Classic Literature

Assignments 3 & 4

Assignments 5 & 6

Grapes of Wrath

Assignments 7 & 8

To Kill a Mockingbird

Assignments 1 - 3

Assignment 1

Begin Reading:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Writing Exercise

The novel begins with an epigraph by Charles Lamb: “Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.” Based on what you’ve learned from the Audio Guide, why do you think Lee chose this quote to begin her novel? Write two paragraphs on how this statement relates to what you have learned about Lee’s life. (handout)
Assignment

Read Chapters 1–3. Read approximately thirty pages per night in order to complete this book in ten lessons. If you average more; we can adjust your lessons accordingly. What happens to Scout on her first day of school? What kind of teacher is Miss Caroline, Scout’s first grade teacher?

Examining an author’s life can inform and expand the reader’s understanding of a novel. Biographical criticism is the practice of analyzing a literary work through the lens of an author’s experience. In this lesson, explore the author’s life to understand the novel more fully.

FOCUS: BIOGRAPY

FOCUS: Culture and History

Cultural and historical contexts give birth to the dilemmas and themes at the center of the novel. Studying these contexts and appreciating intricate details of the time and place help readers understand the motivations of the characters. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the mid-1930s during the Great Depression. Throughout the decade jobs were scarce, bread lines were long, and movies cost only a nickel—a time that left an indelible impression on the young Harper Lee. Culturally, the swing era, movies, and radio drama were the talk of the nation. Writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald chronicled the lives of the rich and famous, while writers such as John Steinbeck recounted the tale of America’s downtrodden. Women could vote, and the prohibition of alcohol was finally repealed. Government programs such as the Works Progress Administration and Social Security were established. But some things endured even the chaos of economic depression. Jim Crow laws continued to prevent African Americans from enjoying equal rights with other citizens, even if the Old South seemed to be slowly changing

Writing Exercise

Read Handout Two: The Great Depression and the Reader’s Guide essay “Historical Context: The Jim Crow South.” Write a one-page, in-class essay on how the book reflects historical realities.
Assignment

Read Chapters 4–7. What role does reading play in Maycomb? Why is Boo Radley such a mystery to Scout, Jem, and Dill? What is the significance of the hole in the tree?

Assignment 2

Assignment 3

FOCUS: Narrative and Point of View

The narrator tells the story with a specific perspective informed by his or her beliefs and experiences. Narrators can be major or minor characters, or exist outside the story altogether. The narrator weaves her or his point of view, including ignorance and bias, into telling the tale. A first-person narrator participates in the events of the novel, using “I.” A distanced narrator, often not a character, is removed from the action of the story and uses the third person (he, she, and they). The distanced narrator may be omniscient, able to read the minds of all the characters, or limited, describing only certain characters’ thoughts and feelings. Ultimately, the type of narrator determines the point of view from which the story is told. To Kill a Mockingbird is told in first person by Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. The novel begins from the point of view of Scout as she looks back on her childhood, revisiting memories through the filter of her adult experience.

Writing Exercise

Based on the previous activity, have students write a few pages of Dill’s version of the story based on the first seven chapters. Begin another version of the novel told in first person from Boo Radley’s perspective. How would Boo Radley describe Jem, Scout, and Dill?

Homework

Read Chapters 8–10. Going through the first ninety-nine pages, how many characters have been introduced? Which are primary? What motivates the primary characters?

Assignment 4

FOCUS: Characters

The central character in a work of literature is called the protagonist. The protagonist usually initiates the main action of the story and often overcomes a flaw, such as weakness or ignorance, to achieve a new understanding by the work’s end. A protagonist who acts with great honor or courage may be called a hero. An antihero is a protagonist lacking these qualities. Instead of being dignified, brave, idealistic, or purposeful, the antihero may be cowardly, self-interested, or weak. The protagonist’s journey is enriched by encounters with characters who hold differing beliefs. One such character type, a foil, has traits that contrast with the protagonist’s and highlight important features of the main character’s personality. The most important foil, the antagonist, opposes the protagonist, barring or complicating his or her success.

Writing Exercise

Students should write two pages on the character that they believe to be the antagonist. If Scout is our protagonist, why is this character opposed to her? How is this character forcing her to look at herself in profound ways? What passages from the text support these conclusions?
Assignment

Read Chapters 11–12. Find the three most vivid descriptions in the two chapters. Are they effective? Why or why not? What do Jem and Scout learn from Mrs. Dubose and going to church with Calpurnia in this section?

Assignment 5

FOCUS: Figurative Language

Writing Exercise
Find an image in the text. Expand the image by turning it into a simile. For example, Lee expands an ordinary image with a simile: “She did give Jem a hot biscuit-and-butter.… It tasted like cotton.” Have students write a few paragraphs telling a story about an important childhood event. In their story, students should use imagery, simile, and metaphor at least twice. Can they see how developing figurative language in a story contributes to the artistry of the novel?
Homework
Read Chapters 13–15. What might Mrs. Dubose symbolize? Aunt Alexandra believes the “Finch Family” captures or symbolizes certain values. What does she think this family symbolizes? How does Scout fit into this image?

Writers use figurative language such as imagery, similes, and metaphors to help the reader visualize and experience events and emotions in a story. Imagery—a word or phrase that refers to sensory experience (sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste)—helps create a physical experience for the reader and adds immediacy to literary language. Some figurative language asks us to stretch our imaginations, finding the likeness in seemingly unrelated things. Simile is a comparison of two things that initially seem quite different but are shown to have significant resemblance. Similes employ connective words, usually “like,” “as,” “than,” or a verb such as “resembles.” A metaphor is a statement that one thing is something else that, in a literal sense, it is not. By asserting that a thing is something else, a metaphor creates a close association that underscores an important similarity between these two things.

Assignment 6

FOCUS: Symbols

Writing Exercise

In Chapter 15, the drama mounts as Atticus is surrounded by a group of men. How does Scout defuse the potentially violent confrontation? Would you have expected this? Was it convincing that Scout could defuse such tension? Why or why not? Choose a character whose name serves a symbolic function. Explain how the name as a symbol relates to the real person. Does the person reflect his or her namesake or contradict his or her namesake? Why has Lee depicted them this way?
Homework

Read Chapters 16–18. Read Handout Three: The Civil Rights Movement. In the first eighteen chapters, how have Jem, Scout, and Dill changed? Are these changes profound or just a result of growing up?

Symbols are persons, places, or things in a narrative that have significance beyond a literal understanding. The craft of storytelling depends on symbols to present ideas and point toward new meanings. Most frequently, a specific object will be used to refer to (or symbolize) a more abstract concept. The repeated appearance of an object suggests a non-literal, or figurative, meaning attached to the object. Symbols are often found in the book’s title, at the beginning and end of the story, within a profound action, or in the name or personality of a character. The life of a novel is perpetuated by generations of readers interpreting and reinterpreting the main symbols. By identifying and understanding symbols, readers can reveal new interpretations of the novel. Atticus is named for a leader from ancient Greece. Independent research on the original Atticus will open doors to a deeper understanding of Lee’s Atticus. The very names of Maycomb’s residents symbolize something about their nature. Mr. Underwood confines himself to a dark office, and Robert E. Lee Ewell may be the antithesis of his Civil War namesake.

Assignment 7

Writing Exercise

On what occasions do you wish a character might have acted more maturely? On what occasions were you surprised that a character acted very maturely? Why or why not? Explain how you would define “mature.” Early in the novel Scout says, “Jem was a born hero.” Have students write a paragraph explaining who they believe is the most heroic character of To Kill a Mockingbird. Is it Jem? Is it Atticus? Scout? Tom Robinson? Or is it perhaps Boo Radley? Make sure students define “hero.”
Homework

Read Chapters 19–23. Ask students to reflect on how Lee has constructed the plot to reach this dramatic conclusion and come to class with the two most important turning points in the novel.

Novels trace the development of characters who encounter a series of challenges. Most characters contain a complex balance of virtues and vices. Internal and external forces require characters to question themselves, overcome fears, or reconsider dreams. The protagonist may undergo profound change. A close study of character development maps, in each character, the evolution of motivation, personality, and belief. The tension between a character’s strengths and weaknesses keeps the reader guessing about what might happen next and the protagonist’s eventual success or failure. This novel explores human nature, equality, and justice through the trial of Tom Robinson. A child’s inexperience captures an innocent sense of justice, while an adult’s world-weariness leads to abandoning the fight for justice. As a result, this novel hinges on occasions in which adults act like children and children act like adults. In order to argue for racial equality, Lee must demonstrate situations in which narrow-minded prejudice can realistically yield to an expanded moral sensibility.

FOCUS: Character Development

Assignment 8

FOCUS: The Plot Unfolds

The author crafts a plot structure to create expectations, increase suspense, and develop characters. The pacing of events can make a novel either predictable or riveting. Foreshadowing and flashbacks allow the author to defy the constraints of time. Sometimes an author can confound a simple plot by telling stories within stories. In a conventional work of fiction, the peak of the story’s conflict—the climax—is followed by the resolution, or denouement, in which the effects of that climactic action are presented. To Kill a Mockingbird begins as a story about curiosity, sibling adventures, and the first school days. The novel evolves into a saga about criminal justice, legal representation, and deep-rooted Southern values. All the events lead to the final, tragic event: Tom Robinson’s guilty verdict. At this tragic moment, Jem forsakes “background” in exchange for how long his family has “been readin’ and writin’.” He believes that literacy allows the Finches to rise above prejudice, while illiteracy sinks the Cunninghams into a moral quagmire. In the face of such injustice, Jem realizes that Boo Radley may want to stay inside to avoid the prejudice and injustice.

Writing Exercise

Outline a sequel to Lee’s novel. How would this plot unfold? How would students map the beginning, middle, and end? Have students write the opening paragraphs to the sequel. Rewrite the novel’s ending as if Tom Robinson was acquitted. If he were acquitted, would the novel be as powerful? Would it be more powerful?
Homework

Read Chapters 24–27. Why did Lee choose this title? How is literacy a theme of the novel?

Assignment 9

FOCUS: Themes of the Novel

Writing Exercise
Name five themes within the novel. Here are some examples:
Race At what points do different characters make remarks about race? At what points do other characters’ actions speak louder than their words? Does the novel make a final statement about how race should affect our treatment of others? Does Dolphus Raymond provide us a clue to this question?
Justice Return to Sandra Day O’Connor’s statement that the “idea of justice pervades everything” in the novel. What evidence supports or refutes O’Connor’s view? If Lee is using the novel to provide us with a definition of justice for the twentieth century, what is her definition? Remember, she published the novel in 1960, during the Civil Rights era. Literacy/Illiteracy Explore Jem’s statement about literacy. Review the novel, noting occasions where reading plays an important role. How is the novel developing an argument about the value of reading? What is more important: the activity of reading or the content within the text?
Gender A tomboy, Scout becomes more feminine as the novel closes. How does Scout battle with her gender role? Does she give a new definition of femininity? How does this relate to the rest of the story? In what ways do Jem and Dill face the same coming-of-age dilemma? Finally, does this reflect the 1930s, 1960s, or both?

Themes are the central, recurring subjects of a novel. As characters grapple with circumstances such as racism, class, or unrequited love, profound questions will arise in the reader’s mind about human life, social pressures, and societal expectations. Classic themes include intellectual freedom versus censorship, the relationship between one’s personal moral code and larger political justice, and spiritual faith versus rational considerations. A novel often reconsiders these age-old debates by presenting them in new contexts or from new points of view.

Assignment 1

Begin Reading:

The Grapes of Wrath Novel by John Steinbeck

FOCUS: BIOGRAPY

Examining an author’s life can
inform and expand the reader’s
understanding of a novel.
Biographical criticism is the
practice of analyzing a literary work through the lens of an author’s experience. In this lesson, explore the author’s life to understand the novel more fully. John Steinbeck reported on the Depression-era migrant workers of his native California for various newspapers and journals. A chronicler of the poor and dispossessed, he was a frequent visitor to migrant encampments, an experience that compelled him to write The Grapes of Wrath—the novel for which he won the 1940 Pulitzer Prize and is best remembered today.

Writing Exercise
Write a one-page response to a book that taught you something about a group to which you do not belong. If the book changed the way you see a certain group (a race, a religion, a social class, a subculture), write at least three ways your perspective was changed. How might a novel adjust a readers views.

Assignment
Read Chapters 1–5. Think about how the Oklahoma landscape shapes the lives of the people who live in it. How does your own landscape shape the your life? Explain different reasons a person or family would migrate from one place to another.

This Lesson Material found at the National Endowment for the Arts

Assignment 2

FOCUS: Culture and History

Cultural and historical contexts give birth to the dilemmas and themes at the center of the novel. Studying these contexts and appreciating intricate details of the time and place help readers understand the motivations of the characters. The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, near the end of a decade that began with the worst economic collapse in American history. In the 1930s, the Great Depression caused widespread unemployment and misery, especially in rural areas, and did not fully run its course until 1941, when the military and its contractors started hiring and drafting for World War II. In spite—or because—of economic hardship, Hollywood thrived. Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, and the screwball comedies of screenwriters such as Dudley Nichols and Jules Furthman came on the scene. Over the airwaves, Americans listened to the jokes of Jack Benny, the adventures of the Lone Ranger, the news reports of Edward R. Murrow, and Orson Welles’s broadcast of The War of the Worlds. The WPA also funded a renaissance in American art and architecture by commissioning buildings, bridges, and murals across the country. Artists responded by creating both serious works that reflected the growing national crisis, and sophisticated popular entertainment that gave escapism a good name.

Writing Exercise

Write a short essay on the ways artists of the twenty-first century are being influenced by the current political and social climate. In your essay, use specific examples of movies, books, or art. Are writers and filmmakers chronicling current events much as Steinbeck reported the plight of the Dust Bowl migrants? Why or why not?

Assignment

Read Chapters 6–9 for discussion during the next lesson.

Assignment 3

The narrator tells the story with a specific perspective informed by his or her beliefs and experiences. Narrators can be major or minor characters, or exist outside the story altogether. The narrator weaves her or his point of view, including ignorance and bias, into telling the tale. A first-person narrator participates in the events of the novel, using “I.” A distanced narrator, often not a character, is removed from the action of the story and uses the third person (he, she, and they). The distanced narrator may be omniscient, able to read the minds of all the characters, or limited, describing only certain characters’ thoughts and feelings. Ultimately, the type of narrator determines the point of view from which the story is told. The Grapes of Wrath is narrated in a “limited-omniscient” third-person voice. This narrator recounts the points of view and experiences of many characters, sometimes far removed from the Joad family. The narrator is “limited” because, in spite of this omniscience, the interior lives of the characters—their silent thoughts and perceptions—are not always revealed to the reader.

Writing Exercise

Choose one character who has appeared so far: Tom, Casy, Ma, Pa, Uncle John, Grampa, or Granma. Rewrite the novel’s beginning from this character’s perspective. Think about how a story can be told from multiple perspectives. What might Steinbeck be trying to tell us by writing about a whole family and a whole community?

Assignment

Read Chapters 10–13. Trace the motivations and development of the same character you chose for the writing exercise. Is the family itself a character in the novel? Keep track of each character’s way of talking. What particularities do you notice in the phrases, word choices, and education of your chosen character?

FOCUS: Narrative and Point of View

Assignment 4

FOCUS: Characters

The central character in a work of literature is called the protagonist. The protagonist usually initiates the main action of the story and often overcomes a flaw, such as weakness or ignorance, to achieve a new understanding by the work’s end. A protagonist who acts with great honor or courage may be called a hero. An antihero is a protagonist lacking these qualities. Instead of being dignified, brave, idealistic, or purposeful, the antihero may be cowardly, self-interested, or weak. The protagonist’s journey is enriched by encounters with characters who hold differing beliefs. One such character type, a foil, has traits that contrast with the protagonist’s and highlight important features of the main character’s personality. The most important foil, the antagonist, opposes the protagonist, barring or complicating his or her success. The novel begins with Tom Joad’s release from prison. He is a convicted killer who acted in self-defense and has served his debt to society. Soon he joins his family for the trip to California. Many readers consider Tom Joad the protagonist of The Grapes of Wrath, a man who struggles against violent instincts while standing up for the rights of the dispossessed. Several foils propel Tom into manhood. Reverend Casy speaks a language of pantheism and growing political awareness. Ma is a restraining figure, always reminding Tom of his checkered past and responsibility to the family. Even poor Muley, a solitary outcast on the land, unwittingly warns Tom of the consequences of social exile. These foils vie to lead Tom toward his final choices.

Writing Exercise
Steinbeck often alludes to myth to reveal something essential about his characters. Other times, he’ll include a story within the novel. For example, Steinbeck tells the story of the Joads’ first-born son, Noah. Can you find another example of this technique? Consider the value of telling stories to develop a character.

Assignment
Read Chapters 14–17.
Find examples in the text where Steinbeck makes readers see the landscape in a new way by comparing it to something else. Find moments where inanimate objects are compared to animate ones.

Submit your findings for assignment.

Assignment 5

FOCUS: Figurative Language

Writers use figurative language such as imagery, similes, and metaphors to help the reader visualize and experience events and emotions in a story. Imagery—a word or phrase that refers to sensory experience (sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste)—helps create a physical experience for the reader and adds immediacy to literary language. Some figurative language asks us to stretch our imaginations, finding the likeness in seemingly unrelated things. Simile is a comparison of two things that initially seem quite different but are shown to have significant resemblance. Similes employ connective words, usually “like,” “as,” “than,” or a verb such as “resembles.” A metaphor is a statement that one thing is something else that, in a literal sense, it is not. By asserting that a thing is something else, a metaphor creates a close association that underscores an important similarity between these two things.

Assignment

Read Chapters 18-19

Sometimes Steinbeck uses a mix of sensory images to introduce a metaphor: “The ancient Hudson, with bent and scarred radiator screen, with grease in dusty globules at the worn edges of every moving part, with hub caps gone and caps of red dust in their places—this was the new hearth, the living center of the family.” Find some imagery in the text and make it into a metaphor, as Steinbeck makes the car into “the new hearth” in the passage above. When is an image merely an image, and when does an author place metaphorical weight on it? Steinbeck uses metaphor when he writes the following: “66 is the mother road, the road of flight.” Write two paragraphs about a road trip you have taken, using several examples of figurative language to color your account of the journey. Try to include metaphors as well as similes.

Assignment 6

FOCUS: Symbols

Symbols are persons, places, or things in a narrative that have significance beyond a literal understanding. The craft of storytelling depends on symbols to present ideas and point toward new meanings. Most frequently, a specific object will be used to refer to (or symbolize) a more abstract concept. The repeated appearance of an object suggests a non-literal, or figurative, meaning attached to the object. Symbols are often found in the book’s title, at the beginning and end of the story, within a profound action, or in the name or personality of a character. The life of a novel is perpetuated by generations of readers interpreting and reinterpreting the main symbols. By identifying and understanding symbols, readers can reveal new interpretations of the novel.

To summarize, a symbol is an object or action that suggests additional meanings. Use this class period to analyze three major symbols in the novel: the road, the West, and the grapes of wrath.

The Road:

Route 66 As America’s major east-west road, Highway 66 was also known as Route 66, The Mother Road, and The Main Street of America. A trip from Oklahoma to California was not taken lightly in this pre-interstate era. Focus on the description of the road in Chapter 12: “66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land.” How does this tone change by the time we reach Chapter 21? What has changed in the Joad family?

The West

For Americans, the West in general and California in particular have symbolized a new life, or the Promised Land. Building on the homework from Lesson Five, why did so many families in the 1930s—including the fictional Joad family—pin their hope for a better life on California? Pay particular attention to Chapter 18, when the Joad family reaches Tehachapi and sees the vineyards and orchards for the first time.

The Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck’s title quotes from Julia Ward Howe’s “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” a famous Civil War anthem associated with the anti-slavery movement. Howe’s allusion to “the grapes of wrath” comes from the biblical books of Deuteronomy and Revelation. From what you have read so far, do you think Steinbeck chose a good title? Does it have patriotic, religious, and political connotations? (Students will read the famous passage, “In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy,” when they reach Chapter 25.) Homework Read Chapters 20–21. Students should return to their original Joad character from the homework in previous lessons. How has their character changed? If their character has died, ask them to consider the ways that the death has affected other members of the Joad family.

Read Chapters 20–21.

Return to the original Joad character from the homework in previous lessons. How has their character changed? If their character has died, consider the ways that the death has affected other members of the Joad family.