Wuthering Heights Chs. 1-16

Your responses aren't due until the 12th, or is it the 11th? Whichever is the Sunday after the 4th. Simple math tells me that's the 11th - okay. Anyway, I thought I'd go ahead and post the ideas I'd like you to discuss in case anyone wants to get ahead. Basically, I want you to think about the following ideas as you read and choose TWO of them to discuss and analyze in your post:

Setting
Characters
Point of View
Conflict

It will not be sufficient to merely describe setting, characters, etc. I would like you to analyze the effect of these ideas. Take setting, for instance. You can consider Foster's ideas about politics or seasons or geography. Describe setting and explain what effect it has on the novel from one of these angles. Or you oculd identify point of view and explain how the narrator and the filters through which we are hearing the story are manipulated for a specific effect. Just be clear on the two ideas you are discussing, identify the basics really quickly and then jump into analysis. Feel free to use specific quotes or passages from the novel to support your analysis. As always, email me with questions or post them on the blog.

Quick update on our reading schedule

You should be finished posting on the Foster text by next Sunday, the 28th. The following Monday or Tuesday, I will post the guiding questions for the first half of Wuthering Heights, but note that you will have until July 11th to read those chapters and post. This "break" week will allow you to catch up on posts if you've missed one, as I know a good many of you have been off doing interesting things. Just be sure to look on the blog for my updated post by the 5th so you will be aware of the topics I want you to discuss from the first have of Wuthering Heights. If you are reading ahead, then I want you to be sure to apply anything you can from Foster's text to Bronte's novel. That will be part of your assignment.

How to Read Literature - Chs. 18-26

Ok - this is our last set of chapters from Foster, and I think you will find them equally as interesting as the other chapters. I still want you to focus on the ideas in two chapters and apply these to works you've read, but here's your challenge: Choose one of the ideas in a text you've already discussed and analyze how an idea in this last set of chapters also applies to that example. For instance, if you talked about the journey or quest chapter, use the same example you applied to that chapter and take it a step further by applying the ideas in the "Geography Matters" chapter (19). Where did the journey take the protagonist and why are those specific locations significant according to Foster? Some of you have already discussed rivers and bodies of water; how can you connect those examples to the chapter on baptism (18)? I hope you understand what I'm asking. I still want you to comment on two new ideas, but for at least one of them, apply the idea to an example you've already used. Please let me know if you have any questions. Remember you can always email me at williamsholly@hotmail.com if you don't feel comfortable asking questions on the public blog.

How to Read Literature - Chs. 11-15

For this week I've asked that you read chapters 11-15. Please generate your responses in a similar fashion to those of last week. Choose at least two ideas to connect to prior reading. You seem to have a good handle on not just identifying the technique, but also analyzing WHY that particular technique is used and what effect it creates. Keep up the good work with this! Try to vary your examples a bit more, although I understand that your repertoire of reading may be somewhat limited. Just do the best you can. This week I would also like for you to comment on what someone else has posted before you. It could be something someone posted last week or what someone has posted this week. Try to expand on an idea or challenge an idea; don’t just agree or disagree. Let’s start a productive dialogue. I have enjoyed the posts so far. You all seem to be on the right track, so keep it up.

Just a quick note from the beach in Florida. Andrew just brought to my attention an error on my book list. Emily Bronte is the sister who wrote Wuthering Heights. I should have caught that; sorry for any confusion that may cause. I'm looking forward to reading posts when I return to town. I hope you are finding the Foster text informative and entertaining!!

How to Read Literature....Chs. 1-10

As you are reading this text, you may have the tendency to sometimes think, "Well, duh!" I mean, some of this is common sense and some symbolic elements like the seasons are so archetypal that they are almost ingrained in our intellects. However, for the purpose of AP literature, these are all ideas of which you need to be carefully aware as you read. For the first week of posts, I would like for you to choose at least two different chapters and apply the ideas presented in those chapters to works you have previously read. On the AP exam when you discuss works, they must be works of literary merit, typically the classics that you've been reading throughout high school in your English courses. For this discussion, however, you can extend your discussion to works of popular fiction; for instance, I imagine some of you will connect the chapter on vampires with ideas in the Twilight series, and that's ok. My focus here is to get you thinking about the ideas in Foster's book and to stretch your analytical skills without overloading your brain too much (it is summer, after all). Hopefully this book will live up to its subtitle and you will find it "lively" and "entertaining." I look forward to reading your responses. They should be posted by June 13th.

A couple of reminders:
1) I'm looking for careful thought in terms of the ideas I ask you to consider. Remember that although this blog is set up to encourage a dialogue, you are being graded, so the focus and language should remain academic.

2) In addition to addressing the ideas I've posted, you may also find it beneficial to read others' posts and comment on what your classmates have said, but I'm looking for extensions or rebuttals of others' comments, not a simple "agree" or "disagree."

3) The inevitable question..."How long does this have to be?" Well, I tend to be long-winded because I love to talk about literature, but let's just say that your post should take between 20-30 minutes to compose each week - kind of like an abbreviated essay, but not so tight in terms of form or structure. I want to see that you have been engaged in the reading and that you are making sense out of what you have read, and I obviously want to see evidence that you are making connections with things you've read before.

Please feel free to ask questions of me within the blog, or if you'd rather do so privately, email me at williamsholly@hotmail.com. I look forward to "talking" with you all this summer.

Welcome AP Literature Students!

Welcome to the summer reading blog! I'm excited to get to know each of you this summer through your comments and insight.

Here is the schedule for reading:

June 7-13: Chapters 1-10 of How to Read Literature
June 14-20: Chapters 11-15 of How to Read Literature
June 21-27: Chapters 18-27 of How to Read Literature
July 5-11: Chapters 1-16 of Wuthering Heights
July 12-18: Chapters 17-34 of Wuthering Heights
July 19-25: Chapters 1-10 of Kite Runner
July 26-August 1: Chapters 11-19 of Kite Runner
August 2-8: Chapters 20-25 of Kite Runner