Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin | Assignments Literature

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E419: AP Literature and Composition

Summer Reading Assignment 2020

Your summer reading assignment requires both reading and writing. Read the following:

Book

● How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster (specific chapters identified here)

o Chapter 2: “Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion”

o Chapter 14: “Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too”

o Chapter 19: “Geography Matters…”

o Chapter 22: “He’s Blind for a Reason, You Know”

o Chapter 26: “Is He Serious? And Other Ironies”

Short Stories

● “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

● “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor

● “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri

This packet also contains a written component.

All of your work is due on the first day of class without exception. Late schedule changes do not excuse late or missing

work. You--not your teachers, your counselors, or your parents--are responsible for making sure your work is complete

and ready on the first day of class.

This assignment should serve as a signpost for the level of serious, analytical, and scholarly work we will be doing in AP

Literature. Should you find the summer reading tasks overwhelming, you may wish to examine other senior English

courses. Should you find the desire to plagiarize overwhelming, you should definitely reevaluate your course readiness

and college aspirations, as such behavior can and has resulted in failure of the assignment and/or course; removal from

NHS, AP courses; and--at the collegiate level--expulsion from university coursework. We cannot stress enough the

importance of completing the assignment entirely and producing your independent, authentic work. Do not complete this

assignment using peers or any other sources. We take academic integrity very seriously.

Finally, while analysis is the emphasis, we expect careful proofreading to ensure professional, polished mastery of English

grammatical and wording conventions.

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E419: AP Literature and Composition Summer Reading Assignment 2020 Your summer reading assignment requires both reading and writing. Read the following: Book ● How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster (specific chapters identified here) o Chapter 2: “Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion” o Chapter 14: “Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too” o Chapter 19: “Geography Matters…” o Chapter 22: “He’s Blind for a Reason, You Know” o Chapter 26: “Is He Serious? And Other Ironies” Short Stories ● “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin ● “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor ● “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri This packet also contains a written component. All of your work is due on the first day of class without exception. Late schedule changes do not excuse late or missing work. You--not your teachers, your counselors, or your parents--are responsible for making sure your work is complete and ready on the first day of class. This assignment should serve as a signpost for the level of serious, analytical, and scholarly work we will be doing in AP Literature. Should you find the summer reading tasks overwhelming, you may wish to examine other senior English courses. Should you find the desire to plagiarize overwhelming, you should definitely reevaluate your course readiness and college aspirations, as such behavior can and has resulted in failure of the assignment and/or course; removal from NHS, AP courses; and--at the collegiate level--expulsion from university coursework. We cannot stress enough the importance of completing the assignment entirely and producing your independent, authentic work. Do not complete this assignment using peers or any other sources. We take academic integrity very seriously. Finally, while analysis is the emphasis, we expect careful proofreading to ensure professional, polished mastery of English grammatical and wording conventions.

“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin First, read Foster’s chapter “Geography Matters.…” Then, read “Sonny’s Blues,” annotating it as necessary, and complete this chart, which we expect to be thorough and comprehensive , covering varied and multiple places in the story. “Just a few” entries is not enough. The charts should help you with the writing prompts on the final page of this handout. Quote passages from Foster’s chapter that help in analyzing the setting of “Sonny’s Blues” Specific evidence from the story. For some Foster quotes, you’ll want to include several different quotes from the story--again, be thorough.

1) “Joseph Conrad, England’s greatest Polish

writer, sends his characters into hearts of

darkness (as he calls one tale of a trip into

Africa) to discover the darkness in their own

hearts” (178-179).

1) Sonny says, “I’m all right now and I think I’ll be all

right. But I can’t forget where I’ve been...and what

I’ve been” (43).

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” First, read Foster’s chapters “Yes, She Is a Christ Figure, Too” and “Is He Serious? And Other Ironies.” Then, read “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” annotating it as necessary, and complete this chart, which we expect to be thorough and comprehensive , covering varied and multiple places in the story. “Just a few” entries is not enough. The charts should help you with the writing prompts on the final page of this handout. Of the Christ-figure traits that Foster identifies, which Specific evidence from the story does the Misfit invert or warp? List as many as apply from his chapter.

Of the Christ-figure traits that Foster identifies, which Specific evidence from the story does the Misfit invert or warp? List as many as apply from his chapter.

“He’s Blind for a Reason” While no one in this story is “Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion” Quote key actually blind, Foster’s ideas still apply. Quote key ideas in ideas in Foster’s chapter on meals that communicate his Foster’s chapter on blindness that communicate his central central arguments about the varied ways in which meals / arguments about the varied ways in which blindness, sight, food can function in literature. light, or dark can function in literature.

“Sonny’s Blues”--Answer one of the following two questions:

How does the Harlem setting shape the narrator’s attitude towards his brother? To answer this question effectively, you will need evidence for the setting as well as evidence for the narrator’s attitude toward Sonny.
How does the Harlem setting shape Sonny’s struggles and triumphs? To answer this question effectively, you will need evidence for the setting as well as evidence of Sonny’s struggles and triumphs. “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”--Answer one of the following two questions:
Foster says that Christ figures in literature offer redemption, hope, and miracle as well as help us deepen our sense of a character’s sacrifice. But he also says that Christ figures might be used ironically “to make the character look smaller rather than greater.” By presenting the Misfit ironically (as you evaluated in your chart in the earlier part of the assignment), what does O’Connor reveal about his [the Misfit’s] view of the world?
The grandmother looks back to an idyllic past and complains that the world’s values aren’t what they used to be--that, among other things, "a good man is hard to find." Yet the grandmother’s values aren’t necessarily “good,” either. Explain what the grandmother thinks it means to be "good," and make an argument for how O’Connor uses the irony of the grandmother's character to critique her [the grandmother’s] values. “A Temporary Matter”--Answer one of the following two questions.
Choose a meal from this story. Explain the symbolic significance of the meal, using evidence from both the story and from Foster’s chapter “Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion.”
Foster’s chapter “He’s Blind for a Reason” explores the symbolic significance of sight and blindness, as well as the closely related symbolism of light and dark. Write a paragraph that explains how Lahiri uses the symbolic meanings of sight/blindness/light/dark to convey something important about the relationship between Shoba and Shukumar. Include quotes from both the story and from Foster’s chapter.

Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, Assignments of Literature

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