Skoric
AP Literature Syllabus
2014-15
Thematic Unit One: Quarter One
The Search for Identity
This unit builds on the summer homework. Through the investigation of character identity in
the required novels and various other prose and dramatic pieces, the student begins to classify
personal values, interests, goals, and insights and begins to analyze the elements that shape
personal identity. Close reading is only one tool of the student’s analysis.
Unit Focus:
Summer Literature Circles
Summer Allusion Presentations
Effects of Point of View, Style, and Tone
How to Effectively Discuss Literary Texts
Review Rhetorical Strategies
Analysis of Narrative and Literary Techniques for Characterization
Exploration of Authors Attitudes’ in Required Texts
Texts:
Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis
Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (can borrow from BHS)
Lewis Carroll-Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Tom Stoppard-Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Jonathan Swift-Gulliver’s Travels
Various short stories, essays, and poems Text: Literature An Introduction to Fiction…Kennedy
Assignments:
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Allusion Presentations
Summer Reading In-Class Essay
Summer Reading Literature Circles
Novel Project and Identity Presentation
Multiple Choice Practice
Poetry Analysis
Review of Novel Types
Review of Essay Types
Practice AP Tests
Thematic Unit Two: Quarter Two
The Nature of Good and Evil
The unit examines characters in situations that force them to choose or act morally or immorally.
Our laws or culture codes usually determine our actions or inactions. Our cultural codes and
moral values surface when we read and examine literature. One’s reaction to a character’s
choices helps him understand his own moral code.
Focus of the Unit:
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Character Analysis - Good vs. Evil
Cultural Code Analysis – Sin vs. Crime
Literary Analysis (Terms, Elements, Interpretation of Meaning)
Analysis of Short Story Style
Analysis of Dramatic Techniques
Texts:
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (can borrow from BHS)
Dante, The Inferno
Shakespeare, Macbeth
Assignments:
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Allusion Presentations
Summer Reading In-Class Essay
Summer Reading Literature Circles
Novel Project and Identity Presentation
Multiple Choice Practice
Poetry Analysis
Review of Novel Types
Review of Essay Types
Practice AP Tests
Thematic Unit Three: Quarter Three
Exploitation: Conformity and Rebellion
Our next study builds on both previous units by examining power struggles, collisions of moral
systems, and intrinsic elements of human nature. Much of the literature of the Western world
might be said to express the struggle between conformity and rebellion. We find this theme in
our earliest recorded texts. Genesis tells the story of Even and Adam's refusal to conform--an act
picked up centuries later in the opening lines of Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost: "Of man's first
disobedience, and the fruit / Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste / Brought death into the
world, and all our woe." At the same time, however, we see obedience as a virtue. Without duty
and order, without cooperation and teamwork, where would we be? We admire and respect those
heroes who hold things together--figures such as Abraham Lincoln and FDR--as well as those
who serve and protect us: police officers, firefighters, and soldiers. But we also look to heroes
who rebel: Socrates, Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin, Jefferson, Thoreau, Cady Stanton, Gandhi
and Martin Luther King, Jr. Our heroes are often those who, as Senator Robert F. Kennedy
said, "dream of things that never were and ask, why not?" Sometimes the noblest rebellion is
conformity with a higher law.
The texts in this unit present the ongoing struggle between the inertia of conformity and the
challenges and promises of rebellion.
Focus of the Unit:
Character Traits and What Differentiates Characters
Motivation: Author, Reader, Protagonist
Explication of Short Passages, Key Themes, and Crucial Conversations
Approaches to Literary Criticism
Texts:
Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter (can borrow from BHS)
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Shakespeare- Macbeth (can borrow from BHS)
Jonathan Swift-Gulliver’s Travels
William Golding-Lord of the Flies (can borrow from BHS)
Various short stories, essays, and poems: Text: Kennedy Book
Assignments:
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Extensive Essay Practice
Study Group Presentations
Poetry Analysis
Novel Analysis
Tests over Novels
Prose Prompt Analysis
Multiple Choice Practice
Nailing the Introduction Paragraph
Thematic Statements
Independent Reading: Choose ten poems from the Kennedy book. Make sure that you read a sonnet, a
ballad, an elegy, an ode, a lyric poem, a dramatic monologue, and a villanelle.
Thematic Unit Four: Quarter Four
The State:Authority
Unit Focus:
To build upon the three previous thematic units, we will read poetry that reinforces each of the
themes. Students will search for poems to thematically match with stories, essays, and novels
they have read from our syllabus. Understanding poetic forms is essential.
Texts:
Literature, An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama X.J. Kennedy Ninth Edition
George Orwell, 1984
Aldus Huxley, Brave New World
Art Spiegelman, Maus
Assignments:
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Thematic Analysis Project
Poetry Analysis
Multiple Choice Practice
Poetry Analysis Presentations
Study Group Presentation
Timed Essay Writings
AP Test Preparation/Study
Practice AP Tests
Independent Assignment: Read ten poems, two short stories, and at least one novel from the following
list: The AP Literature and Composition Prompts Chosen Reading List