1. Independent Reading Project
AP Literature & Composition
Independent Reading Project
Due: Oct. 17
ASSIGNMENT: Read one AP Literature novel independently (from the list given). Choose a novel that you have not read before. Complete a dialectical journal for the novel, as well as a critical lens analysis essay.
 ➔DATA SHEET or
➔DIALECTICAL JOURNAL: Includes all relevant literary analysis information about the author and novel in order to write a critical analysis essay.
➔CRITICAL LENS ANALYSIS ESSAY: Focused on one critical lens and thesis, includes evidence from text as well as literary research.
➔+10 ON THE LOWEST SUMMATIVE

2. Independent Reading Project
AP Literature & Composition
Independent Reading Project
ESSAY REQUIREMENTS:
-Focus your thesis around the critical lens and how the text can be shaped by it.
-Include textual evidence (direct and indirect quotes) from your dialectical journal to support your analysis.
-Include an analysis of at least two elements of literature (character, setting, plot, point of view, theme, style) in the novel and how they relate to your critical analysis. -Include evidence from at least two outside literary research sources to support your thesis and analysis.
-FORMATTING: Typed in Google Drive, 1.5 spacing, 12 pt. font, 5-7 paragraphs in length, submit the final draft of your essay by sharing in Google Drive:
ARCHETYPAL CRITICISM
-Focuses on cultural archetypes and myths.
-Places importance on recurring images, symbols and character types (hero, villain, etc).
NEW CRITICISM (FORMALISM) -Also called “Formalist” criticism.
-Focuses on the literary elements of the text, like metaphor, plot structure, symbolism, etc.
-What you most often focus on in English classes.
-Does not look at the author, time period, or anything else outside of the text.
READER-RESPONSE -Considers the reader as just as important as the text they are reading.
-Explores the effects the text has on the reader.
-Texts can be interpreted different ways based on who the reader is.
NEW HISTORICISM -Assumes that every piece of literature is a product of its historical time period.
-Literature is influenced by the political, social, and cultural climate of that time period. -Also questions how we look back and view that time period as opposed to those who were there.
GENDER CRITICISM -Examines how gender and sexual roles are reflected or contradicted in a literary text, or how the author’s gender and sexuality impact their work.
-These critics typically argue that differences in men and women are cultural, not sexual.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS LENSES
MARXIST CRITICISM
-Focuses mainly on social class and political ideologies within a text.
-Asks how the text conforms to, contradicts, or challenges societal structures.
-Based on the writings and political theories of Karl Marx.
PSYCHOANALYTICAL CRITICISM
-Focuses on the characters and what is going on internally and their motivations.
-Can also seek to understand the mind or intentions of the author.
-Based on the works of Sigmund Freud (father of Psychology) and Carl Jung (ID, EGO, SUPEREGO).

3. Independent Reading Project
AP Literature & Composition
Independent Reading Project
Link to most frequently cited novels
Recommended Reading List AP Exam