HW Due Mon. Feb. 6

Read the background to reading Jane Eyre:
JANE EYRE: PENGUIN BOOKS USA

Read and annotate Jane Eyre to chapter 9 (p. 70 in Norton Critical Edition). Pay special attention to Bronte's use of literary techniques. Track her use of literary techniques in your dialectical journals (5 pages minimum for first reading assignment).

HW Due Tues. Jan. 31

On loose leaf: Write an introduction to the Open Question (AP English Literature and Composition, 2015) using the prompt and our thematic ideas below it, or another thematic idea you come up with independently. You are writing ONLY about Medea. 

Question 3 (Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.)
In literary works, cruelty often functions as a crucial motivation or a major social or political factor. Select a novel, play, or epic poem in which acts of cruelty are important to the theme. Then write a well-developed essay analyzing how cruelty functions in the work as a whole and what the cruelty reveals about the perpetrator and/or victim. You may select a work from the list below or another work of equal literary merit. Do not merely summarize the plot. 

Suggested Text List (YOU WILL BE WRITING ABOUT MEDEA)
Beloved A Bend in the River Billy Budd Black Boy Catch-22 Cat’s Eye The Crucible Frankenstein A Gesture Life Great Expectations Heart of Darkness Invisible Man The Kite Runner The Last of the Mohicans Lord of the Flies Mansfield Park Medea The Merchant of Venice Night The Odyssey Oliver Twist One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Othello The Red Badge of Courage The Scarlet Letter Sister Carrie Sophie’s Choice Tess of the d’Urbervilles To Kill a Mockingbird Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Wuthering Heights
STOP END OF EXAM

Themes:

1. Cruelty contributes to the downfall of the hero.
2. Medea’s cruelty through the play reveals that she is not a character to empathize with, and is sadistic and spiteful.
3. Lack of empathy results in acts of cruelty.
4. If there is thin line between love and hate, then revenge is the marginal factor.
5. When blind passion is illuminated, the object of affection becomes the recipient of revenge.
6. Impulse overcomes priorities of love and family.
7. Cruelty reveals the truth masked in revenge.
8. Wounded pride leads to cruel vengeance.
9. Cruelty is the exploitation of a victim’s weakness as means to justify the perpetrator’s weakness.
10. When driven by cruel intentions, an individual loses his or her humanity.

Dialectical Journals: Reading/Explication de Texte Due Friday 1/20

Read and annotate "Medea and the Tragedy of Revenge" by Anne Burnett (University of Chicago Press).
You do not need to print, a copy will be provided to you soon. Begin to read online.
Your dialectical journals will be returned to you shortly. You must produce 10 full pages of response to this scholarly article. As we perform Medea, make connections to your understanding of the play.

Important notes for dialectical journal entries:

1. Date and title each page of your dialectical journal. The title should correspond with the text or texts that you are reading. 
2. Your journal must be divided into two columns.
3. Left column is for text evidence. You can use evidence from the scholarly article and from the play. Please indicate page and/or line numbers with the direct text evidence.
4. Right column is for response. "Refer to the 12 Steps to Explication de Texte" handout for ideas.  (you must be logged into WJPS email to open this document). DO NOT SUMMARIZE THE TEXT EVIDENCE. You must use evidence from the entire documents. Please do not just concentrate on one section. You have to prove that you read, understood, and responded in an AP-level manner to the whole documents. 
5. Journals are due on Friday 1/20 at the start of class. Please do not leave these for the last minute. You are receiving ample time to complete this, and do it well.