This is a suggested teaching schedule for a 10 day class study of Henry James's Washington Square. Lesson plans and handouts can be downloaded individually by clicking on the name of the file in the schedule below. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view these files.
Audio Guide CDs are available only for the communities participating in The Big Read. If your community is participating, contact the lead community organization to receive a free Audio Guide CD. Non-participating communities can listen to the full audio online.
Day One
FOCUS: Biography
Day One Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Listen to The Big Read Audio Guide. Discuss Reader’s Guide essays. Write an essay on a place from childhood and describe the mood it evokes.
Homework: Read Chapters 1–5. Consider
the descriptions of the female characters in
the first five chapters. Write a one-paragraph
description of the life of an upper-class
woman in the 1850s.
Day Two
FOCUS: Culture and History
Day Two Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Read Teacher's Guide Handout
One. Discuss the roles of women in the
mid-nineteenth century and Catherine's
unconventional behavior. Write an essay on
how women's roles have changed.
Homework: Read Chapters 6–10 and
Handout Two. Find three examples of
instances when the narrator makes a
personal judgment about one of the
characters.
Day Three
FOCUS: Narrative and Point of View
Day Three Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Read Handout Two. Discuss the
ways marriage is treated and the narrator’s
description of the characters. Write an essay
exploring the narrator’s perspective.
Homework: Read Chapters 11–15. Write a
character summary in firstperson.
Day Four
FOCUS: Characters
Day Four Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Read the “Major Characters” essay
from the Reader’s Guide and Teacher’s Guide
Handout Three. Read character summaries
from the students’ homework aloud. Write
an essay considering whether Catherine is
heroic.
Homework: Read Chapters 16–19..
Day Five
FOCUS: Figurative Language
Day Five Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss James’s use of imagery.
Write a short analysis of a particularly vivid
scene.
Homework: Read Chapters 20–24. Consider
how Catherine and Dr. Sloper are affected by
their surroundings while in the Swiss Alps.
Day Six
FOCUS: Symbols
Day Six Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Explore the ways setting is used
symbolically within the novel. Discuss the
ways the setting in the Swiss Alps affects
Catherine and Dr. Sloper. Write an essay
considering whether Dr. Sloper intentionally
chose the mountain pass to frighten
Catherine.
Homework: Read Chapters 25–29. Review
character summaries from Lesson Four.
Using third-person point of view, write a
two-paragraph essay considering how the
character they were assigned in Lesson 3 has
evolved.
Day Seven
FOCUS: Character Development
Day Seven Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Read the character summaries.
Discuss the ways each character has or
has not changed. Write a letter from
one character to another exploring the
relationship between the two.
Homework: Read Chapters 30–31. Identify
the two most important turning points in the
novel thus far.
Day Eight
FOCUS: The Plot Unfolds
Day Eight Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Map a timeline. Write a two-page
ending to the novel.
Homework: Read Chapters 32–35. Identify
three themes from the novel and find a quote
from the text to support each theme.
Day Nine
FOCUS: Themes of the Novel
Day Nine Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss as a class or have students
write short essays exploring betrayal, greed,
revenge, or themes they identified during the
previous night’s homework.
Homework: Begin writing essays.
Day Ten
FOCUS: What Makes a Book Great?
Day Ten Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Examine Joseph Conrad’s praise of
Henry James. Discuss the qualities of a great
book. Write a short, personal response to
Washington Square.
Homework: Complete essays.
Handouts
Handout 1: The Early Women's Rights Movement [PDF]
Handout 2: Marriage in Washington Square by Cynthia Ozick [PDF]
Handout 3: Realism and Henry James [PDF]
