Honors Language Arts II
Summer Assignments:
Mrs. Blanton
HLA II and ELA II
[email protected]
Honors LA II
Requirements & Due Dates:
● All assignments must be submitted through Google Classroom.
● Please keep in mind these are your first grades toward the first quarter, so PLAN
AHEAD!
● All tests over the books will be taken when you return.
● “The Book Thief”
○ DUE DATE: Thursday, June, 30th! “The Book Thief”
○ DUE DATE: Friday, August, 5th! “Great Expectations”
● No assignments will be accepted after the due date.
● Any questions, please email me at:
○ [email protected]
“The Book Thief”
by: Markus Zusak
DUE: Thursday, June, 30th
About the Author:
Markus Zusak was born in 1975 in Sydney, Australia. His father was a house painter from
Austria, and his mother was from a small town near Munich, Germany. His mother frequently
shared stories of the war with her children. Zusak was especially affected by two of these stories:
1. The Munich bombing and how the skies turned red
2. A young German boy and an emaciated Jewish man who were whipped after the boy
gave the man some bread.
Both memories are incorporated into The Book Thief. This was Zusak’s fourth book for young
adult readers and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. Zusak lives with his wife and daughter in
Sydney, Australia. In addition to writing, Zusak enjoys playing soccer and surfing!
Story Background:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was published in 2006. The Book Thief is a story of the clash
between good versus evil in the human condition. The fictional story takes place in Molching, a
small town near Munich, Germany; just prior to and during World War II.
Point of View:
The novel’s narrative voice is Death, who is hard at work in World War II Germany. As Death
goes about his business, he marvels at the mysterious ability of humans to display so much good
and yet so much evil.
Quick Summary:
Liesel Meminger is a young German girl whose father, an alleged Communist, is taken into
custody by the Nazis. Her mother is ill and cannot afford to take care of the children, so Liesel
and her brother are forced to live with foster parents. On their way to their new home, Liesel
watches her sick brother die on the train. Despite the tragic circumstances that bring her to
Molching, Liesel makes a new life with Hans and Rosa Hubermann, both of whom she
ultimately grows to love. Not long after her
arrival at the Hubermann’s, a young Jewish man named Max arrives at the house seeking a place
to hide from the Nazis. The Hubermanns courageously take Max in and he develops a close
relationship with the family, especially Liesel. Motivated by her new ability to read, anger at
Hitler and his use of words to gain power in Germany, and her own feelings of abandonment,
Liesel commits a series of book thefts.
Assignments:
More detailed directions will be given for each assignment, but here is the outline of The Book
Thief assignments.
1. Fill in the tables attached:
a. General Information
b. Style
c. Significant Quotations
d. Significant Characters
e. Setting and Significance
f. Beginnings and Endings
g. Themes
2. Literary Analysis Questions
3. Universal Themes Questions
**The Book Thief is DUE Tuesday, June, 30th!**
The Book Thief
Recording Specific Information
Directions: As you read through the text, fill in the information below. These will help you with
the other assignments!
General Information: Record specific details below:
Author
Biographical information about author
Date of Publication
Historical information about the stories
background
Genre
Characteristics of genre
Style: Describe the author’s style. Then identify an example passage that demonstrates the style.
Explain the example. Include the page number of the passage.
Style Description
Example
Explanation
Page
Number
Significant Quotations: Choose at least five quotes from the text and explain the significance of
each. Quotations should demonstrate the range of the entire work. Be sure to include page
numbers.
Quotation/Page #
Significance
Significant Characters: Record the following information about the significant characters:
Name
Liesel Meminger
Hans Hubermann
Rosa Hubermann
Max Vanderburg
Death
Isla Hermann
Hans Hubermann Jr.
Reinhold Zucker
Role in the literary
work
Significance
Adjectives
Tommy Muller
Arthur Berg
Victor Chemell
Rudy Steiner
Setting and Significance: Please describe three important settings. Include specific passages,
page numbers, and explanations as to why each setting is important to the story.
Setting
Passage/Page Number
Significance
Beginnings and Endings: Describe the opening and closing scenes. Explain the significance of
each.
Opening Scene: Description
Significance
Ending Scene: Description
Significance
Significant Literary Devices: List and explain a minimum of five literary devices that
contribute to the theme. Include passages and page numbers.
Literary Device
Passage/Page Number
Explanation
Themes: List five universal statements or sentences that the work conveys:
Theme
Statement or sentence: Why/How is this
theme conveyed in the story?
The Book Thief
Literary Analysis Questions
Directions: After reading the text, answer the following questions as completely as possible.
1. What is the point of view from which the story is told?
2. Did you feel frustrated with the foreshadowing in the novel--about things being “given
away” before they actually occur? Why do you think the writer does this? What effect
(other than frustration) does it have on us as readers? Does it enhance or detract from the
story?
3. Discuss the effect of having Death as a narrator. Does the fact that Death is telling the
story affect the way we react as readers to his/her observations? (Is Death male or
female??)
4. Why does Death make the final comment, “I am haunted by humans”? What does he/she
mean? How is this ironic?
5. Provide examples of and comment on the use of irony in the book. How does it enhance
the story? How does it create mood?
6. The story includes many references to color. Why is this so? What effect does it create?
Does it enhance the story/mood? How so? Find and describe several examples and
discuss their meaning--or what these colors might symbolize.
7. This story is FULL of figurative language and imagery. It is a LIVING story, though is
told by DEATH. (How ironic?) Please find and describe what you believe are the three
most powerful and moving examples of imagery.
8. Describe 2-3 example of setting in the story. Was the writer effective in his ability to
delineate a sense of setting? Why or why not?
9. Comment on the way the characters are depicted. Are they likeable? Which ones--and
why or why not? What is it about the way they are detailed that make them appealing--or
not? How does the writing make them “come to life”?
10. Why does Liesel NOT kiss Rudy until he is dead? What is the effect of this on the story?
11. Which are more powerful--which have the greater effect on the characters: internal or
external conflicts?? Support your answer with examples from the book.
12. Why does Death bold certain items he/she includes in the narrative?
13. What are some of the distinctive stylistic elements that you found noteworthy or
provocative? What did you find interesting about them? How did they affect your reading
and appreciation of the novel?
The Book Thief
Universal Theme Questions
Directions: Choose two questions from Group I & two from Group II. Please respond in 2-4
nicely written paragraphs.
Group I
1. How does literature--or WORDS--affect the way people in society think, feel, and act?
2. Do you think that literature can create racism? Can it combat it?
3. Do you think words are as powerful today as they were in the past? Why or why not?
4. Is DEATH as evil as we tend to believe it to be? Why or why not? What makes us have a
particular perspective? Has your perspective changed after reading this book?
5. How do words help us connect with each other?
Group II
1. People who survive often suffer from “survivor’s guilt.” Do you think such guilt is
justified? Why or why not? What characters in the novel deal with this problem? Do you
think Liesel experienced guilt? Why or why not?
2. How does one's attitude toward death affect the way one lives life?
3. Why does evil exist? Why do people choose to do evil?
4. Are people inherently good...or bad?
5. In many ways this is a novel about pain and how one deal with pain. What sorts of pain
are addressed in this novel? How are they addressed? How are these types of pain made
real? Is it a painful novel to read?
“Great Expectations”
by: Charles Dickens
DUE: Friday, August 5th
About the Author:
Charles Dickens was born in Portsea, England, in 1812, the second of eight children. A
precocious child, he learned to read at an early age and eagerly devoured stories by Fielding,
Defoe, Goldsmith and others. His father, a clerk as the Navy Pay Office, had trouble supporting
the large family. Charles was forced to work in a blacking warehouse (shoe polish factory) when
he was 12--an experience that fired his determination to fight his way out of poverty.
He wrote Great Expectations in weekly installments from 1860 to 1860. Ever restless, he made
extensive tours and gave readings to augment his income--despite the fact that his health had
been weakened by a terrible train wreck. Further debilitated by a lucrative but exhausting
American tour, he suffered a stroke at dinner in 1870 and died the next morning at age 58.
Story Background:
Many of the events from Dickens’s early life are mirrored in Great Expectations, which, apart
from David Copperfield, is his most autobiographical novel. Pip, the novel’s protagonist, lives in
the marsh country, works at a job he hates, considers himself too good for his surroundings, and
experiences material success in London at a very early age, exactly as Dickens himself did.
Great Expectations is set in early Victorian England, a time when great social changes were
sweeping the nation. The Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries had transformed the social landscape, enabling capitalists and manufacturers to amass
huge fortunes. Although social class was no longer entirely dependent on the circumstances of
one’s birth, the divisions between rich and poor remained nearly as wide as ever. More and more
people moved from the country to the city in search of greater economic opportunity.
Quick Summary:
As a young child, the orphan Pip lives with his sister and brother-in-law, the village blacksmith.
On Christmas Eve, Pip is walking through the marshes when he meets an escaped convict who
threatens him into bringing back food and a file to break the leg-irons. On Christmas Day, the
convict is captured and returned to the prison ships known as The Hulks. He never reveals Pip’s
assistance when he is caught and asked how he escaped his irons.
Much later, young Pip is sent to entertain Miss Havisham, a bitter, wealthy old lady who lives in
a mansion known as Satis House. Her adopted daughter, Estella, is beautiful, and Pip instantly
falls in love with her. But Estella is cold and distant. Over time, she softens somewhat toward
Pip, but her affection is erratic. She tells him she can never love anyone.
Pip is dismissed from Miss Havisham’s service and becomes an apprentice to. But Estella has
instilled in him a shame in his commonness. He longs to be a gentleman, not a blacksmith. His
discontent grows. One day he learns that an anonymous benefactor has left him an enormous
sum of money. He is to move to London, where he will be trained to act as a gentleman. A
lawyer, Jaggers, will oversee his inheritance. Pip is certain his benefactor is Miss Havisham, and
believes he is being trained as Estella’s future husband. Pip's happiness is unfathomable as he
moves to London, away from the only family and friends he has ever known. He is educated by
Mr. Matthew Pocket and strikes a great friendship with his son, Herbert.
His wealth and position changes him, and soon Pip leads a dissipated life full of idleness. Estella
continues to be a powerful factor in his life. She has been trained by Miss Havisham to break
men’s hearts, and is constantly put in Pip’s life to toy with him. Even though she warns him she
cannot love him, Pip persists in loving her.
On his twenty-fourth birthday, Pip learns that his benefactor is not Miss Havisham, but the
convict from long ago. He realizes he is not meant for Estella, and also that Miss Havisham
deliberately let him assume incorrectly. Though Pip is ashamed of the convict, Magwitch, he is
grateful and loyal, so he commits himself to protecting Magwitch from the police, who are
looking for him. His friend, Herbert Pocket, helps him.
Pip's moral education begins. He decides he can no longer accept the convict’s money. He
becomes compassionate towards Magwitch, realizing the depth of the convict’s love for him. He
tries to help Magwitch escape, but in the chaos, Magwitch is injured and caught. Magwitch dies,
but not before Pip discovers that adopted Estella is Magwitch’s daughter and tells Magwitch how
lovely she is.
Estella marries Pip’s enemy. Pip atones for his sins against them then sets off on his own,
determined to make things right in his life. The novel ends when he meets Estella after many
years. She has left Drummle, who has since died. She is remarried. She and Pip part as friends
and Pip realizes she will always be a part of his life, as surely as all the other memories of his
once-great expectations.
Assignments:
More detailed directions will be given for each assignment, but here is the outline of Great
Expectations assignments.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Dialectical Journal
Literal Understanding
Literary Analysis Questions
Personal Interpretation Questions
**Great Expectations is DUE Monday, August, 3rd!**
Great Expectations
Literal Understanding
Directions: After reading the story, complete the table and answer the questions in regards to the
characters.
Name
Pip
Miss Havisham
Estella
Joe Gargery
Pumblechook
Orlick
Mr. Jaggers
Role in literary work
Significance
Adjectives
Wemmick
Great Expectations
Literal Understanding Continued
1. What is the connection between Pip, the convict, Miss Havisham, and Estella?
2. How does Pip “become a gentleman”?
3. How do Pip, Estella, and Miss Havisham change over the years?
Great Expectations
Dialectical Journal
Directions: Choose a quote from each chapter that you feel is significant in some way. Be sure
to include the page number with your quote. Then write your response. You must have at least
three sentences in the response box. You may:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Interpret the quote
Make a connection
Predict
Agree or Disagree with Dickens
Analyze the literary techniques
Chapter, Quotation, Page #
Response
Ch. 1
Ch. 2
Chapters 3-6
Chapters 7-11
Chapters 12-15
Chapters 16-19
Great Expectations
Literary Analysis
Directions: After reading the text, complete the following questions.
1. Provide a time-line for the novel. Why do you think Dickens chose to have Pip tell the
events of the story--in order in which they happened, but years afterward? Could the
story have been told better by an omniscient narrator? How does Pip change as he grows
older? Do Miss Havisham and Estella change?
2. How does Dickens use movement in the novel, specifically movement between the marsh
country where Pip lives as a boy, Miss Havisham’s Satis House, and London?
3. How does imprisonment play a part in this novel--not just the convict’s imprisonment,
but also Miss Havisham’s and other characters whose daily lives seem prisons?
4. How do the speech patterns of various characters--such as Joe, Pumblechook, and the
convict--differ?
5. What coincidences occur in the novel? Does Dickens overdo coincidences in this novel?
6. Find passages that show Dickens’ use of sentimentality. For example, examine the scene
where the convict dies with tears in his eyes. How do you feel about these instances of
sentimentality?
7. How is history blended with fiction in this story?
8. Find passages where Dickens deliberately withholds information from his readers, but
provides hints. Does this heighten interest in the story--or is it unfair and contrived?
9. Dickens loved the theater. How is Great Expectations theatrical? To what moments does
the novel build? Which scenes have “stagy” qualities?
Great Expectations
Personal Interpretation
Directions: After reading the text, dig deep into yourself to answer the following questions.
1. Which of the characters are most well-rounded? Which are the flattest? Which seem
more real to you? Why?
2. This novel was written in installments. Why do you think “cliffhangers” are often found
at the end of installments? What are some examples?
3. This has been called one of Dickens’ “happiest” novels. How could this novel be happy?
How does Dickens combine bitterness and laughter in Great Expectations?
Remember, if you have any questions, email me at:
[email protected]
Good luck, and...