Text
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Please buy Oprah’s book
club edition – it is cheap and
readily available.
Try here: Amazon:
The Road Link
ISBN-10: 0307387895
ISBN-13: 978-0307387899
Assignment
We will kick off the year by engaging in a close reading of a contemporary
novel – The
Road by Cormac McCarthy. Like all other summer reading assignments,
you will need to complete the book over the summer and keep a journal,
which will be turned in on the first day of school. These journals
MUST BE WRITTEN and need to be organized in a folder or notebook,
specifically dedicated to the novel. This novel does not have chapters
per say, so I want everyone to find twenty natural stopping points
in the novel and journal after each section. Each student needs
to have twenty, one-page journals over a section of their choosing.
As I said, after each section, students must write a ONE PAGE journal
addressing the following questions:
1. What stylistic writing techniques
and devices stick out to you and why?
2. Using the elements of
fiction as the basis for your
analysis. what do you think of the events of each chapter?
3. What
do you predict will happen in the coming chapters?
As stated, use
the elements of fiction in your analysis of each chapter – I
expect to see words like plot, setting, conflict, social context,
characterization, point of view, etc... In short,
I want analysis and not description. I know about the events of
the book, so go further and tell me what you think of the style
in which the book is written and the way that the novel unfolds.
Grading
I
suggest that you write each journal entry right after you read
each section, so that it is fresh in your memory while
doing so. By reflecting on each section after you have read it,
you will find that the events are better remembered for future
reference. This is intentional, because there will be a test
on the book on the second day of school. In addition, the journals
will be collected for a grade as well. The journals and the tests
will comprise the first two grades of the year, so read closely
and spend time on these journals. This is a great novel and we
will have much fun in reading and discussing it. This is one
of
my recent favorites, so I will bring much excitement and vigor.
You must only bring an enthusiastic attitude and the completed
journals and we will begin a great and rewarding year. E-mail
me with any questions (only important ones please).
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