June Dear. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger The Crucible Arthur Miller Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston

Transcription

1 June 2014 Dear You are receiving this letter because you have enrolled in Advanced Honors English. In preparation for our class, several works need to be read over the summer. Upon arrival to school in September, it will be expected you are prepared the first day of school for discussions, writing assignments and/or tests for each of these works: The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger The Crucible Arthur Miller Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston You will also need to complete the study questions for each assigned work. The questions will be delivered to you in school. You may choose to borrow these books from the library or purchase them for your own use. You should be able to find them at any book store. Ordering books online is always an option. You can also see me in D34 to borrow the books from the school any day before homeroom. You may me at mcantillo@trschools.com if you have any questions regarding the summer reading list or problems locating the books. If you feel that you received this letter in error and did not sign up for Advanced Honors English, I recommend to see your guidance counselor before the end of the school year. I am looking forward to an exciting year together in class. I hope you have an enjoyable and relaxing summer! Ms. Cantillo

2 The Crucible Study and Discussion Questions Act 1 Act 1: 1. Describe Puritan life. Note the entertainments forbidden and Puritan lifestyle 2. List some reasons why people would cry witch: 3. What actions did Abigail, Betty and the others perform prior to the play s beginning? 4. Why does Rev. Parris send for Rev Hale? 5. What does Parris mean when he says, Your name in this town is not entirely white, is it not? (pg. 12) 6. What is the conflict between Abigail and Goody Proctor? 7. Describe Thomas Putnam. Make sure to mention the incident with George Burroughs. (pg ) 8. Why did Goody Putnam send Ruth to Tituba? 9. Describe Abigail once left alone in the room with the girls. What did Abigail do that night in the woods? 10. Explain the relationship between Abigail and John Proctor. 11. Give several reasons why the Putnams resented the Nurses. 12. Explain the conflict between Proctor and Parris and Proctor and Putnam. 13. Describe Hale and his actions when he enters Parris home. 14. How does Giles, unintentionally, call out his own wife? 15. What begins the witch hysteria at the end of Act 1. Why does Abby bring Tituba into it? How does it escalate to something completely out of control?

3 Act II 1. What is the present state of the Proctor s marital relationship? What do we learn through John and Elizabeth s conversation? 2. What gift does Mary Warren make for Goody Proctor? What is the significance of this gift later in Act II? 3. Why is Goody Osburn sentenced to hang? Act III 4. What is Mary Warren s attitude towards going to Salem and the courts? How is this an example of irony? 5. Why does Hale pay a visit to the Proctors? What commandment does Proctor forget? 6. Why is Rebecca Nurse accused? Martha Corey? Elizabeth Proctor? (Refer back to Question #2) 1. What happens when people criticize the court proceedings? 2. How does the attitude held by the court towards children differ from the previous Salem attitude toward children? 3. What role does Parris play in this scene? Why would he be against the men having evidence against the girls? 4. Why won t John Proctor drop his charges against the girls, even after Danforth spared Elizabeth for a year? 5. Why does Mary Warren change her testimony? 6. How does Abby get herself out of trouble? 7. What does John admit in court regarding Abigail? 8. How does Elizabeth attempt to save her husband s reputation? What was the result?

4 Act IV 1. What has Rev Parris changed? Why does he want to obtain a confession? 2. How did Giles die? 3. What does Elizabeth confess to her husband? 4. Why does Proctor have a problem deciding whether or not he should sign the confession? 5. What happens when John turns to Elizabeth for advice? 6. Why did John decide to tear up his sign confession?

5 The Catcher in the Rye Study Questions Ch What does Holden mean when he says that his brother D.B. is out in Hollywood being a prostitute (2)? 2. Where is Holden as the story begins? (1) 3. What is Pencey Prep, and why does Holden dislike it? (2) 4. How did Holden let the fencing team down? (3) 5. Why was Holden being kicked out of Pencey Prep? (4) 6. What kind of health does Holden appear to be in? (5) Ch Who is Mr. Spencer and why does Holden visit him? (8) 2. What does Spencer do that particularly annoyed Holden? 3. What can you infer about Holden s character through his note to Mr. Spencer? 4. What does Holden give us as the reason for leaving Elkton Hills? (13) 5. What is he wondering about in terms of the ducks? (13) Ch Who is Ackley? Describe him. (19) 2. What does Ackley do that annoys Holden? (22) Chapter 5 1. Who is Allie, and why is his baseball mitt so special to Holden? (38) Chapter 6 1. What does Stradlater criticize Holden for? (41) 2. Why is Holden so concerned about what happened with Jane Gallagher and Stradlater? What does this possibly reveal about Holden? (42) 3. What do Holden and Stradlater fight over? 4. What does Holden put on after the fight? Have we seen him put this on before (45)? Chapter 7 1. Holden decides to go visit Ackley. How is he received by Ackley? 2. What is he thinking about while lying in bed? (49) 3. Why doesn t Holden want to stay at Pencey anymore? (50-51) 4. Where does Holden then decide to go? (51) 5. What is his final good-bye to Pencey Prep? 6. Why do you think Holden was crying as he left? Chapter 8 1. What does Holden think of Mrs. Morrow? 2. What are some of the lies Holden tells Mrs. Morrow? 3. Why do you think he tells her these things? Chapter 9 1. Sally Hayes mother says that Holden was wild and that [he] had no direction in life (59). Would you agree? Why? 2. The cab driver thinks Holden is kind of crazy for asking him a certain question. What is this question? Is it a question that he has been concerned with before? (a possible motif???) 3. What s so terrible about the bellboy? (61) What does this reveal about Holden s character? 4. What kind of person is Faith Cavendish? (66) 5. Holden calls other people phony. Does he count as one sometimes as well?

6 Chapter 10 (After reading about Phoebe, 66-68, you can skim the rest of the chapter) 1. Who is Phoebe, and what is Holden's opinion of her? 2. What evidence is there that shows us that Holden probably doesn't look as old as he says he looks? Chapter What is he worried about in terms of Jane and Stradlater? Why? What does this reveal about his Holden s character? 2. Why is Jane so special to Holden? Describe their past relationship. Chapter What do Holden and the cab driver talk about? 2. Why does Holden leave Ernie s? Chapter Describe how Holden would deal with the glove thief. 2. Previously, Holden stated he was a pacifist. Does his description of how he would deal with the "glove thief" support this, or is he just "yellow"? Chapter Does Holden have any guilty feelings about Allie? Do you feel this is abnormal in any way, or normal? 2. What made Holden cry? 3. What evidence shows us that Holden might have made a good actor? Chapter What is the point that Holden tries to make about people when he elaborates about the suitcases of the nuns and of his former roommate? 2. How does Holden treat the nuns? Chapter Who does Holden make a date with? Why does he call her up if he thinks she's a phony? 2. How does Holden treat little kids? Give an example. 3. Does Holden know his way around the city? What does this tell us about him? Chapter How do Holden's feelings for women compare to his feelings for men? (123) 2. How does Holden describe a boy's school when talking to Sally? (131) 3. Why does Holden want to take off with Sally now instead of after college? What is the difference in his eyes? (133) Chapter What is Holden's opinion of the Christmas show at Radio City? (137) 2. Why did Holden think the woman who cried through the movie was a phony? (140) Chapter Why did Holden get mad at Luce for calling his (Luce's) old girlfriend the "Whore of New Hampshire"? 2. Who was Luce to Holden? Chapter What does Holden pretend happens to him at the Wicker Bar? (p. 150) 2. What happens to Phoebe s record? How does he feel at this point? 3. Where does Holden go after he leaves the bar? (p. 154) 4. What information does Holden finally tell us about Allie s funeral? 5. What does Holden say about Allie that contradicts all his other statements about being an atheist? 6. After he leaves the park, where does Holden go? Chapter What does Holden find so intriguing about Phoebe s notebook? 2. What is the one critique Holden has about Phoebe?

7 3. Why does Phoebe become so upset? Chapter Why did it depress Holden when an "old guy" told him that his days at Pencey were the happiest days of his life? 2. What does it tell us about Holden when Phoebe states, "You don't like anything that's happening"? 3. Why does Holden think about James Castle when Phoebe asks him to name one thing that he likes a lot? 4. What does it tell us about Holden when he says, "Just because somebody's dead, you don't just stop liking them, for God's sake---especially if they were a thousand times nicer than the people you know that are alive and all"? 4. What does Holden tell Phoebe he'd like to be? Chapter Who is Mr. Antolini? 2. How does Phoebe cover for Holden when their parents come home? 3. In talking with her parents (top 178) how does Phoebe "sound" like Holden? 4. What does Phoebe do that makes Holden cry? 5. What does Holden give to Phoebe? Chapter Why did Holden fail his speech class? 2. How does Holden feel physically while he talks to Mr. Antolini? 3. What does Holden say about him hating people, such as Ackley and Stradlater? (187) 4. What does Antolini's quote mean: "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one (188). 5. How does Antolini upset and scare Holden? Can you relate this to Holden's previous digression about "flits"? Chapter Later, after he has had time to think about it, what does Holden think about Antolini? 2. Why does the article on hormones upset Holden? 3. What strange feeling does Holden start to have when he steps off of curbs? 4. Why does he keep repeating, "Allie, don't let me disappear"? 5. What does Holden decide he must do next? Where does he first go? 6. With all the bad language that Holden uses, why was he so upset that curse words were written on a school wall? 7. How does Holden treat the two small boys in the museum? 8. Why is it so important to Holden that Phoebe not be mad at him? Relate this to his past, and Allie. 9. What does Holden mean when he states, "The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them"? 10. Is the carrousel symbolic? Chapter What do we finally find out about where Holden is while he is telling the story? 2. Why shouldn t we ever tell anybody anything?

8 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston Focus Question / One Page Response: If you could tell your life story to one person to whom would it be? Where would you begin? Begin with a significant event or moment that changed your view of the world. Describe your experience through images and word pictures. DUE: Friday 2/1/08 Discussion Questions/Reading Guide Chapter 1 1. How do you interpret the title? What tone does it set for our understanding of the novel? 2. What are some features of the speech used by the characters? How does this contrast with the narrative voice? What effect is created by the shifts of narrative voice from third to first narrative? 3. What does the attitude of Janie s unsympathetic neighbors tell us about Janie s decisions? Chapters How does Janie s point of view affect the way this story is told? 5. Why does she begin her narrative with the pear tree? How is Janie s growth reflected in the way the story is told? 6. What does Janie remember/know about her parents? 7. What childhood incident revealed her racial identity? Why was she nicknamed Alphabet? 8. Why does Janie s grandmother marry her off to Killicks? What do we learn about the old woman s past? Why is this the best decision FOR Janie? Chapters How do Logan and Joe reveal different sides of Janie? What are their motivations? 10. Why does Janie leave Logan for Joe Starks? 11. What is the importance of the street lamp? How does the text suggest that this is more than an ordinary street lamp? How might it be symbolic? 12. What role does Joe Starks play in the new village of Eatonville? How do the other townspeople respond to him? Chapters The Eatonville men have mule talk regarding Bonner s yellow mule. How does this deepen the meaning of the mule both literally and symbolically? 14. When does Janie realize she doesn t love Joe? What does Janie realize about herself? 15. What is the significance of her final conversation with her husband? Is the scene in which he dies effective? Chapters What is the significance of Janie burning her head rags?

9 17. What attracts her to Tea Cake? Do you think Janie falls easily for the men in her life? Chapters Why do the neighbors consider Tea Cake unsuitable for Janie? What is Janie s answer to the warning that her fate might turn out similar to Annie Tyler and her romance with Who Flung? 19. What factors allow Janie to rediscover herself? How does Janie define freedom in her new life? 20. Are there any aspects of Janie and Tea Cake s life together which you think may be unrealistically treated? 21. What are the difference between muck and Eatonville? 22. What seems to be the narrator s attitude towards marital violence? How do the other farm workers respond to signs of aggression? Chapters How do Janie and Tea Cake react to the storm? Why don t they leave? 24. What immediate and longer-term consequences does the storm have Janie and Tea Cake? 25. Is the trial scene realistically presented? 26. What is Janie s attitude towards the trial, the shooting and Tea Cake s death? 27. What does she bring back with her as a memory of Tea Cake? 28. Explain the significance of the last paragraph.