HONORS ENGLISH II SUMMER WORK ASSIGNMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS
General Instructions:
1. 1. Each assignment is due on turnitin.com by midnight of the indicated due date. Add the course
Honors English II 2013-14 with the course id #6466599 and enrollment password fahrenheit. Should
there be a problem with turnitin at any time during the summer, e-mail your essay to me at
[email protected].
2. If you know that you will be unable to make a deadline, call or e-mail me at least three days before the
deadline. Otherwise, I will wonder what happened to your assignment and then assign a late penalty
when it does arrive.
3. If you are struggling to understand something, please feel free to call or e-mail me with your questions.
I am always happy to help you but do not get into the habit of getting an explanation from me,
Sparknotes, or a classmate for each assignment. Try to figure out as much of the analysis as possible on
your own.
4. You are reminded that your work needs to be of high quality – the best of which you are capable. If your
work does not meet my expectations (80% or higher) and/or I don’t think you are putting forth your best
effort, I can, and will drop you from the class.
5. Each assignment consists of answering some analysis questions and writing an essay in response to a
given prompt. Type and submit both portions to the appropriate assignment on turnitin.com by the due
date.
6. Works and due dates:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury due June 21
My Antonia by Willa Cather due July 19
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry due August 9 and 19
7. How to reach me during the summer:
Address: 7085 Harriet Ave.
Franklin, OH 45005
Phone: (937) 232-5160
e-mail: [email protected]
8. Essays will be graded as promptly as possible. Graded essays will be accessible on turnitin.com two
weeks after the due date.
9. Please read the instructions for answering the analysis questions and the essay prompts carefully.
10. A list of “do’s and don’t’s” for essay writing are included to help you understand what I will be looking
for in your essays.
GENERAL WRITING INSTRUCTIONS
1. Don’t use “I” even when an opinion is called for. You are the author of the essay therefore I know that
this is your opinion.
2. Don’t speak directly to your audience by using the pronoun “you.” When a writer uses “you,” it sounds
as though he/she is instructing his/her audience on how to read and/or understand the work under
discussion and is, therefore, insulting to the reader.
3. TYPE all of your work and use the correct heading in the upper left hand corner. Name on 1 st line,
course name on the second line, and date on the third line.
4. All essays should use the five paragraph format.
5. Don’t use words like “a lot” and “so.” You should have a better working vocabulary than that.
6. Human beings require the use of the word “who” not the word “that,” as in “the girl who . . .” NOT “
the girl that . . .” Characters in a literary work, by the way, are human.
7. Be aware of the proper use of commas.
8. Use present tense verbs to discuss the events of a literary work. Every time a reader opens the novel
the characters are doing the actions of the novel, therefore it is the present in the novel at all times.
9. Be concise but completely explain your points. I find that students who write excessively in response to
a question and/or have paragraphs of more than a page in an essay have no confidence in what they are
saying. They are either rewriting the Cliff notes on the topic or spewing out everything they can think of
in the vain hope that the answer they think I want is contained within.
10. Make sure you explain your thinking and support your ideas with solid textual evidence, but be wary of
lapsing into plot summary or overusing quotes.
11. Relax and go with what you see in the novel. As long as you do #9 and #10 and actually read the novel, I
won’t tell you that you are out of your tree.
12. Finally, don’t expect a 100% on any of these assignments: no one, especially not high school students, is
perfect which is what a 100% represents. Therefore, don’t expect one even if your essay is the finest
piece of analysis written in the 21st century.
SUMMER ASSIGNMENTS
Assignment #1 – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury due June 21
Questions (worth 35 points):
1. One of the themes of this novel deals with the importance of reading versus the mindlessness of
watching screens. Explain how Bradbury makes this point and whether or not you agree with his point.
2. Another theme of the novel deals with the dangers of censorship. Why and how does Bradbury suggest
that censorship is dangerous? Should people be allowed access to all types of things or not?
3. The three parts of this novel are entitled “The Hearth and the Salamander,” “The Sieve and the Sand,”
and “Burning Bright.” Explain the connection of one of these titles to the events of that part of the
novel and why the title is appropriate.
4. One of the ways that Bradbury makes his writing meaningful, interesting, and entertaining is through his
use of figurative language and literary devices. Find an example of each of the following and write down
the phrase, where you found it in the book, and the effect it has on the reader’s understanding. If you
aren’t sure what one of the types of figurative language are then look it or e-mail me for an explanation:
simile, metaphor, personification, metonymy, hyperbole, allusion, symbol.
5. Look up the characteristics of a science fiction novel on the internet. In what ways does Fahrenheit
451embody the characteristics of a science fiction novel?
6. Look up the word “dystopia.” Then describe the dystopian aspects of this novel. What do these aspects
say about society in the 1950’s when the novel was written and today?
7. Over the course of the past year, we have discussed many kinds of journeys that characters take using
the pattern of the archetypal journey. Referring to the attached handout on archetypal journeys,
examine Guy Montag’s metamorphosis as an archetypal journey.
Essay Prompt:
Bradbury uses the imagery and symbolism of fire and the phoenix to draw attention to the two themes
mentioned in questions 1 and 2. In a well-developed essay, explain what fire and the phoenix represent in the
novel and how these two images are connected to the themes of the novel. This essay is worth 100 points.
Assignment #2 – My Antonia by Willa Cather due July 19
Questions (worth 40 points):
1. What stereotypes about immigrants are portrayed in the novel. How is Jim’s view of the Shimerdas,
Antonia, and the hired girls both similar and different than that of his grandparents and the other
established townfolks? What prompts his different way of thinking?
2. This novel is from the regionalist period in American literature for which there are four primary
characteristics:
b. The point of view is that of a person living in that society, not an observer.
c. The region itself is an integral part of the plot, subtly working upon the characters and the lives
they lead in such a way that they would be altered if removed to a different time or place.
d. These characters must have universal appeal and experiences to which we can all relate.
e. The setting is in a “usable past,” a time that has had a vital part in shaping the present.
Explain, using specific details from the novel, how each of these characteristics is evident in the novel.
3. Some have criticized My Antonia for being an unplotted story, yet the novel is an American classic. One
of Ms. Cather’s strengths is her ability to use sensory language that creates strong images that remain in
one’s mind. She does what you are often admonished to do; show rather than tell. The following
quotation, taken from Willa Cather’s Shadows on the Rock, gives some clue as to the reason she chose
not to use a conventional plot line for her story:
When an adventurer carries his gods with him into a remote and savage country, the
colony he founds will, from the beginning, have graces, traditions, riches of the mind
and spirit. Its history will shine with bright incidents, slight, perhaps, but precious as
life itself, where the great matters are often worthless as astronomical distances, and
the trifles dear as the heart’s blood.
Considering those words and Jim’s musing over Virgil’s wanting to describe his father’s fields in Book IV,
why do you think Ms. Cather chose not to use the plot structure that rises to a climax and leads to the
falling action? How would you define the structure she has used? Why is it effective?
4. Evaluate Jim’s effectiveness as narrator. Is he reliable? Does he romanticize Antonia and the past?
From what vantage point does he tell the story? How does that affect his reliability?
5. In the final paragraph of the novel, Ms. Cather has Jim make three statements about the truths of life
and/or human personality. In other words, she states her themes for the novel. Identify those three
statements; then choose the one you believe most accurately portrays the theme of the novel and
explain why you choose that one.
Essay Prompt:
This isn’t really an essay rather it’s a creative exercise meant to demonstrate your understanding of Ms.
Cather’s portrayal of the various characters in the novel. Find Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology either
at the library or online (it’s readily available online) and read some of the poems in it. This anthology of poetry
is the story of a town told by the people of the town from their graves. Each person gives his own opinion of the
events of their lives and the reactions of the rest of town to these events in his own epitaph. You are to create
a Black Hawk anthology imitating the style used by Edgar Masters in Spoon River Anthology and using the
characters of Cather’s My Antonia. Your anthology must contain all of the items below. It is worth 100 points.
1. An introductory poem in the style of “The Hill” and suitable to your anthology. 20 pts.
2. An epitaph for Jim Burden. 20 pts.
3. An epitaph for Antonia. 20 pts.
4. An epitaph for at least FOUR other characters from the novel, for a minimum total of 7 poems. 10 pts
each.
Assignment #3 – A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry due August 9 (the questions) and 19 (the essay).
Questions (worth 50 points):
1. This play has a great deal to say about the situations many African-Americans found themselves in during
the 1950’s at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, but it also has a universal appeal, meaning that
many people can identify with the ideas contained within the play. The following topics are all
broached in the play: sacrifice, choices, gender, the home, dissatisfaction, suffering, poverty, family,
pride, race, and dreams, hopes, and plans. Choose THREE of these topics and write a theme statement
that expresses what the playwright is saying about this topic. Then explain your statements.
2. The epigraph of the play is a poem written by Langston Hughes, a Harlem Renaissance poet. How does
the epigraph relate to any one of the themes of the play, both in a universal way and in a way specific to
the situation of African-Americans in the 1950’s?
3. The title is from one line in the poem that Ms. Hansberry uses as the play’s epigraph. Explain why it is
an appropriate title for the play.
4. There is a good deal of irony contained within this play. Find two instances of irony and explain what
makes them ironic.
5. Explain the symbolism of one of the following: sunlight; the plant; cockroaches, rats, and other
creatures.
6. The decision between principle and money is a hard decision to make, especially when you’re as hard-up
as the Youngers. What do you think of their choice?
7. In an earlier version of the script, Hansberry ended the play by showing the Youngers sitting in their new
home, armed and awaiting an attack from their white neighbors. Should this scene have been kept in?
What’s the effect of deleting it? Would the presence of this scene have changed the overall message of
the play, or not?
8. To what extent are the racial issues addressed in the play still relevant today? In other words, how far
have we come in race relations since 1959?
Essay Prompt:
Choose one of the topics in question one and form a theme statement about the play. Then explain how
Ms. Hansberry makes the theme evident in the play. This is worth 100 points.