“The Crucible” by Arthur Miller



Honors American Literature Summer Reading (2013-2014)

Dear Student,

You were recommended for Honors American Literature for the 2013-2014 school year. Because this course is more writing/literature intensive than the regular course, you are expected to complete summer reading to prepare for the class. These assignments are designed for the honor student, one who demonstrates a high degree of self-discipline and self-motivation.

During the summer you should read the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and the drama The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Details of the assignments follow in this document. All summer reading assignments are to be completed and brought to class the first day of school: Tuesday August 27th. Failure to complete the assignments will result in zeros for the first major grades of the quarter. Not only will this deficit be difficult to overcome, but much of the first quarter’s work is based on the content and your comprehension of these works. You will then take objective tests on your knowledge of the texts through the first few days of school. In order to be successful, you need to have an intimate knowledge of these texts the first day you come to class.

Ms. Noel

anoel@tippcity.K12.oh.us

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

WHILE READING:

➢ Read the play itself

➢ As you read, please keep a handwritten dialectical journal. A formatted sheet, whose style with which you are already familiar, is attached, but you may certainly use notebook paper.

o Focus on characters: their personality, their motivation, how their demeanor changes depending on with whom they are interacting, etc.

o Include not only significant passages, but questions you may have as you are reading.

o Be diligent! These entries become fodder for later assignments.

o Make at least three entries as a minimum per act, but, if you are sincerely interacting with the text, I would expect more.

AFTER EACH ACT:

➢ Answer the following questions after each act. Include textual evidence to support your answers. These pages are scanned for you and in a separate document on my website.

o Act I: # 5 & 8 p.25

o Act II: # 2 & 7 p.38

o Act III: # 4 & 5 p. 53

o Act IV: # 5 & 7 (the first # 5 & 7) p. 64

AFTER COMPLETING THE PLAY:

Your written responses to the above questions demonstrate not only how well you can write short – answer responses, but also how well you comprehend the literature. Be sure to reference the questions, develop your answers with specific details, and support your answers with quotations from the text using correct quote option form. In the parentheses following a quoted passage from a play, put the playwright’s last name, act number, period, page number: example (Miller 3.11).

➢ Lastly, explain and analyze two significant quotations from each act. Carefully select two quoted passages per act from your dialectical journal which you feel are critical to the play.

o A quoted passage may be one speech by a character or a section of conversation that has an exchange between characters.

o If you include the stage directions (italics in the original text), be sure that you also use italics when typing your paper.

o Write a 4-8 sentence typed paragraph that both explains the significance to the act or interprets its meaning and analyzes its literary function.

o In 2-3 sentences of the paragraph, analyze the literary function, use literary terms from your AP binder; (Until you get these from me, use the following website: )

o highlight or make bold the terms when you use them. Example responses are on the next page.

Example quote using a single character’s speech:

“Proctor: Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched, Abby” (Miller 1.15).

Response: The quotation characterizes John Proctor as a moral person, even though he has committed adultery. He regrets his sexual affair with Abigail and is determined to leave it in the past and even deny that it happened because of the shame he feels about the sin. Because he recalls her fondly suggests that he did have affection for her then and may still long for her sometimes, so the affair was more than just physical on his part. Clearly Proctor has internal conflict about having violated both a biblical commandment and his marriage vow by yielding to sin. The quotation intimates the depth of his self loathing. Yet we hear personal conviction and decisiveness when he says, “I will cut off my hand before I read for you again” (Miller 1.15). He definitely will not resume their relationship.

Example quotation using a conversation between characters (with stage directions)

“Hale: Take courage, you must give us all their names . . . we must protect her, Tituba; the Devil is out and preying on her like a beast upon the flesh of the pure lamb. God will bless you for your help.

Abigail rises, staring as though inspired, and cries out.

Abigail: I want to open myself! They turn to her startled. She is enraptured, as though in a pearly light. I want the light of God; I want the sweet light of Jesus! . . .

I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osborn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!

As she is speaking, Betty is rising from the bed, a fever in her eyes, and picks up the chant.

Betty, staring too: I saw George Jacobs with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil!” (Miller 1. 25)

Response: Hale has just forced Tituba’s confession to witchcraft. Now he wants her to name others who are also Salem witches. To encourage her to give names, he says that God will favor her for helping identify the guilty. That Tituba will have no punishment is implicit in his words. Abigail is quick to grasp this, and dramatically confesses as a tactic to divert blame and punishment from herself. She acts as if she is in a holy rapture and calls out names like some heavenly voice is speaking through her. Betty becomes swept up in the moment and calls names as she mimics Abigail. The passage characterizes Abigail as artful, crafty, quick-witted; she can judge a situation and make it work to her advantage. Moreover, her dominant influence over the younger girls shows. The quotation is a turning point because now the girls are presumed innocent victims of witchcraft, instead of participants in witchcraft; they have switched from the accused to the accusers; they have shifted from Satan’s souls to the voice of God revealing the evil in the community.

Bold print—analysis of literary function

Italics—explanation/interpretation of the quotation’s significance

TO BE COLLECTED:

1. Dialectical journal - handwritten

2. Booklet question responses (scanned in separate document) – handwritten or typed

3. Quote analysis – must be typed

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

DURING READING

➢ As you read, please keep a handwritten dialectical journal.

o You should have at least one entry per chapter

o Same guidelines as with The Crucible apply

AFTER READING:

➢ Identify one significant quote for each of the following chapter groupings: 1-4; 5-7; 8-10; 11-13; 14-15; 16-18; 19-20; 21-24; 25-26 and 27 – end (total of 10 quotes).

o Write an interpretative analysis paragraph for each of the quotes.

o Same guidelines as The Crucible significant quotes paragraphs apply

➢ Construct a works consulted entry at the end of your Grapes assignment that documents from which edition of the novel you quoted.

TO BE COLLECTED:

1. Dialectical journal - handwritten

2. Quote analysis paragraphs (total of 10) – must be typed;

3. Works consulted entry – included at end of above assignment

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