World Literature
Unit 1: Silas Marner
Reading Schedule:
9/4 Chapter 1
9/6 Chapters 2-7
9/11 Chapter 8
9/13 Chapters 9-12
9/18 Chapter 13 Essay #1 Due
9/20 Chapters 14-18
9/25 Chapters 19-Conclusion
9/27
10/4 Test #1
Week One Assignment
1. Read and Respond:
Tuesday: Read Chapter 1. Write a one-paragraph summary of the chapter
(at least seven and no more than twelve sentences). Your paragraph should be written in third
person point of view, in present tense, and in a clear, objective style. Do not use slang! (-:
Due on Thursday, 9/6.
Thursday: Read
chapters 2-7. Summarize each chapter in
two or three sentences. Due on Tuesday,
9/11.
2. Vocabulary:
Learn the definitions and
spelling of the following words. Use
three of them somewhere in your writing this week (italicize or underline
them). Quiz Tuesday, 9/11.
1. Abjure: To recant solemnly; renounce or
repudiate: "But this rough magic I here abjure" (Shakespeare,
The Tempest). To
renounce under oath.
2. Abrogate: To abolish, do away with, annul,
especially by authority.
3. Abstemious: Eating or drinking in
moderation: "Mr. Brooke was an abstemious man, and to drink a
second glass of sherry...was a surprise to his system" (George Eliot, Middlemarch).
4. Acumen: Quickness and keenness of
judgment or insight: "No, no, my
dear Watson! With all respect for your
natural acumen, I do not think you are quite a match for the worthy
doctor" (Arthur Conan Doyle, The
Adventure of the missing three-Quarter).
5. Antebellum: Belonging to a period before a
war, especially the American Civil War:
While vacationing in
6. Auspicious: Attended by
favorable circumstances; propitious: My boss was in a good mood, so I thought
it was an auspicious time to ask for a raise.
7. Belie:
To give a false
representation; to misrepresent:
"He spoke roughly in order to belie his air of
gentility" (James Joyce, Dubliners).
8. Bellicose: Warlike or hostile in manner or temperament: The nations exchanged bellicose
rhetoric over the border dispute.
9. Bowdlerize: To remove
material that is considered objectionable or offensive from a book: The
publisher bowdlerized the bawdy 18th-century play for family audiences.
10. Chicanery: Deception by trickery or
sophistry: "The successful man who has risen by conscienceless swindling
of his neighbors, by deceit and chicanery, by unscrupulous boldness and
unscrupulous cunning, stands toward society as a dangerous wild beast"
(Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life).
3. Write:
Based on your reading,
write a description (at least 300 words) of one of the characters we have met
so far in the story. Your composition
should begin with a thesis statement that asserts a central and defining
attribute of the character. Support your
observation by explaining how the author reveals this attribute in physical
description, in the character’s actions, in the reactions and attitudes of
other characters, and in her own commentary. When you refer to specific episodes or lines,
include the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence. Due Tuesday, 9/11.
4. Finger Exercise:
Keep a list of phrases
from these chapters that refer to light,
gold, or darkness. Be on the alert
for synonyms as well. For each example,
include the page number in parentheses.
Due Tuesday, 9/11.