What's Coming Up

Next week we are going to read the short story "Big Two-Hearted River" and discuss it's meaning and syntax, and look a section of it for a PROSE PASSAGE AP PROMPT.

We will also talk about Multiple Choice questions.




Questions for "Big Two-Hearted River":

1) This story is arguable about WWI. How so? (Hint: Think about the title, the landscape, the tone, and the main characters actions in the story). Pick out some devices and discuss how they reinforce this WWI idea.

2) Why would this story be a good introduction to The Sun Also Rises?

3) What is the theme of this story?

4) Discuss tone in part 1 and part II.  What is it?  How is it different?   How did you determine it?

5) Look at syntax.  What can we learn from Hemingway's syntax (look at the sentences and pick out 3-4 to discuss).


We will also begin THE SUN ALSO RISES (note this book needs to be finished when you return from Thanksgiving Break).  You do not need to record anything for this novel (but I suggest you mark it).

Note: What we will be working on next is The Sun Also Rises.  You will read it and prepare to talk a AP timed-test on it (this will be your final - we'll take it when you get back from Volleyball regions).  One of the questions below will be the test:


In some works of literature, a character who appears briefly, or does not appear at all, is a significant presence. Choose a novel or play of literary merit and write an essay in which you show how such a character functions in the work. You may wish to discuss how the character affects action, theme, or the development of other characters. Avoid plot summary.

Select a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons for its effectiveness.

Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might on the basis of the character's actions alone be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.

An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.