter will focus on a particular set of novels from which you will choose

one to read. The purpose of this assignment is for you to broaden your exposure to

literature and have a larger arsenal of works to choose from when answering the 3rd essay

question on the AP exam. The independent novel assignment is attached. This assignment

will be due Monday-Tuesday, August 21-22 and the instructions are also attached.

For the first quarter (summer assignment) you may choose from the following novels:

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Billy Budd by Herman Melville

Candide by Voltaire

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

5. Finally, some students may find the following book helpful when analyzing literature.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster will be an optional read.

There will be no grade, test, assignment, or extra credit given for this book. It is up to you

to read or not read it.

We hope you enjoy all of the works! But please remember that reading is not just for enjoyment,

but for understanding. Literature consists of abstract thinking, which is one of the hardest things

for students to accomplish. It is not a mere list of pretty, fanciful stories, but rather an insight into

mankind.

Above all, please take your time with these assignments and do them well. Pace yourself

throughout the summer. Bring a book with you wherever you travel, whether it’s to your couch

or the other side of the world.

Socratic Seminar: Exploring Themes in The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien Directions: Prepare well. All answers must be typed in MLA format, written in complete

sentences, and contain page numbers. On the day of the seminar, we will discuss the following

questions. Come prepared with notes and references, including concrete details to support your

answer. Bring your book. Be sure to leave enough space below your answers to take additional

notes. Your notes for the questions below will be checked as part of the seminar assessment. All

members of the seminar must actively participate in discussion. Your grade depends on it.

SECTION I – FEAR AND SHAME AS MOTIVATION

1. O’Brien’s experience is that the fear of shame in front of one’s peers is a powerful

motivating factor in wartime. In what other ways and situations can fear and shame be

motivators?

2. Find and explain three distinct examples from the novel that show how fear or shame can

motivate individuals. Find concrete details with page numbers.

3. Come up with two examples from your how life that show how fear and shame can be

motivators.

SECTION II – PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL BURDENS

1. The “things” that they carried were both emotional and physical. How can physical and

emotional burdens either help or hinder an individual?

2. Find and explain three distinct examples from the novel that show physical and emotional

burdens carried by the characters. Find concrete details with page numbers.

3. Come up with two examples from your own life that show your own physical or

emotional burdens.

SECTION III – TRUTH IN STORYTELLING

1. O’Brien brings the idea of truth in storytelling into question throughout the book. How

does O’Brien define truth and the need for truth in storytelling?

2. Find and explain three distinct examples from the novel that show the subjectivity and

manipulation of truth in storytelling. Find concrete details with page numbers.

3. Come up with two examples from your own life that show ho stories can be manipulated

to enhance the truth of a story.

IV. Additional questions or points of interest you wish to discuss from the novel.

Dulce et Decorum Est* Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares1 we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots 5

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots2

Of gas shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS3! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; 10

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,

And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.4 --

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, 15

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; 20

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, –

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest5 25

To children ardent6 for some desperate glory,

The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est

Pro patria mori.7

8 October 1917 - March, 1918

*DULCE ET DECORUM EST - a Latin saying which was widely understood and often quoted at the start of the

First World War meaning "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria

mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country.

VOCABULARY: 1. A burst of intense, sudden flame

2. “hoots” sounds made by the canisters in the air

3. Gas canisters / shells

4. calcium carbonate compound usually used to treat soil

5. Enthusiasm

6. Desperate / excited

7. pro patria mori: to die for one’s country

Nefarious War

Li Po (c. 750)

Translated from the Chinese by Shigeyoshi Obata

Last year we fought by the head-stream of the So-Kan,

This year we are fighting on the Tsung-ho road.

We have washed our armor in the waves of the Chiao-chi lake,

We have pastured our horses on Tien-shan’s snowy slopes.

The long, long war goes on ten thousand miles from home.

Our three armies are worn and grown old.

The barbarian does man-slaughter for plowing;

On his yellow sand-plains nothing has been seen but blanched skulls and bones.

Where the Chin emperor built the walls against the Tartars,

There the defenders of Han are burning beacon fires.

The beacon fires burn and never go out.

There is no end to war!—

In the battlefield men grapple each other and die;

The horses of the vanquished utter lamentable cries to heaven,

While ravens and kites peck at human entrails,

Carry them up in their flight, and hang them on the branches of dead trees.

So, men are scattered and smeared over the desert grass,

And the generals have accomplished nothing.

Oh, nefarious war! I see why arms

Were so seldom used by the benign sovereigns.

APO 96225 by Larry Rottmann

A young man once went off to war in a far country,

and when he had time, he wrote home and said,

"Dear Mom, sure rains a lot here."

But his mother -- reading between the lines as mothers

always do -- wrote back,

"We're quite concerned. Tell us what it's really like."

And the young man responded,

"Wow! You ought to see the funny monkeys."

To which the mother replied,

"Don't hold back. How is it there?"

And the young man wrote,

"The sunsets here are spectacular!"

In her next letter, the mother pleaded,

"Son, we want you to tell us everything. Everything!"

So the next time he wrote, the young man said,

"Today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm

on women and children."

And the father wrote right back,

"Please don't write such depressing letters. You're

upsetting your mother."

So, after a while,

the young man wrote,

"Dear Mom, sure rains here a lot."

War Is Kind

Stephen Crane (1899)

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind,

Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky

And the affrighted steed ran on alone,

Do not weep.

War is kind.

Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,

Little souls who thirst for fight,

These men were born to drill and die.

The unexplained glory flies above them.

Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom--

A field where a thousand corpses lie.

Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.

Because your father tumbles in the yellow trenches,

Raged at his breast, gulped and died,

Do not weep.

War is kind.

Swift blazing flag of the regiment,

Eagle with crest of red and gold,

These men were born to drill and die.

Point for them the virtue of slaughter,

Make plain to them the excellence of killing

And a field where a thousand corpses lie.

Mother whose heart hung humble as a button

On the bright splendid shroud of your son,

Do not weep.

War is kind!

The Soldier’s Dilemma

Scenario

During the Vietnam War, an infantry squad was patrolling deep in enemy-controlled territory

near the Cambodian border. At one point in this operation, the squad leader, Sergeant Johnson,

decided to scout along a trail that ran through a valley leading toward a village a short distance

away. Johnson told one of his rifleman, a private named Dillon, to stay on a small hilltop as a

lookout while the rest of the squad followed along the trail in the valley below. Johnson

expressed concern about a possible ambush on the trail and reminded Dillon that their platoon

had been ambushed in this same area and had suffered a number of casualties some weeks prior

to the present operation. “Don’t take any chances,” Johnson warned. “Better to kill a few of

those murdering villagers than to let any more Americans die.”

As Dillon watched the squad make its way along the trail, he saw a Vietnamese woman suddenly

appear on the trail just ahead of the squad, but around the bend so they could not see her. From

his vantage point, the woman appeared to lean over the edge of the trail and then quickly moved

back into the underbrush—out of sight of the squad, but still visible to Dillon.

Dillon was immediately suspicious. This was enemy controlled territory, and the woman could

easily be part of the local guerilla forces. On the other hand, many innocent peasants lived in and

around the village. Was the woman a guerrilla soldier who might set off a mine or booby trap

when the squad came around the bend in the trail? Or was the woman simply a peasant who had

perhaps dropped something on the trail in her haste to hide from the advancing American

soldiers? Also, what about the things Johnson had told him? As a soldier, he was taught to obey

all orders of his superiors. To disobey is a crime.

As these thoughts went through Dillon’s mind, the squad kept moving and now was almost at the

spot where the woman was hiding. The squad was too far away for Dillon to call out to them.

Even a warning shot would probably not stop them from proceeding around the bend. Dillon

raised his rifle and lined up his sights on the woman in the brush. But as his finger tightened on

the trigger, he hesitated.

If he shot the woman and there turned out not to be a mine or booby trap on the trail, he would

have murdered an innocent person. But if he didn’t shoot her, a number of his friends might be

blown to bits if the woman detonated a mine.

Respond to the following questions in paragraph form. Make certain you answer all parts

to the question. Responses must be typed in MLA format. Be prepared to discuss in class.

1. Should Dillon hold his fire or shoot the woman? Justify your response.

2. If Dillon decides to shoot the woman and she was just an innocent peasant woman, has he

done anything wrong? Explain. Would you be willing to call him a murderer? Explain. If yes,

what should his punishment be? Why?

3. If Dillon decides not to shoot the woman, and it turns out that she was a guerilla soldier who

sets off a mine or a booby trap and some of his fellow soldiers are killed or wounded, has he

done anything wrong? Why or why not? What crime has he committed and what should his

punishment be? Why?

4. What do you think the morals of war are? What guidelines or criteria can someone use to live

by in a war?

5. How might Dillon feel about killing an innocent woman, or failing to shoot a guerrilla who

wounds or kills some of the troops? How might he feel about being responsible for those deaths

and injuries? How long might it take him to get past this guilt? Explain.

6. After reading this story, what insight have you gained, if any, from The Things They Carried?

Independent Reading

AP Literature and Composition

Rationale: In order to broaden your repertoire of texts, you will be reading four books or plays of your own

choosing this year - one per quarter. The independent reading assignment is due the first week of

quarters 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Due dates:

1st Quarter: August 17-18

2nd Quarter: October 19-20

3rd Quarter: January 15-16

4th Quarter: March 29-30

Each assignment will consist of a written reflection and a major works data sheet. The whole

assignment is worth 100 points.

Even though you are required to read only four texts independently, try to read as many as you

can. Read a variety of texts from varying genres. If you choose to read more than one work per

quarter, additional assignments will be collected for extra credit.

Quality of work: Don’t be sloppy. Don’t speed through books for the sake of extra credit. You

will be graded on how well you do the assignments. Doing the work well and really thinking

deeply about the texts will only benefit you as a student and a person. Doing this work may also

be a huge benefit to answering Question 3 on the exam.

What to read:

Again, this is up to you. Choose novels and plays from the lists provided. Choose something you

are interested in. But know that just because you are interested in it, it doesn’t mean it will be

fun. It should be hard; accomplishing hard work can be fun.

Assignment Guidelines:

The first assignment can be typed or handwritten (neatly in blue or black ink). Independent

novels for Quarters 2 – 4 will be submitted through Vericite and must be typed. The assignment

consists of two parts:

1. The major works data sheet: Fill this out completely and thoroughly. Don’t give just the

basic information. You may use additional online resources only for: the date of

publication, genre, biographical information, historical information, and characteristics

for the genre, and old AP questions. Everything else must be done on your own, e.g.: the

plot and analysis of important quotations. There should be at least 5-8 quotations.

2. A final overview: choose any of the following (400-500 words). For any of these choices,

cite the text in support of what you say.

Personal reflection: why you liked this book and are glad you read it.

Recommendation: choose a person you know, and write an email to him or her

giving your recommendation. If this person is another student in our class, be sure

to share your book and recommendation with him/her.

What did you learn about yourself as a reader? What did you learn from studying

this book? Be specific.

Literature often reflects the time period in which it is created. What have you

learned or did you already know about the period in which your work was

written?

The dates for the assignments are firm. You have roughly two months for each one. Even if you

are absent on the day it is due, I expect to have it in my hands. Don’t procrastinate. Work hard

and read more than required. Again, this will only benefit you in the long run. If you have any

questions, please email me, or see me before/after school.

Choose at least one book per quarter:

1st: Animal Farm by George Orwell

Billy Budd by Herman Melville

Candide by Voltaire

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

2nd: Antigone by Sophocles

The Crucible by Arthur Miller *Lists for Quarters 3 and 4

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller will be provided by your

A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen instructor.

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen

Medea by Euripdes

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? By Edward Albee

Using TPCASTT for Analysis of Poetry

T Title What do the words of the title suggest to you? What denotations are presented in the title? What connotations or associations do the words posses?

P Paraphrase Translate the poem in your own words. What is the poem about?

C Connotation What meaning does the poem have beyond the literal meaning? Fill in the chart below.

Form Diction Imagery

Point of View Details Allusions

Symbolism Figurative Language Other Devices

(antithesis, apostrophe, sound devices, irony, oxymoron, paradox,

pun, sarcasm, understatement)

A Attitude What is the speaker’s attitude? How does the speaker feel about himself, about others, and about the subject? What is the author’s attitude? How does the author feel about the speaker, about other characters, about the subject, and the reader?

S Shifts Where do the shifts in tone, setting, voice, etc. occur? Look for time and place, keywords, punctuation, stanza divisions, changes in length or rhyme, and sentence structure. What is the purpose of each shift? How do they contribute to effect and meaning?

T Title Reanalyze the title on an interpretive level. What part does the title play in the overall interpretation of the poem?

T Theme List the subjects and the abstract ideas in the poem. Then determine the overall theme. What message is the author trying to convey? What lesson is being taught? The theme must be written in a complete sentence.

T Title What do the words of the title suggest to you? What denotations are presented in the title? What connotations or associations do the words posses?

P Paraphrase Translate the poem in your own words. What is the poem about?

C Connotation What meaning does the poem have beyond the literal meaning? Fill in the chart below.

Form Diction Imagery

Point of View Details Allusions

Symbolism Figurative Language Other Devices

(antithesis, apostrophe, sound devices, irony, oxymoron, paradox,

pun, sarcasm, understatement)

A Attitude What is the speaker’s attitude? How does the speaker feel about himself, about others, and about the subject? What is the author’s attitude? How does the author feel about the speaker, about other characters, about the subject, and the reader?

S Shifts Where do the shifts in tone, setting, voice, etc. occur? Look for time and place, keywords, punctuation, stanza divisions, changes in length or rhyme, and sentence structure. What is the purpose of each shift? How do they contribute to effect and meaning?

T Title Reanalyze the title on an interpretive level. What part does the title play in the overall interpretation of the poem?

T Theme List the subjects and the abstract ideas in the poem. Then determine the overall theme. What message is the author trying to convey? What lesson is being taught? The theme must be written in a complete sentence.

Jargon, Slang, and Acronyms for The Things They Carried AO area(s) of operation A&W fast food franchise AWOL absent without leave ARVIN army of Viet Nam C rations box lunch for in the field CID criminal investigation division Claymore a mine packed with steel pellets CO status conscientious objector status CS tear gas Dustoff medical evacuation or medivac, also any helicopter pickup E-6 non-commissioned officer, 6th level, sergeant (army) EM enlisted man GI Government Issue; another name for a soldier HE high explosive rounds KIA killed in action LBJ Lyndon Baines Johnson, US President from 1963-1969 LP listening post LSA (oil) oil used on rifles and light machinery Lt Lieutenant LZ Gator landing zone named Gator M&Ms comic slang for medical supplies MIA missing in action MP military police MPC military payment certificates, payment instead of dollars P38 small can opener which can be put on a key chain PF popular force, South Vietnamese militiamen PFC private 1st class, a rank PRC 25 portable radio-telephone Psy Ops psychological warfare operations R & R rest and recreation RF regional force, South Vietnamese regional force RPGs rocket propelled grenade RTO radiotelephone operator SEATO Southeast Asia Treaty Organization Sin Loi Vietnamese for “sorry about that” SOP standard operating procedure USO Uniformed Services Organization, entertained the troops

VC Viet Cong, a south Vietnamese who collaborated with the north Vietnamese