Junior AP English Reading Instructions for Thesis Author Novel #1

2010-2011

1. Read your novel once without taking notes or annotating it. Just read it and
enjoy it. Due date: Fri. Oct 15

2. Develop a list of about 4 or 5 criteria by which you judge a piece of literature

as “good” or “great.” This is your own personal list, but it might also include
the same criteria that you explored in the packet on “Good and Great Fiction.”

3. Re-read your novel, but this time, you should annotate and take notes IN THE
FORM OF A DIALOGUE JOURNAL that are aimed at finding evidence to
support the following question:

Is this novel “good” or “great?” What is your

evaluation of this novel? Does this novel meet your
criteria (your list that you developed prior to reading
the novel) for an excellent novel?
Dialogue Journal (8-10 entries) is Due Thursday Oct. 28

Passage
A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored
garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats,
intermixed with women, some wearing
hoods, and others bareheaded, was
assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the
door of which was heavily timbered with
oak, and studded with iron spikes.
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Response
This is the opening sentence to my novel,
The Scarlet Letter, and it serves as an
excellent example of a few of my criteria
for excellent literature. For one, I require
that a great piece of literature have vivid
and evocative imagery that sets the tone
and mood for the scene. In this sentence,
Hawthorne perfectly captures the somber
and cold atmosphere of the Puritans and
even provides some foreshadowing with
the sad-colored garments and iron spikes.

This sentence also is a great example of

another one of my criteria: complex
sentence structure. The subject of the
sentence, “the throng of bearded men,” is
separated from the verb of the sentence
(“was assembled”) by a series of
descriptive phrases, which works to slow
the sentence down and create some
suspense. After the verb, the sentence
focuses on the door and ends with the
image of iron spikes, drawing a
grammatical connection between the men
and women and the spikes. This is a genius
way of planting the seeds of this connection
that will be built on throughout the novel
between the townspeople of Salem and
cold-hearted punishment / judgment.
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