Advanced Placement English Literature Summer Reading & Author Study
M. Fredeking Beyer High School
“We work by wit [our intelligence]”—Shakespeare, Bill
Welcome to your senior year of AP English! You’ve worked hard and deserve congratulations for having dedicated yourself to obtaining the finest quality of language arts education. Your senior year will be a busy one, full of exciting activities and responsibilities. Success with senior AP English will depend much on your dedication to remain organized and consistently involved with the course’s requirements. Below is a concise description from the College Board lucidly explaining the demands for AP Lit/Comp English. Please read them carefully in order to appreciate fully the requirements of senior AP English:
AP Senior English is a college-level course that “engage[s] students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature.” This class will explore mature, adult-level, thought-provoking works of high literary value which encompass a variety of genres, time periods, and language usages. All students are expected to “read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work’s complexity, to absorb its richness of meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form.” Intelligent interpretation and evaluation of the literature is absolutely required. “In short, students in an AP English Literature course should read actively. The works taught in … [this] course… involve students in learning how to make careful observations of textual detail, establish connections among their observations, and draw from those connections a series of inferences leading to an interpretive conclusion [a thesis] about the work’s meaning and value.”
Quality writing is a must and “should be an integral part of an AP English Literature and Composition course… Writing assignments… focus on the critical analysis of literature and… include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays. … Critical essays… make up the bulk of student writing.” The approaches to writing will vary, from notebook-type responses and full in-class essays to an in-depth research paper. Most assignments will be relatively brief, but thorough. In essence, the goal of this course “is to increase students’ ability to explain clearly, cogently, even elegantly, what they understand about literary works and why they interpret them as they do. To that end, writing instruction… includes attention to developing and organizing ideas in clear, coherent, and persuasive language.” Moreover, writing is a shared experience as students work together to develop and refine their critical-thinking skills: “Much writing should involve extended discourse in which students can develop an argument or present an analysis at length.” (Advanced Placement Course Description, English, May 1999. The College Board. 1997. 39-42).
Finally, AP Senior English obviously prepares students for the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition exam (held in May). Learning to read and respond and write intelligently under time constraints remains essential. Effective practice and classroom discussion concerning timed reading and writing approaches will be emphasized. Please remember: College Board expectations for reading analysis exist well beyond any high school CP- or honors-level curriculum. AP Lit/Comp is specifically designed ONLY for sincerely serious students who possess the MATURATION TO ENGAGE AND SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THE STRICT AND RIGOROUS and TIME- CONSUMING DEMANDS of UC-level college work while in high school. Students must provide approximately 30 to 60 minutes of UNINTERRUPTED READING TIME, 2-3 TIMES PER WEEK, MINIMALLY, in order to thoughtfully engage the literature examined during the summer and academic school year. Thus, EXTERNAL SOCIAL DISTRACTIONS (computer/internet time, texting, extra-curricular activities, etc.) must be CAREFULLY BALANCED AGAINST TIME SPENT READING AND MEANINGFULLY ENGAGING THE LITERARY TEXT FOR ANY REASONABLE SUCCESS WITH THE COURSE’S REQUIREMENTS. In short: be prepared to spend the time and do the work necessary in order to demonstrate consistent competence with demands of college expectations.
I. Summer Reading, What you Must DO:
Preparation for the fall semester begins in the summer with TWO (2) reading assignments. ALL students will read and respond to Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, a National Book Award winner. Classroom study/reading guides to help you to respond and react to the novel’s interacting characters and themes are provided below.
AUTHOR STUDY READING Besides Cold Mountain, you will also select one author who interests you and you must read at least ONE other significant work by that particular author during the summer. You may choose any writer from the following lists--the titles accompanying the author names are listings of the writers’ better-known works--OR choose another quality author whose work is respected as legitimate literature. (If unsure of ANY potential choice, please consult with me!)
NOTE: Macbeth and Hamlet (Shakespeare) and Pride and Prejudice (Austen) are class requirements and thus DO NOT qualify for the summer reading. Also, ANY school-assigned literary piece from previous years (e.g., Of Mice and Men or Romeo and Juliet, etc.) is NOT acceptable for summer reading unless directly cleared from the teacher! Key to Notations (for all authors listed): P=playwright; Etc=many more significant works are available ( * = available in the Beyer Book Room)
STANDARD AMERICAN WRITERS Bellow, Saul—Adventures of Augie March; Humbol’s Gift; etc. Faulkner, William—Light in August; As I Lay Dying; etc. *Hemingway, Ernest—Sun Also Rises; A Farewell to Arms; For Whom the Bell Tolls; etc. *Hurston, Zora Neale—Their Eyes were Watching God; Jonah’s Gourd Vine Malamud, Bernard—The Natural; The Fixer; The Assistant Oneill, Eugene (P)—Long Day’s Journey…; Mourning Becomes Electra; etc. Simon, Neal (P)—Brighton Beach Memoirs; Lost in Yonkers; etc. *Steinbeck, John—Grapes of Wrath; East of Eden; Cannery Row; etc. Twain, Mark—Huck Finn; Tom Sawyer; Connecticut Yankee; etc. Updike, John—The four “Rabbit” novels; etc. Wharton, Edith—Ethan Frome; Age of Innocence; House of Mirth William, Tennessee (P)—Streetcar Named Desire; Glass Menagerie; etc. Wright, Richard—Native Son; Black Boy AND Ellison, Ralph—Invisible Man
STANDARD ENGLISH WRITERS Austen, Jane—Emma; Sense and Sensibility; Persuasion Bronte Sisters—Emily (Wuthering Heights); Charlotte (Jane Eyre; Villette) *Conrad, Joseph—Lord Jim; Heart of Darkness/Secret Sharer; etc. *Dickens, Charles—David Copperfield; Great Expectations; Tale of Two Cities; ETC. Eliot, George (female)—Adam Bede; Mill on the Floss; Middlemarch Forster, E.M.—Howard’s End; Room with a View; etc. Hardy, Thomas—Far from the Maddening Crowd; Tess…; Jude…; Mayor of Casterbridge *Huxley, Aldous—Brave New World; Point Counter Point Joyce, James—Dubliners; Portrait of a Young Man…; Ulysses Lawrence, D.H.—Women in Love; Sons and Lovers; Lady Chatterley’s Lover; etc. *Orwell, George—Animal Farm; 1984 *Shakespeare (P)—King Lear; Othello; 12th Night; Henry V; ETC.!!! Shaw, George Bernard (P)—Pygmalion; Saint Join; etc. Woolf, Virginia—Orlando; Room of One’s Own; To the Lighthouse
STANDARD WORLD-WIDE CLASSICS Camus, Albert—The Stranger; The Plague; The Fall Chekov, Anton (P)—Three Sisters; Cherry Orchard; Uncle Vanya; etc. Dostoyevsky—Crime and Punishment; The Idiot; The Brother Karamazov Flaubert, Gustave—Madame Bovary Hesse, Herman—Siddharta; Steppenwolf Hugo, Victor—Les Miserable; Hunchback of Notre Dame Ibsen, Henrik (P)—Doll House; Enemy of the People; Hedda Gabler; etc. Kafka, Franze—The Trial; The Castle; The Metamorphosis Mann, Thomas—Death in Venice; The Magic Mountain Tolstoy, Leo—Anna Karenina; War and Peace; Death of Ivan Ilyich
CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE (post 1960’s)
Roth, Philip—Portnoy’s Complaint; Goodbye Columbus; American Pastoral; etc. Albee, Edward—Three Tall Women; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf; etc. Atwood, Margaret—The Handmaid’s Tale; The Circle Game Chabon, Michael—Wonder Boys, Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Doyle, Roddy—Star Called Henry; The Commitments; etc. Gaines, Ernest—Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman; A Lesson Before Dying; etc. Erdrich, Louise—Love Medicine; The Beet Queen; Tracks McCarthy, Cormac—All the Pretty Horses; The Crossing; etc. *Morrison, Toni—Beloved; Bluest Eyes; Song of Soloman *O’Brien, Tim—The Things They Carried; Going After Cacciato; In the Lake of the Woods Proulx, Anne—The Shipping News; etc. Russo, Richard—Empire Falls; Nobody's Fool; etc. Shields, Carol—The Stone Diaries; Unless; etc. Tan, Amy—Joy Luck Club; Kitchen God’s Wife; etc. Walker, Alice—The Color Purple; Temple of My Familiar Here are some other contemporary works that have become popular with AP lit seniors during the last few years. (That is, students have found many of these writers to be a bit more “user friendly” than traditional writers such as Shakespeare or Jane Austen or Dickens!)
These are the current novels listed on the summer instructions for your reading for AP lit (remember: everyone reads Cold Mtn and then you choose ONE author and read at least ONE of his/her works)
* = available in the Beyer Book Room
CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE (post 1960’s) Albee, Edward—Three Tall Women; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf; etc. Atwood, Margaret—The Handmaid’s Tale; The Circle Game; ETC. Chabon, Michael—Wonder Boys, Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay; ETC. Doyle, Roddy—Star Called Henry; The Commitments; etc. Gaines, Ernest—Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman; A Lesson Before Dying; etc. Erdrich, Louise—Love Medicine; The Beet Queen; Tracks McCarthy, Cormac—All the Pretty Horses; The Crossing; etc. *Morrison, Toni—Beloved; Bluest Eye; Song of Soloman * O’Brien, Tim—The Things They Carried; Going After Cacciato; In the Lake of the Woods Proulx, Anne—The Shipping News; etc. Russo, Richard—Empire Falls; Nobody's Fool; etc. Shields, Carol—The Stone Diaries; Unless; etc. * Tan, Amy—Joy Luck Club; Kitchen God’s Wife; ETC. Walker, Alice—The Color Purple; Temple of My Familiar; ETC.
Here are some other contemporary works that have become popular with AP lit seniors during the last few years:
* Enger, Lief—Peace Like a River, etc. Eugenides, Jeffrey---Virgin Suicides; Middlesex Guterson,. David—Snow Falling on Cedars, etc * Hosseine, Khaled—Kite Runner, etc * Haruf, Kent—Plainsong, ETC. Lahiri, Jhumpa—Namesake; Interpreter of Maladies, etc. Jones, Edward P. ---The Known World, etc. McEwan, Ian---Atonement, ETC. Roth, Philip (since 1990)---Human Stain; Plot Against America; American Pastoral; ETC. Watson, Larry---Montana, 1948; White Crosses, ETC.
Remember: As you read, take good notes. Too, it’s okay to use on-line literary guides as long as they are merely used as a supplementary aid and NOT as a replacement for the actual text!!! You MUST finish BOTH works BEFORE the beginning of the fall semester. (You will be held accountable for your reading through AP essay exams and/or intense research guides!) For the author study (which is due during second quarter) you will be required to engage in significant and thoughtful literary criticism on your author and his/her work. You may choose to begin some of the research during the summer or wait until the actual school year begins. But, please remember: you have a very busy senior year ahead of you; thus, do not fall behind on the course’s reading assignments or you will be in trouble academically.
Finally, please remember, most students who participate in AP Senior English have received class grades of A or B and have successfully passed the national Literature and Composition exam held in May. Be prepared to work hard and intelligently, and you will do a fine job and receive an outstanding education in preparation for university curriculum demands and in readiness for the awaiting adult world.
II. Please too, never forget about the vital importance of Academic Integrity:
PLAGIARISM: All papers submitted and exams taken are expected to be the student’s own work. The textual examples you use are ones you have discovered and enjoyed through your reading. Any student who submits any type of work or a central/key interpretive idea which is not his/her own is guilty of plagiarism and will immediately receive a “0” and parent notification. (Students are responsible to keep ALL rough-draft work; teacher may request rough draft evidence or an oral review exam any time during the academic term to determine the legitimacy of a student’s work and to maintain the absolute integrity of the AP program.) Repeated violations may result in failure of or removal from the course for the semester or the entire school year! So please, be careful, be honest, and most of all, BE YOURSELF and learn to value your own thoughts, ideas and opinions!
III. READING GUIDES FOR THE SUMMER READING (a few thoughts, observations and ideas to help with your reading!)
Please Remember: ALL students will read and respond to Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, a National Book Award winner.
A. Cold Mountain Synopsis, Reading and Study Guide
Cold Mountain, the 1997 National Book Award winner, is a novel of stunning achievement, the type which appears perhaps once or twice each generation. It tells the story of two individuals struggling to maintain their identities and personal integrity. Inman is a wounded (on multiple levels) Civil War veteran who attempts to return safely home and avoid the surrounding chaos and social and moral upheaval caused by the war. Ada is a naïve and inexperienced “city girl” trying to survive, and perhaps even thrive, on a lonely country farm. As the two key protagonists journey through a series of adventures, their insights (and the novel’s intertwined chapter structure) reflect the literary standards established by masterpieces such as The Odyssey, Hamlet, Huck Finn, and To Kill A Mockingbird. Indeed, Cold Mountain is an ideal contemporary work of historical fiction to initiate serious and mature students to experience the rich, though- provoking and at times deliberately disturbing ideas, themes and complex story structures essential in comprehending and appreciating the sophisticated world-class literature required at the senior AP and university levels.
As you read the novel and work on your study guide, consider the following key issues and concerns:
1. What challenges and obstacles do Inman and Ada face as they try to rediscover their “true”, inner selves? How much do their “wounds” (physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual) affect them? (That is, are they capable of “healing”?) How difficult are their individual efforts to maintain a genuine sense of personal integrity against the war’s social unrest and surrounding corruption?
2. What minor characters are most influential, in both positive and negative ways? For example, how does Ruby both assist yet at times hinder Ada’s growth? Of the myriad people Inman encounters on his various journeys heading back toward his home, which ones are positive, role-model types of influence and which ones are more negative and even destructive toward Inman’s attempt at self-enlightenment? For instance, how is Veasey someone to avoid or to pity or, perhaps, even to guide? How does Veasey’s blatant disrespect toward others, especially women, influence Inman’s development? (That is, does his behavior help Inman make better choices for himself, or does Veasey’s actions lead Inman astray?) Also, how does Junior’s obvious villainy and disregard in “chapter 9” toward his supposed family (especially the children) help Inman better comprehend the Civil War’s and institutionalized slavery’s corrupting influence on an otherwise health society?
3. Also consider what type of internal conflicts and self-doubts Inman and Ada face and how well they successfully overcome them. Are they able, for example, to maintain their own personal self-discipline and self-respect despite the very harsh realities caused by the war? In short, how much personal growth and insight does each character actually experience and fulfill?
These kinds of universal questions and concerns are essential, of course, for all quality literature. Inman’s and Ada’s attempts to discover meaningful and significant insights into their lives- despite the surrounding problems (and evils) they each face- reflect Odysseus’s, Romeo and Juliet’s, Hamlet’s and Huck Finn’s own journeys of self-understanding and comprehension of their surrounding societies complexities. Thus, Cold Mountain’s protagonists will help you to anticipate some of the other exciting major writers, such as Austen and Shakespeare, and how they too use complex characters to explore the rich themes and ideas universally inherent in all quality literature and encountered in our own daily lives. B. Cold Mountain—Reading Guide/lecture Preview (this too should assist with your reading of the novel)
Almost every quality novel/play starts with protagonists who exist in some type of a “limited situation” (i.e., they’re physically/emotionally/psychologically “injured”; are young and lack real-life experiences; are “blind” to a certain circumstance, etc.). In Cold Mountain Inman and Ada ideally present some of these archetypal definitions as the novel develops its various central ideas and themes. Both protagonists begin their respective journeys with a somewhat limited perspective; during the entire story, each character gains insight and real individual growth as he/she interacts with a variety of other characters and circumstances.
Part One (Ch.s 1-9): reacting/adjusting to the surrounding world
Inman begins with serious physical/emotional and psychological wounds; he does not feel whole or complete and doubts his internal abilities to heal and ever feel “fully human” again. Once Inman decides to leave the hospital and begin his long and difficult journey home, he naively assumes he must only avoid capture from the Homeguard; unfortunately, he encounters several people of dubious and even nefarious character. In particular, Veasey and Junior are individuals who have decided to lead dishonest and even, frankly, evil lives. Inman must recognize that these types of people do exist; he must confront them and discover how different he is from them through the actions and choices he makes. As he interacts with and ultimately rejects such “dark characters,” we discover Inman’s real internal strength and qualities. As well, Inman chooses to associate with better people (Ada and Swimmer during flashback scenes; Odell in ch. 7). Inman’s overall ability to make worthwhile choices against the dishonest elements of society shows the quality of his character and reminds us of his potential to grow and become a better person.
Ada too begins the story in very limited circumstances. The well-read and refined yet spoiled Southern Belle now finds herself alone and quite incapable of meeting the incredible demands of managing and farming her late father’s estate. However, the catalytic appearance of Ruby changes everything. With Ruby’s help and blunt assistance, Ada struggles yet slowly begins to learn how to become a more independent person. Since Ada’s initial character in the story possesses little to no knowledge of how to survive in the real world, Ruby’s consistent and even harsh guidance provides a valid opportunity for both women to realize that they can and will succeed in a demanding, difficult and, at times, cruel environment. The myriad chores required to work the farm successfully and Ada’s interaction with other townspeople--along with personal flashbacks about Inman and her former life with her father and living in the South-- allow Ada to discover another side to herself, one that requires personal responsibility through hard work and genuine actions.
Ruby appears in the story’s first half showing a worthwhile yet highly limited perspective on life. Having been abandoned in childhood, Ruby has learned to survive by performing hard work through the completion of daily chores and duties. Nonetheless, she understands very little else of the world, in particular, lacking essential and refined social skills in her ability to interact with people and understanding their emotional needs. Ada, however, begins to provide some guidance for Ruby, acting as a surrogate big sister who can show Ruby how to engage more successfully with the other avenues of society that Ruby has never, truly, met.
Part Two (ch.s 10-20 and the epilogue): choosing to act within and engage the surrounding world
In the novel’s second half, Inman encounters and engages with several people that allow him the opportunity to grow in a more meaningful and positive manner. The Goatwoman not only helps Inman to begin to heal physically, but she provides worthwhile guidance. The fact that Inman openly listens to her advice and opinions illustrates his genuine desire to improve his life and emotional condition. Later, when encountering the young widow, Sara, Inman now acts more proactively. He willingly and literally cleans himself and changes into a more civilized appearance while unhesitatingly saving Sarah from the Federals as if he were a father-figure protecting his own child. Finally, after returning to Cold Mountain itself, Inman’s ultimate encounter with Ada and the story’s concluding “show down” against the forces of evil allow us to see how much Inman has changed and grown into a complete man. Compared to the first half of the book (when outside forces seem to attack and interfere with Inman’s daily existence, by novel’s end) Inman better understands himself, now choosing to act and behave as the type of person he wants to be.
Ada’s change of behavior becomes more evident as she takes on and conquers many challenges that confront her new and demanding lifestyle. Compared to her earlier inabilities to even comprehend how to work a farm into any type of measurable success, Ada now equally manages, with Ruby, the estate with legitimate progress while demonstrating worthy examples of actual personal insight into how much she has grown as an individual. As well, Ada’s ability to provide real leadership becomes evident as she guides Ruby intellectually and emotionally into becoming a more “complete woman” when they must deal with more challenging and complex issues, such as Ruby learning to realize that she’s much more than just a “farm hand” while deciding, as well, how to confront and deal with her father’s past mistakes (thus, ultimately choosing how she, Ruby, wishes to live her future life.) By the climatic end of the story, both women must choose how each wants to live in the world without sacrificing the self-respect and personal insight and integrity each one has gained throughout her various encounters.
By the last third/ending chapters of the novel, all of the essential characters will have the opportunity to demonstrate how each one has grown as a person. Inman, Ada, Ruby and Stobard must make significant choices that will not only impact their respective lives but will, as well, allow us to understand to what extent (small or large) each person has matured into a more complete, well-round individual.
IV. Potential Cold Mountain Essay Topics: The following prompts, esp. #1, might be used in conjunction with the novel. Regardless, they do represent some of the types you will encounter during the upcoming school year. Please remember as well: ALL essays must illustrate college-level explication; that is, they are well organized, lucidly explained and thoroughly supported with specific textual references and examples and/or detailed explanations of character behavior within the plot itself. Do not merely provide a plot summary.
1. In most novels and plays, minor characters contribute significant opportunities to help a reader understand a particular work and its central ideas. Minor characters present certain functions in the literary piece, such as commentating on vital moments of plot/thematic development or working as foils to the main characters’ various examples of growth. Choose from one to three minor characters from the story and explain how they function within the story itself, how they provide further insight into the main characters’ development and/or some of the story’s essential thematic ideas.
2. In retrospect, the reader often discovers that the first chapter of a novel or the opening scene/act of a drama introduces several essential ideas found in the work as a whole. Explain how the first FOUR chapters in the novel provide significant insight into either the main characters’ myriad examples of growth or into an important central idea/theme’s development found later on in the story. That is, after reading the entire novel, what actions take place at the beginning of the story that clearly allow us to understand the significance of later events/behaviors during the novel’s second half of development.
V. Below are some good, solid student samples of explication using “close, textual reading” for a response to Cold Mountain. (The first sample represents a solid B-level response; the second equals a B+/A- effort respectively.) Please note how the writers have applied actual text in order to lucidly support and clarify their opinions. Both paragraphs justify their interpretations with worthwhile specific observations, validating an intelligent engagement with the actual text on several meaningful levels.
#1 In Cold Mountain, Chapter Three’s title, “the color of despair,” immediately sets the harsh tone of the many challenges Inman faces trying to return home safely. The images of a “viper sliding flabby” across the roadway and that Inman views “nothing but trash trees” and recognizes only “mean towns” allows us to understand his personal travels are surrounded by unfriendly environments (69). We’re told directly that “the threat of Home Guard [is] out prowling and the gloom of the cloudy nights made for nervous wayfaring” as Inman tries to find his way home without serious incidents (71). However, it doesn’t work that way. After stopping by a general store, buying some meager food supplies and minding his own business, Inman must fight for his very life against three “layabouts, drunk maybe” who literally try to try to kill him, one using a scythe (74). Although Inman defeats the three men (ironically forced to use the scythe itself as a deadly weapon and thus reminding us of his military prowess in battle) we learn how bluntly dangerous his journey home has become. And, of course, it doesn’t get any better. Later in the chapter, after thinking/dreaming about and hoping for a better life being with Ada while living in his homeland cabin on Cold Mountain (85), Inman must cross a horrible, almost “unnatural” river, appropriately called Cape Fear, that pushes out “greasy bubbles” and is polluted with “foul water” as if describing some waterway—like the River Styx-- from Hell itself (87-89). In fact, even though Inman has made an honest payment for the crossing, some of the townspeople shoot after him with a high powered Whitworth rifle forcing him to tear the “cuff of his shirt” as he tries to plug the bullet holes in the small boat (89). The boat overturns anyway, and now the current takes him away reminding us again of what little control Inman has in his precarious life. Indeed, in describing Inman’s struggle in the water, Frazier uses specific words like “venomous” to convey a negative, threatening tone while images such as “floating in a great void plane bounded by a dark jungle” help us see the horrific environment that surrounds Inman’s experience. In all, his life adds “up to no more than catfish [a bottom dweller] droppings on the bottom of this swill trough of a river” (90), ending the chapter--even though Inman does eventually make it safely to shore--on a very negative, almost disgusting note and unquestionably telling us the way home for Inman will be quite a demanding and arduous task.
#2 If there’s an almost ideal moment when Ada shows how much she’s grown in her sense of personal responsibility to herself, Ruby and the farm, it’s in the beginning pages of Chapter 14, “a satisfied mind.” Ada, “working with apples” during autumn, feels quite satisfied with her efforts; it is “pleasant clean work” as she handles the various fruit and the labor gives a “peaceful still picture in Ada’s mind” when she rests at night (implying, perhaps, that Ada now thinks about the farm and its survival more than anything else). To further make his point about Ada’s change of character, Frazier tells us that Ruby now trusts Ada enough to have her “burn the brush” to clear out a neglected section in the lower field and to “split the six rounds of an old black oak log” (324). This type of heavy, hard, and physically demanding labor is certainly not any type of work Ada would have been able to complete at the beginning of the story. Ada now understands that this approach to her farm is how life really operates; she now knows that you “do just as much as you could do and still be able to get up and do again tomorrow. Nor more, and no less” (324). Indeed, as she chops up the wood with the relatively heavy seven-pound maul, the work for Ada remains “calm despite all the pounding,” and she feels “a great sense of accomplishment” as her dress is “soaked through the shoulders and back with sweat” (325). Ada’s work ethic now seems complete: regardless of the difficulty, she willingly takes on any challenging requirements the farm puts in front of her. Nonetheless, Frazier drives the point home about Ada’s growth and maturation as a complete person when she writes to her Southern Belle cousin, Lucy, in Charleston (who obviously represents Ada’s former lifestyle) telling her in blunt, no nonsense words:
you would not know me; . . . I cannot begin to recount all such rough work that I have done in the time since Father died. It has changed me. It is amazing the physical alterations that can transpire in but a few months of labor. (326)
When we first meet Ada, she realizes with the death of her father, Monroe, she is “living in a new world,” grossly incapable of running a productive farm (Chapter Two, 33). But, in Chapter 14, her mastery of the Black Cove farm clearly emerges. Gone are her worries about which type of picture would produce the best watercolor painting; now, Ada has earned her “satisfied mind,” becoming a fully realized woman, one quite capable of not just surviving, but thriving on her own.