Your summer reading assignment will help make you a more confident and competent reader of complex texts, help you better understand how authors employ style in their work, and give you practice writing the kind of stylistic analysis required for the AP Language and Composition Exam.
The assignment consists of three parts: reading, analysis, and writing.
PART 1 – Reading:
Select TWO of the following memoirs:
| Confessions of an English Opium-Eater | Thomas De Quincey (1821) |
| The Year of Magical Thinking | Joan Didion (2005) |
| An American Childhood | Annie Dillard (1987) |
| Out of Africa | Isak Dinesen (1937) |
| Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass | Frederick Douglass (1845) |
| The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin | Benjamin Franklin (1791) |
| Down and Out in Paris and London | George Orwell (1933) | Hunger of Memory:
The Education of Richard Rodriguez |
Richard Rodriguez (1982) |
| Life on the Mississippi | Mark Twain (1883) |
| Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? | Jeanette Winterson (2011) |
| Black Boy | Richard Wright (1945) |
Read both of your chosen memoirs thoroughly and carefully.
When deciding which two books to read, you should consult descriptions and summaries from such resources as Amazon and Goodreads. You should also speak with your parents or caregivers about your reading selections. The books on this list may contain language or subject matter that some find controversial or offensive. If that is the case for you, feel free to make another choice, but be advised that many of the works we study in class will have similar content.
If you are willing and able to purchase your own copies of these books, you can annotate them as you read. If not, you can always borrow copies from a friend or the library. Also note that three of the books on the list (those by Thomas De Quincey, Frederick Douglass, Benjamin Franklin, and Mark Twain) are in the public domain and thus available in free electronic versions. (See Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/)
PART 2 – Analysis:
Select representative passages from the memoirs, then summarize and analyze them.
Divide each book into four equal parts. (You can use either chapters or page numbers to divide up the book.)
Select three passages from each quarter of the book that represent its distinctive style. (You will have 12 passages in all for each book.) Passages should be substantial enough to give a reader an idea of the author’s style: a solid paragraph to half a page of text, at least 100 words each. Note the chapter and page number for each passage.
Summarize each passage briefly. Present the literal meaning of the passage in clear, straightforward language.
Analyze the specific stylistic devices used in each passage. Consider such elements as diction, imagery, syntax, selection of detail, figurative language, tone, point of view, symbols, characterization, and any other tools the writer uses. In your analysis, discuss what makes each passage representative of the author’s style.
Be sure to discuss a range of stylistic devices within each passage. Below are some
definitions to guide your analysis:
- Theme: the main idea or message of a literary work. Theme is a truth about life revealed through the literature, written as a complete statement. Love is not a theme. What the author is saying about love is the theme (for example: “Love is a powerful force that helps overcome all obstacles”).
- Tone: the writer’s attitude toward the topic. Identify the writer’s tone and any shifts in tone that occur. Words that describe an author’s tone might include critical, indifferent, angry, sympathetic, excited, sarcastic, satirical, and so on.
- Diction: the choice of words the author uses. You should identify the types of words that stand out to you when describing diction. (Often groups of words with a similar effect are worth discussion.)
- Syntax: the structure of a sentence; the arrangement of words in a sentence. A discussion of syntax could include such considerations as the length or brevity of the sentences, the kinds of sentences (questions, exclamations, statements, commands) or their structure (periodic, cumulative, simple, complex, or compound).
- Rhetorical Devices: the use of patterns of sound or meaning to make an argument more compelling and memorable. Examples include metaphor, irony, alliteration, parallelism, allusion, inversion, and repetition.
Present your analysis in this format:
| Passage | Summary | Analysis |
| Quote the passage in full and give the chapter and page numbers for it. | Briefly summarize the literal meaning of the passage. | Analyze the style of the passage, using specific examples. |
(See the attached Sample Analysis and a Blank Template.)
PART 3 – Writing:
Write an essay comparing the stylistic techniques of each memoir.
Use the analytical charts you’ve made to identify patterns in each book’s style. Notice what devices the author uses most frequently or to greatest effect. Then compare the overall style of each memoir using the evidence you’ve identified.
You do not have to argue that the style in one book is “better” than the other, you only need to make their stylistic differences clear.
Your essay should be well structured, with a strong, clear thesis, topic sentences, introductory and concluding paragraphs and so on. You should use specific details from the memoirs to support every point of your analysis.
DUE DATE:
This assignment – both the analysis charts and the essay – is due by Friday, August 16, 2019. No exceptions. Late assignments will lose 10 points per day for each day they are late. If you have not submitted this assignment by Friday, August 23, you will get a zero.
You have all summer to work on this assignment. Don’t try to throw it together at the last minute. Don’t copy information – either from online sources or from other students in the class. The former is plagiarism and will get you a zero on the assignment. The latter is cheating and will also get you a zero on the assignment.
Please note that I designed this assignment to thwart attempts to rely on summaries, movies, or study guides (like SparkNotes or Shmoop). You will have to engage with these books up close and in detail to successfully complete the assignment.
Finally, if this assignment – reading, analyzing, and writing a paper about two books –seems pointless or excessive to you, or fills you with dread, or tempts you to look for some kind of shortcut or loophole, then ask yourself if you really want to be in an AP Language and Composition class after all.