SECTA 2013 Summer AP Assignment
This assignment is designed to help you prepare for college and the AP exam. Your work
during the summer not only indicates your willingness to work hard, but it also measures
your commitment to the course. Pace yourself. Last minute work will be recognizable.
Ms. Lawson
Packet Contents
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List of 101 Great Books
Things Fall Apart available from SECTA library
Instructions for Dialectical Journal
“The Second Coming” Yeats
Informational Text—Obituary: Author a Towering Figure in African Literature
Informational Text—After Empire
Informational Text—The Megacity
Essay prompt
MLA handout—if you have additional questions check online. I suggest you use
OWL (Online Writing Lab) from Purdue University
Assignments and Due Dates
Handout 1. List of 101 Great Books
Highlight the books you have read.
Choose a novel from the list and read it.
Create a Dialectical Journal as you read. (See handout 3-Dialectical Journal template)
Note diction, quotes, examples of figurative language, new vocabulary, etc.
Make comments and personal observations.
DUE: First Day of Class: List of 101 Great Books highlighted
Dialectical Notes for selected novel
Class discussion/Assessment
Novel: Things Fall Apart (available from school library, public library, or purchase)
Due First Day of Class: Dialectical Notes for novel (see handout 3)
Handout 4.
Due by August 26
Submit to TurnItIn.com
Read the poem “The Second Coming” and write responses for each of the following.
Submit responses to TurnItIn.com.
1. Explain the meaning of the poem.
2. Explain how the poem can be considered prophetic of some world events in the
20th century.
3. Why did Achebe title his book Things Fall Apart?
Handout 5, 6, 7. DUE THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS.
Read informational text and highlight article. Annotate in the margins or complete a
dialectical journal for each article.
Handout 8. Due August 26. TurnItIn.com
Essay Prompt: Write a well-organized essay using the writing prompt provided. Submit
to TurnItIn.com by August 26.
TurnItIn.Com Information
Class ID 6319153
Class Enrollment Password: SECTA
On the net type in TurnItIn.com. Starting at the top and center of the web page, choose
whether you need to Create an Account, Retrieve Password, or Sign In. Follow the
instructions to enroll in Summer AP.
Papers may be uploaded or copied and pasted into TurnItIn.com.
Notes for the Student
Themes of the novel:
A theme is an idea or insight about life conveyed by a work of literature. Things Fall
Apart demonstrates that the Ibo had a past to be proud of before the arrival of the
Europeans. It also suggests that traditional Ibo society has disintegrated as a direct result
of colonialism and indirect result of the society’s internal divisions. That is, rigid aspects of
Ibo society drove members of the community to question traditional values and ultimately
replace them with Christian values.
Below are additional and more specific themes in the novel:
 An individual’s development requires cultivating opposite virtues; both
discipline and forbearance; judgment and compassion; and so forth.
 The only certain thing in this world is change. Eventually all things must pass.
 Fate can destroy the plans of even the strongest and most determined
people.
 Vengeance does not necessarily bring about peace.
 Fear plays a major role in people’s decisions.
 No one has the right to impose his or her beliefs on another.
Conflict:
Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces. A conflict may be external,
involving a character pitted against an outside force, another character, a physical
obstacle, nature or society. A conflict can also be internal, occurring within a character.
Achebe’s novel is filled with conflict: internal conflict, antagonism between characters, and
ultimately, a battle of opposing cultures. For example:
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From the outset, Okonkwo is at odds with his father’s values and at odds with what
he considers the feminine side of life.
Conflicts between individuals occur in the clan: Okonkwo fights with his wives and
occasionally beats them.: Okonkwo finds himself in disagreement, on various
occasions, with other male members of the tribe, even with his good friend,
Obierika; and other members of the clan also have differences among themselves.
The Ibo culture comes into conflict with European culture.
Irony:
Achebe’s use of irony in Things Fall Apart heightens the drama of events and makes
us feel more strongly the tragedy that fate has visited upon the Ibo. Some examples inclue:
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Okonkwo’s killing of Ezeudu’s son at the elder’s funeral. The death of the son
of the elder who warned Okonkwo not to kill his own son becomes the
instrument of Okonkwo’s punishment.
Although Okonkwo has little regard for women or feminine values, his
favorite child is his daughter.
Okonkwo strives all his life for public honor, but he ends up committing
suicide, which the Ibo consider a shameful act.
The elders try to insult the missionaries by offering a burial ground for
outcasts as the site for their new church; the missionaries begin to gain pwer
in the village by converting oucasts to Christianity.
Okonkwo, who strove not to follow in his father’s footsteps, is laid to rest in
the Evil Forest, where his father is buried.
Literature Connections Source Book. Evanston, Illinois: McDougal Littell, 1997. 9-10. Print.