AP Language - Grade 11 - PLEASE JOIN THE 

AP LANG SUMMER Google Classroom

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AP Literature - Grade 12

Please read this letter from your AP Literature teacher, Mr. Pappas

From the Desk of Mr. Pappas, AP Literature teacher:

Before the first day of school in September, I want every student in class to have read and acquired a competent level of conversancy in two of the following three novels: Wuthering Heights (E. Bronte), Jane Eyre (C. Bronte) and The Return of the Native (Hardy). Each book is roughly the same length, so choose based on your interest in the author or story, not length.  Make sure you are able to converse, discuss and write intelligently about these books. You should have a working knowledge of the main characters, settings, primary and secondary conflicts, plot structure, point of view, major themes, essential ideas within the work, the author’s purpose, tone and style and the social  context in which the novel was written. You do not need to do any research; I want to know what you think and how you think.

I also want you to be able to cross over between the books you have selected. How are Rochester and Heathcliff alike, for example? How can we connect the heroines – Jane, the Catherines, Eustacia? Is there an “evil” side to Wildeve? Rochester? Heathcliff? What does “evil” mean in this context? What accounts for the behavior of these characters? How do the settings function in each book? How do the authors portray and use nature, and why do they do so? How is the point of view managed in each? Does it change? Why? How are the families arranged in each novel, and why? Think specifically about the parallel arrangements of characters in each book. A good starting place would be the role of the servants and their relationships and interactions with the so-called “aristocracy” or ruling class of each novel. Also, how do the “past lives” of the principal characters influence their behavior (or the behavior of others) in the novels? What do you make of the motifs of physical illness, the deaths of significant characters and the aftermath of their passing? What about the letters placed so carefully within the structure of each book? What do they reveal? How do the various “love stories” function, especially those that are unrequited? How is humor used in these texts? What about coincidence and irony? Who uses irony most effectively? How do the authors handle time and memory? How would you characterize each author’s style(s)? Can you situate these novels in a greater philosophical or theoretical context about which you may have already learned? What do these books say about the people that wrote them and the society in which they wrote? What are the authors’ perceptions of class and gender? Of fate, destiny and human will? Are the authors, and the stories they tell, simply products of their society, or do they attempt to transcend it? How much of our lives can we control and direct? What larger forces impede us? Also, and perhaps most importantly, what does your individual reading of these texts say about YOU?

Note these issues, and any others you think are significant, along with questions, thoughts and theories, in a new notebook. This should be the notebook you use for AP Literature. Remember, the summer reading is considered part of the course. KEEPING A NOTEBOOK AND TAKING NOTES WILL INCREASE YOUR ENGAGEMENT AND UNDERSTANDING WHILE DECREASING YOUR STRESS WHEN YOU RETURN TO SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER! Trust me, you will thank me when you are reviewing for both the midterm and the AP Literature test. You may wish to create a reading schedule with your close friends in the class so that you can discuss, on-line or off, what you’ve read.