11 Honors

Welcome to the 11^th Grade English Honors Program. We believe our American Literature curriculum will be a truly challenging, yet enjoyable experience for you next year. Below is your 11 Honors Summer Reading assignment, which must be completed by the first day of the class. ***These will be submitted via hard copy AND Turnitin.com with the assistance of your classroom teacher during the first days of school.*** There are two pieces of literature which are required reading. The first is a classic American novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, a story of teen alienation, identity, rebellion, connection and belonging. To access this assignment, click here.

You will also read the play, Inherit the Wind by playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. They wrote the play as a response to the threat to intellectual freedom presented by the anti-communist hysteria of the McCarthy era. Lawrence and Lee used the Scopes Trial, then safely a generation in the past, as a vehicle for exploring a climate of anxiety and anti-intellectualism that existed in 1950.

For Inherit the Wind, answer the following questions in a short literary analysis essay. Please choose specific textual evidence/ quotes to support your responses for questions 2 and 3. Make note of the page numbers of these quotes, as well, for use in our discussions:

1. Identify the book and author and provide a brief summary of the story.

2. How does the setting of the book contribute to the story and/or theme?

3. Discuss how the main character(s) grow(s) and change(s) (or fails to grow and change) throughout the story.

Limited quantities of the books are available in the school library; books may also be obtained from the public library, in bookstores and from on-line book vendors. Have an enjoyable, safe, and productive summer, and we will see you in September!