Dear AP Student:

Thank you for enrolling in our AP Language and Composition course. This challenging course will prepare you for college level work as you become a skilled reader of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines and rhetorical contexts. By composing for different purposes and audiences, you will also become a skilled writer. The course will prepare you for the AP Language and Composition Examination, as well.

We will be reading the following novels or plays and you will want to get a copy of these as soon as possible, so that your progress in the course is not delayed.

Module 4: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Module 6: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Module7: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Module 8: Choose ONE from the following list:

• Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska
• The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
• The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
• Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin
• The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Pre-Course Reading Assignment

In order to prepare for this advanced level of study, you must complete the following three pre-course reading assignments and submit them as your first assignment within the first month of being active in the course. These assignments will determine in part whether you are prepared for an Advanced Placement course.

Please obtain a copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. It is preferable that you obtain your own copy, so you can highlight significant passages and write your own notes in the margin as your read and react to the story.

Part I: Rhetorical Devices
Part II: Find an example of and explain 10 rhetorical devices
Part III: Journal, essay, and images of success

Throughout the AP English Language and Composition™ Course, you will be learning how to analyze a writer's style. For this purpose, you will need to know the most commonly used strategies. We will focus on 16 rhetorical or stylistic techniques that have appeared frequently on past AP exams.

In the chart below, you will see these devices organized as synonyms. For example, the terms phrasing, sentence structure, and syntax have similar meanings and can be interchanged within a sentence. The devices will be divided throughout six modules of study. A preview of tone, attitude, diction, figurative language, and detail can be found here on the Basic Rhetorical Devices page.

1. tone
2. attitude

3. language
4. figure of speech
5. diction
6. figurative language

7. imagery
8. detail

9. perspective
10. point of view

11. narrative structure
12. form
13. organization

14. syntax
15. sentence structure
16. phrasing

Here is an example to help you memorize the names of the terms listed above:

Tony And Lulu Forgave Derek For Interrupting Dinner, Putting Pickled Nasty Frogs On Separate Shiny Plates.

Create your own sentence using the 16 rhetorical devices in order. After reviewing this page, titled Rhetorical Devices in Detail , you will submit your original sentence to the instructor. Print out a copy for yourself and keep it visible in your work area.

1. hyperbole
2. irony
3. euphemism
4. understatement
5. allusion
6. metaphor
7. repetition
8. symbolism
9. imagery
10. rhetorical questioning

A. One of the main themes in The Great Gatsby is the realization of the "American Dream."

• For each of the following characters copy 2 passages or quotations that give an indication of that character's concept of the American Dream.
• Briefly explain the significance of the quote or passage as it relates to the character's view of the American Dream.
  
  Men in novel – complete for each
  Nick Carraway
  Jay Gatsby
  Tom Buchanan

Women in novel – select two:
Daisy Buchanan
Myrtle Wilson
Jordan Baker

Include these quotation selections, labeled under Part A, Journal in your 1.11 submission.

B. While the American Dream and the concept of success inherently differ from individual to individual, some goals remain constant. In a well-organized essay of no less than 500 words, discuss both Gatsby's and Carraway's perspective of the goals towards success. Use one adage for each character as evidence.

Getting started

Follow the conventions and formatting for an academic essay. View Some General Advice on Academic Essay-Writing for assistance with general tips on writing the essay.

Essay requirements

• Include essential components of academic essays (introduction, body and conclusion) in your essay.
• Follow the conventions of standard written English – correct spelling, grammar and mechanics.
• Follow the basics of writing a formal essay:  use clear and concise language that contains no instances of contractions, passive voice, or first or second person personal pronouns.

Writing the essay body

• Explain what you consider the most common goals set by our society.
• Compare these goals to the ones held by the characters of Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway.
• Use some of the quotations you listed for these two characters in the previous journal exercise as evidence of their views.
• Consider this list of adages, or instructive sayings of Benjamin Franklin and Henry David Thoreau, two prominent Americans from the 17th and 18th centuries.
• Select one adage from the list that matches Jay Gatsby’s and Nick Carraway’s view of success to describe that character’s goals.  Incorporate this adage, directly quoted, into your body paragraph about each character.

Polishing your writing

After writing your essay, proofread closely to detect and correct errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure.

C. Browse through the images on Arizona State University's Create a Postcard page for ideas on what success would look like to Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway.   

Once you select a separate image for each of the two characters:

• Write a paragraph in which you explain how the elements in the image symbolize, or represent, how each character views success.
• Include these paragraphs, labeled under Part C, Images of Success in your 1.11 submission.