Please, no whining until you have finished reading this entire handout. This summer assignment isn’t that bad compared to what we usually make you do. But it is very important so we expect every single one of you to complete it. No exceptions, no excuses. This is something to keep you sharp, so that we can hit the ground running next year. We don’t want your academic muscles to atrophy over the course of the next ten weeks. Seriously, we have had students come back from the summer and it was as if junior year never happened—back to square one. Do not come back an intellectual blob. Do this. Also, we will be referring back to all of this work throughout your entire senior year. If you don’t do this, you will be behind conceptually. Turn in all of these assignments inside a folder on the first day of school.

Summer Reading: Rossum’s Universal Robots by Karel Capek; a play in three acts, fifty-eight pages. Read the entire play, including the note on Karel Capek in the very beginning.

Assignments:

1. Write a one-page summary of each act (15 Points per summary, 45 Points total)
   
2. Related Current Events (40 Points): Find two newspaper or magazine articles that are related somehow to the play. Write a brief synopsis of the article and explain how it connects to the play. Each of our synopsis/explanation papers must be at least a page and a half long. They are each worth twenty points each. Submit the articles together with your papers.
   
3. Have an intellectual discussion with at least three of your classmates (45 Points): Call each other and set it up. Meet at a coffee shop somewhere. You must all wear black turtlenecks, black pants, black shoes, and act in a snobby intellectual fashion. Discuss the following topics as they relate to the play: What does it mean to be human? Compare and contrast the philosophy of Domin to that of Alquist (they are both characters in the play). Which one do you agree with more? What is Helena’s role in the play, essentially? Provide a feminist critique. Why was this play an international hit when it was first produced in the 1920’s? Why is this play, more than 80 years old, relevant now more than ever? Why was the play “ahead of its time” scientifically speaking? What new environmental education concepts/issues does this play introduce for your senior year? Please discuss all of the topics, and document your meeting by taking pictures of yourselves and writing down detailed notes of your conversation. Record yourselves if you have to. Pictures and notes must be submitted in order to get credit. Please finish the play first, before doing this assignment.
   
4. A four-page essay on Rossum’s Universal Robots, double-spaced, 12 point font (70 Points). Think about the discussion topics above. Pick one, or combine two or several and write a four-page essay. These are all discussion questions, so the thesis of your paper should articulate how you think the play answers the particular question(s) you chose based on your interpretations. Be sure to use quotes from the play, and cite any outside sources.
   
5. Extra Credit (up to 50 points): Have another intellectual conversation with at least three other classmates while you are writing your papers. Choose a different coffee house and this time, wear bandannas, baggy jeans, traditional emblems and/or accessories, and act like you’re down for the Revolution (or at least some spoken word). Help each other out with your papers. Discuss your papers one by one. Again, you must take pictures and copious notes
   

Good Luck! Have Fun! E-mail us if you have any questions! We will miss you!