ENGL341: AMERICAN
LITERATURE
FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO WORLD WAR II
SPRING 2005
Joan DelFattore
Class hours: MWF 10:10-11:00
302-831-2987 (office)
E-mail: jdel@udel.edu
737-7124 (home and fax)
Office hours: Mon 1:30-3, 5-6;
Homepage:www.english.udel.edu/jdel
Wed. 1:30-3; Fri. 3-4
COURSE GOALS
Participants in this course will:
* Read fiction, poetry, drama, essays, letters, speeches, and journals
written in America
between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries;
* Explain how the authors’ use of such devices as setting, tone, narrative
viewpoint, and
imagery contribute to the overall meaning and effect of
the literature;
* Examine the varying ways in which these works address the themes
of political and
personal liberty, the American Dream, and varying concepts
of social justice;
* Compare and contrast the treatment of these themes in literature
written by authors of
different ethnic, religious, and racial backgrounds;
* Place the modern treatment of these themes in the context of literature
written during
earlier and later periods of American history;
* Independently research and analyze novels, films, and Supreme Court
cases and
present the results orally and in writing;
* Engage in independent research and present the results orally and
in writing.
TEXTS IN THE ORDER USED IN CLASS
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn
Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey into Night
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie
Arthur Miller, The Crucible
Reginald Rose, Twelve Angry Men
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Each student will read one book from each pair of texts:
Richard Wright, Black Boy
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Ira Levin, This Perfect Day
George Orwell, 1984
Students will watch the following films as homework assignments:
The Graduate
A Clockwork Orange
Both films are available in the Media Department in the basement of Morris
Library, but they cannot be checked out; they have to be viewed there.
You may prefer to rent these films from a videostore and watch them in comfort,
but remember that more than thirty other students will be looking for the
same film at about the same time. If you’re going to be traveling to
other areas, even as close as Wilmington or Middletown, you might want to
look for the films there instead of depending on the handful of videostores
in Newark. Students who know each other might want to arrange to watch
the film together or pass it around among you. If you can’t rent the
film, you can always watch it in Morris Library. Just don’t leave it
until the last minute.
Class assignments also include short readings from the Internet and independent
online research.
TECHNOLOGY
Students must have an active e-mail account and check it regularly.
You will also be expected to access information online and print it out.
Students who do not have your own computers, printers, and Internet access
are welcome to use any of the equipment on site. If any student does
not know how to do Internet research, please see me. Questions about
activating e-mail accounts or gaining access to the UD library databases
from off-campus should be addressed to the computer hotline at 302-831-6000.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
Short Version: If I’m here, you’re here.
Students will lose three points for each unexcused absence, and absences
will be excused only in cases of serious illness or family emergencies.
Car trouble, arguments with significant others, hangovers, social events,
ennui, the need to catch up on work or sleep, appearances on the Jerry Springer
Show, or abduction by creatures from another planet are not justifications
for excused absences. (Students may argue that the last two are redundant.)
Arriving late and leaving early are not options except under unusual circumstances.
Students who miss in-class written work will not be permitted to make it
up unless arrangements have been made in advance.
ACADEMIC HONESTY
The university’s academic honesty policy, which appears at http://www.udel.edu/stuguide/04-05/code.html#honesty,
will be enforced in this course. If any student plagiarizes all or
part of any assignment from online or print sources or from another student’s
work, it will be reported to the Office of Judicial Affairs; see http://www.udel.edu/judicialaffairs/
for the procedure.
GRADING
Short paper and panel presentation on online slave narratives
5 points
Short paper and panel presentation on McCarthyism, Salem
witch trials, or modern witch hunts:
5 points
Short paper and panel on Black Boy or Grapes of Wrath
5 points
Short paper and panel on Supreme Court cases on race:
5 points
Short paper and panel on 1984 or This Perfect Day:
5 points
Research paper:
25 points
Ten unannounced quizzes @ 5 points each. The quizzes will
be taken from the discussion questions that accompany each
assignment on the syllabus. If you’re prepared to discuss those
questions, you’ll ace the test:
50 points
Final grade: 96-100 = A, 90-95 = A-, 87-89 = B+, 83-86 = B, 80-82 =
B-, 77-79 = C+,
73-76 = C, 70-72 = C-, 67-69 = D+, 63-66 = D, 60-62 = D-, 0-59 = F
Note: Points will be deducted if oral presentations are not prepared
or if written work is not turned in on time. Extensions will be given
only for the reasons listed under excused absences. It is true that
problems may arise on the day an assignment is due (computer failures, etc.),
but the student is responsible for his/her decision to wait until then to
write or print it.
SCHEDULE
Wed., Feb. 9: Introduction to the course
Assignment for next class: Go to http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/, where
you
will find a variety of slave narratives and background historical information
compiled by scholars at the University of North Carolina. For approximately
an hour, click on any links that interest you and take notes on the information
you find. These notes should be typed in complete sentences whose spelling
and grammar are recognizably those of the English language. The notes
can be presented in paragraph form or as a list.
Fri., Feb. 11: Discussion of the slave narratives and historical information
found at
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/.
Introduction to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
Assignment for next class: Read Frederick Douglass, Narrative of
the Life of
Frederick Douglass at
http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/douglass/duglas11.txt.
Be prepared to
discuss the ways in which the book treats family relationships, personal
friendships, education, and religion.
Mon., Feb. 14: Discussion of Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass
Assignment: Read Huckleberry Finn.
Entire book is due Feb. 21.
Wed., Feb. 16: Documentary: “Found Voices: The Slave Narratives”
Comparison
and contrast among the documentary, the online material, and the
Douglass text
Assignment:
Read Huckleberry Finn. Entire book is due Feb. 21.
Fri., Feb. 18: Excerpts from the 1915 D.W. Griffiths film, Birth
of a Nation
Analysis of the attitudes depicted in the film and the techniques used to
present them
Comparison and contrast of the film clips with “Found Voices,” the online
material on slavery, and the Douglass autobiography in terms of content,
ideology, and technique. Does the medium matter?
Assignment
for next class: Read Huckleberry Finn. Entire book is
due Feb. 21.
Be prepared to discuss the characters and plot of the novel. Overall,
does Twain deserve his reputation for drawing complex, humorous, poignant
characters? Other than Huck and Jim, who are the three best-developed,
most interesting characters in the book? Why? What are the three
best-written, best-developed scenes in the book? Why? What different
concepts of freedom are depicted by means of the characters and situations?
Mon., Feb. 21: Discussion of Huckleberry Finn with respect to
character and plot.
Twain wrote this novel in segments over several years. Does it hang
together? Do the characters remain consistent throughout? How
does the structure of the story help to convey the ideas of the book?
What are the ideas of the book? Okay, slavery is bad. And?
So? What else does “freedom” mean here?
Assignment for next class: Look up a definition of a literary symbol
in a dictionary of literary terms, either hard copy or online. Copy
the definition down and bring it to class on Wednesday. (I know you
think you know what it is, but look it up anyway. Humor me.)
Using the definition you found, identify one symbol in the first third of
the novel, one in the middle third, and one in the last third. Be prepared
to explain how those symbols help to convey the meaning of the book.
Wed. Feb. 23: Discussion of Huckleberry Finn with respect to
symbolism and tone.
Does the tone remain constant throughout the different segments? If
not, how
does it change? What techniques does Twain use to convey tone and mood?
How do the symbols contribute to the expression of meaning and feeling?
Assignment for
next class: Read Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience”
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Thoreau/CivilDisobedience.html.
What is Thoreau’s concept of freedom? Are his ideas workable?
Would you want to live in a country where his ideas prevailed? How
does he convey his ideas and evoke the emotions he considers appropriate?
What emotions are those?
Read e.e.
cummings, “i sing of olaf”
http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?prmID=1190.
What does each stanza of this poem say? Who is the main character –
not his name, which is obviously “Olaf,” but who he is? What is he
fighting against? What is cummings’ use of profanity, obscenity, and
scatology (don’t ask me, look it up) supposed to convey? How do those
words make you feel – do they belong in a poem? Is a poem supposed
to be about roses and daffodils and not scatology? (I told you to look
it up.) Is this poem offensive? If so, is it okay that it’s offensive?
Why or why not?
Fri., Feb. 25: Discussion of Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience”
Discussion of “i sing of olaf”
How does
the “white guy” literature on freedom (Twain, Thoreau, cummings)
compare with the online slave narratives and the Douglass biography?
Are different things emphasized? Are ideas conveyed in a different
way?
Assignment for next class: Read Susan B. Anthony,
“Is It a Crime to Vote?”
http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/resources/index.html.
Yes, I know, she does go on a bit. They did that
in the nineteenth century.
Sorting through all that, identify three of the reasons Anthony gives for
arguing that she should be able to vote. And please, don’t everyone
choose the first three, as that will make for a very boring class discussion
on Monday. What evidence does she present to prove her case?
What emotions does she convey? How does she use language to convey
those emotions?
Read the
sentencing of Susan B. Anthony for the crime of voting
http://search.eb.com/women/pri/Q00170.html
How do Anthony’s remarks to the judge compare with Thoreau’s
ideas of
freedom?
How do you interpret the judge’s mood and the words he used in
response
to her? How many drinks do you think he had when he got home?
Bring "Civil Disobedience" to the next class.
Mon., Feb. 28: Discussion of Susan B. Anthony’s speech and sentencing
hearing. What
are the main freedoms she seeks? Why does she think women are entitled
to them? What are the obstacles to those freedoms? (“Men” is not a
reasonable answer. Some kinds of men, yes. Which kinds?
What were they doing?) How does Anthony’s use of language resemble
and differ from Thoreau’s?
Assignment for March 4: Read Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow
Wall-Paper” http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/wallpaper.html.
Why doesn’t the main character have a name? If her husband were called
upon to explain his actions, what would he say? Why is the story named
for the wallpaper? Why does it matter that it’s yellow? What
room is the main character given? Why is that significant? When
does she first start giving evidence of losing her mind? What evidence?
Why is she losing it?
Wed., March 2: No class – instructor at a conference
Fri., March 4: Discussion of “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” What kinds
of freedom are
being discussed here? How does this treatment of freedom compare and
contrast with the earlier readings in this course? How does Gilman
use diction and symbolism to convey ideas and mood?
Introduction to the theme of opportunity.
Assignment for next class: Read or watch Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s
Journey into Night. In our discussion of “The Yellow Wall-Paper,”
we began moving from political to personal freedom. How do the various
characters in the play define freedom? What obstacles prevent them
from achieving it? How does O’Neill interweave the themes of freedom
and opportunity?
Mon., March 7: Discussion of Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey
into Night. How
does O’Neill use the interplay of the characters to convey his ideas?
What ideas are those? In expressing his ideas, he uses diction, visual
impressions, sounds, and symbolism. Find examples of all three and
be prepared to explain what ideas he’s expressing by those means and how
he does it.
Assignment: Read F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
Entire novel due March 14.
Wed., March 9: Film clips from Sidney Lumet’s 1962 film version of
Long Day’s
Journey (Ralph Richardson, Katharine Hepburn).
Analysis of the use of visual
imagery, language, sound, and symbol to convey the meaning
of the play. Does
medium matter?
Assignment: Read F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
Entire novel due March 14.
Fri., March 11: Videotaped documentaries: Psychiatric interviews
with two alcoholic
patients at the University of Southern California clinic. How do the
experiences of the real-life alcoholics compare and contrast with those of
the characters in O’Neill’s play? What is being said in these tapes
about freedom and opportunity, and personal and internal (as opposed to political
or external) threats to them? Compare and contrast the real-life expression
of these ideas with the literary expression. Why is it “literature”
when O’Neill’s characters express certain ideas, but not when similar ideas
are expressed in the psychiatric interviews? What is “literature”?
Assignment for next class: Read F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
Compare and contrast the use of alcohol as a symbol and an element of plot
in Long Day’s Journey and Gatsby. With what personal
and social qualities is alcohol associated in each book? The use of
alcohol may seem like a small point in itself, but what does its use in terms
of characterization, plot, and symbolism tell you about the kinds of people
being described and about what the author thinks is important? Do you
like these people? Why or why not? Does Fitzgerald mean you to
like them? What makes you think so (or not)? What is this book
about? (Yes, I know, it’s about 250 pages. Get serious.)
Mon., March 14: Discussion of F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great
Gatsby. How does Nick
function as a narrator? How does he compare with Huck Finn and the
unnamed narrator of “The Yellow Wall-Paper”? What are his characteristics
as a narrator, and how do those affect the way the novel is presented?
What do we know about Jay Gatsby? About Daisy? About the other characters?
Why is the book called The Great Gatsby?
Wed., March 16: Discussion of The Great Gatsby. This novel
is often discussed in terms
of the American Dream. What does that mean? What values are being
presented here? How does Fitzgerald use language, symbolism, sound,
and color to convey his ideas? Do you agree with him?
Assignment for next class: Watch the film, The
Graduate. How does it resemble
and differ from Gatsby? How is the American Dream defined in
the film? How is it conveyed? Do any of the characters achieve
it?
Bring Gatsby to Friday’s class.
Fri., March 18: Discussion of The Graduate. Is this film
just a retelling of Gatsby, or is
it something else? How do you know?
Film clip
of the scene from The Graduate in which Ben stays in the swimming
pool. Re-reading of the death scene in Gatsby, in which the
main character is also inert in a swimming pool. What do the two immersions
mean? Why is it significant that one occurs at the beginning of the
narrative and the other at the end? How is a domestic swimming pool
used as a symbol in each instance? What do the similarities and differences
between the two treatments tell you about what a symbol is and how it’s used
in literature? How does this insight apply to the symbolism we’ve seen
in other literature? How do film and print compare with respect to
the way the respective swimming pool scenes work?
Assignment for next class: Read or watch Tennessee Williams, The
Glass Menagerie. It’s obvious what the title refers to, but why
is that important enough to name the play after it? How does this play
compare and contrast with Long Day’s Journey, Gatsby, and The
Graduate with respect to its treatment of opportunity and the American
Dream? What’s the difference between the “American Dream” and the personal
aspirations of the various characters? How is freedom limited in this
play? What are the obstacles that prevent the characters from achieving
what they want?
Mon., March 21: Discussion of The Glass Menagerie. What
role do memory and the
past play here? How does Williams’ treatment of those themes compare
and contrast with those in Long Day’s Journey, Gatsby, and
The Graduate? What does that have to do with the notion of personal
freedom and opportunity?
Introduction to the theme of justice.
Assignment for next class: Read Arthur Miller, The Crucible.
Miller wrote this play in response to the anti-Communist activies of Senator
Joseph McCarthy, which Miller compared to a witch hunt. What are the
characteristics of a witch hunt as Miller defines it? As you read the
play, what elements of human nature – what characteristics of the human soul,
if you will – underlie this “witch hunt” behavior?
April 4: Discussion of Arthur Miller, The Crucible. Who
is chiefly responsible for the
witch hunt? (Don’t answer too fast – there are several possibilities.)
How does this responsibility compare with James Tyrone’s responsibility for
his family’s unhappiness in Long Day’s Journey or Amanda’s responsibility
for her children’s problems in The Glass Menagerie? What does
responsibility have to do with the notion of justice? The injustices
in The Crucible are glaringly obvious, but is there any sense in which
justice is served?
Assignment for next class: Do the assignment for which you signed up.
1. Go to Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, The Salem Witch Trials
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/transcripts.html.
This site
contains original court transcripts and other material from the Salem trials,
which Miller used as a primary source for The Crucible. The material
appears
in three volumes organized alphabetically by the name of the accused person.
Choose any real-life accused person who appears as a character in the play.
Read whatever material appears under that person’s name. In some instances,
there may be very short documents that don’t seem to make much sense; feel
free to skip those. Some of the materials are fragmentary, and the
type of
material presented varies with the different characters. Insofar as
you can,
answer the following questions in approximately two double-spaced pages:
* Specifically
what was the accused person supposed to have done – e.g.,
killed someone’s cow, bewitched their crops, pinched them, or what?
* What evidence
was offered in support of those allegations?
* What defense
or reply (if any) did the accused offer?
* As far as
you can tell from your answers to the first three questions,
what was the nature of truth as defined by the witchcraft court? To
put it
another way, what was the standard of evidence needed for conviction?
* What use did
Miller make of his source material in writing The Crucible?
What did he retain,
what did he condense or adapt, what did he change
outright? Why? What does his use of his real-life source material
suggest about his literary and, perhaps, political aims?
* What
was your personal reaction to this material? What were you
saying to yourself
as you read it?
This next part is not required,
but if you’re interested, the official
Salem town website, http://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.htm,
includes pictures of many
of the places mentioned in The Crucible
and the witch trials.
More scholarly information may be found at
http://womenshistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ogram.org%2F17thc%2Fmather_gb.shtml.
2. Spend at least an hour using a web browser (Google,
Yahoo!, Dogpile, etc.) to
research
Senator Joseph McCarthy. Make notes on the information you find
and then type approximately two double-spaced pages summarizing what you
learned. Be sure that you can identify Roy Cohn, David Schine, Ethel
and Julius Rosenberg, and the Hollywood Ten.
3. Spend at least an hour using a web browser (Google, Yahoo!, Dogpile,
etc.) to research the keywords “Wenatchee witch hunt.”
Then type approximately two double-spaced pages summarizing what you learned.
Be sure to explain who the witch hunters were, who the accused were, and
what the alleged crimes were. Since this is called a witch hunt, obviously
the implication is that justice was not served. In what way was that
true?
April 6: Discussion of the research reports on the real-life Salem
witch trials, the
McCarthy investigations, the Wenatchee incident,
and Brandi Blackbear. What
are the common elements in all these cases and in The Crucible that define
what a witch hunt is? Recall question: what did Miller say about
human nature with respect to the tendency to engage in this behavior?
How did he convey those ideas, and why is that treatment considered literature,
whereas the trial transcripts and other research materials aren’t?
Assignment: Read John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (due April
15) or
Richard Wright, Black Boy (due April 18).
April 8: Videotape: Edward R. Murrow, Report on Senator Joseph
R. McCarthy
Discussion of the nature of truth, the rules of evidence, and the art of
persuasion
in the McCarthy hearings. Compare and
contrast with The Crucible, the Salem
witch trials, and the Wenatchee incident.
How does the concept of justice
shown in the McCarthy hearings resemble and differ from the way justice is
presented in those other materials? Of these works, only The Crucible
is
considered literature; real-life Salem witch trials, the McCarthy material,
and the Wenatchee information are not. Going back to the last class
discussion, why not? If all the works are talking about essentially
the same ideas, what makes one work literature and the others not?
Assignment: Read John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (due April
18) or
Richard Wright, Black Boy (due April 20).
April 11: Documentary: Oklahoma parole hearing
Was the hearing just? Why or why not? What was conveyed through
this
medium that might not have come through in print? If you were trying
to
convey the same ideas and emotions using only words, how would you do it?
Continued discussion of the nature of truth, the rules of evidence, and the
art of
persuasion. Compare and contrast with the McCarthy hearings, The
Crucible,
the Salem witch trials, and the Wenatchee incident.
Assignment for next class: Read Reginald Rose, Twelve Angry Men.
What
are they angry about? Why
are they all men? How is justice defined in this
play?
April 13: Discussion of Reginald Rose, Twelve Angry Men.
How important are the
stakes that are at risk in this play compared with
those in other works we’ve
studied? What is the fundamental nature of
justice as represented here? Do
you agree with it?
Assignment: Read John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (due April
15) or
Richard Wright, Black Boy (due April 18).
April 15: Film clip from Twelve Angry Men. Is this depiction
true to the play as you
envisioned it? Why or why not? What does your
reaction to the film tell you
about the way you interpreted the play?
Assignment for next class: Read John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
(due
April 15) or Richard Wright, Black Boy (due April 18). Type
approximately three pages, double-spaced, answering the following questions
about the book you read:
1. What is the significance of the
book’s title?
2. Identify two main characters in
the novel. Is each of them free? Why or
why not? Give specific examples from the novel.
3. What kinds of opportunities does
each of the two characters have? Give
examples from the novel.
4. Is life fair to the two characters?
Why or why not?
5. What is the main point of the novel?
What does it mean? Why is it
important?
April 18: Students who read Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath, conduct
the class based on the
discussion questions you answered in
your papers.
Assignment due April 25: Read the case you signed up for:
Dred Scott
v. Sandford http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/21.htm
(whether a slave who is brought into free territory may be returned to slavery)
Plessy v.
Ferguson http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/33.htm
(whether racial segregation – so-called “separate but equal” treatment –
is
legal)
Gebhart v.
Belton (Delaware Supreme Court):
http://www.english.udel.edu/jdel/gebhartvbelton.html
(Delaware’s case about
school desegregation)
Brown v.
Board http://www.nps.gov/brvb/pages/decision54.htm
(combined four
lawsuits about school desegregation, including Delaware’s Gebhart v. Belton)
Answer the following
questions in approximately two double-spaced typed pages:
What were the facts of the case? Who sued, and why?
What did the court say?
What were the three most important reasons for the ruling?
Did any Justices concur? What did they say?
Did any Justices dissent? What did they say?
April 20: Clips from the 1940 John Ford film version of The Grapes
of Wrath. In
comparison with the print version,
how does the use of visual imagery, music,
and other film effects change
or enhance the way the scene plays out?
Re-reading of the text version of each film scene shown. What does
the
language convey that the film,
that uses or adapts only the dialogue, does not?
Assignment for next class: Students who read Black Boy will
conduct the
class. All students:
Work on the Supreme Court decision due on April 25.
April 22: Students who read Richard Wright, Black Boy, conduct
the class based on the
discussion questions you answered in
your papers.
Assignment for next class: Finish the Supreme Court assignment given
on
April 18 and due tomorrow.
April 25: Small group work to prepare discussions of each court case.
Students who read each of the four Supreme Court decisions on race conduct
the discussion of Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson,
Gebhart v.
Belton, or Brown v. Board of Education based on the discussion
questions you
answered.
Introduction to the theme of intellectual freedom.
Assignment: Read Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, due May
2.
April 27: Audiotape: Supreme Court oral argument in Cooper
v. Aaron (excerpts)
Documentary: Ten Years After Brown, part 1. How was justice
served in the
cases discussed here? How
is justice even defined? What are the obstacles to
justice, both external and internal?
Assignment: Read Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, due May 2.
April 29: Ten Years after Brown part 2. How does this
concept of justice resemble and
differ from the way justice is presented
in The Crucible, The Grapes of Wrath,
Black Boy, and Twelve Angry Men? The
latter four works are considered
literature, whereas the Supreme Court decisions, the taped oral argument,
and
the television documentary are not. Why not? If the works are
all talking
about the same ideas, what makes one set literature and the other not?
Assignment for next class: Read Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451.
What are the
characteristics of Bradbury’s fictional
world? How would you describe it?
What specific scenes, dialogue, or symbols cause you to reach these conclusions
about what this world is like? Are there elements in this world that
resemble our own? That is, is Bradbury’s world different from ours
in kind or merely in degree?
May 2: Discussion of Fahrenheit 451. How is intellectual
freedom defined in this
novel? How does Bradbury’s treatment of that theme compare and contrast
with Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Susan B. Anthony’s “Is It a Crime
to Vote?” How does this novel’s theme of being hunted for one’s ideas
compare and contrast with the pursuits in Huckleberry Finn, The
Crucible, the McCarthy trials, the real-life Salem trials, and the Wenatchee
incident?
Assignment for next class: Read Joan DelFattore, “Textbook Controversies”
http://www.english.udel.edu/jdel/textbooks.html.
Are challenges to instructional materials necessarily censorship attempts?
What is the difference between censorship and legitimate selection?
May 4: Discussion of "Textbook Controversies." How does thought
on the ideological
content of instructional materials appear to be evolving? How does
the
political context of this issue appear to be evolving? How do the
ideological disputes over instructional materials reflect broader social
issues and conflicts, and what makes elementary and secondary school
textbooks the perfect battleground for them? Who wants intellectual
freedom, how do they define it, and what are the obstacles to it?
In-class reading and discussion of Heather Has Two Mommies, Daddy's
Roommate, and Nappy Hair.
Discussion of final papers. Students sign up to present their final
papers either
on May 16 or May 18. Suggestion: be particularly careful about
monitoring your UD e-mail account because as individual students ask
questions about the papers, I’ll send the answers to the whole class in case
anyone else needs that information.
Assignment: Read George Orwell, 1984 (due May 11) or Ira Levin,
This
Perfect Day (due May 13).
May 6: Documentary: Censorship in Our Schools.
Assignment for next class: Watch Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film version
of A Clockwork Orange, based on the novel by Anthony Burgess.
(Warning: the theme of the story has to do with social reactions to
extreme violence, which means that extreme violence and sexuality are portrayed
as a necessary part of the story line. Use common sense about watching
this film anywhere near small children or any adults who may be prone to
hyperventilation.) Obvious question: what’s the significance
of the title? What does this film have to do with intellectual freedom?
What fears about the future does it suggest?
Assignment:
Read George Orwell, 1984 (due May 11) or Ira Levin, This
Perfect
Day (due May 13).
May 9: Discussion of A Clockwork Orange, including detailed
discussion of a few film
clips. How does Kubrick manipulate the viewer’s reactions to Alex?
Why is that
necessary for the sense of the film? Was the treatment Alex received
justified?
Why or why not? What does the film suggest about our sense of
justice? How
does it relate to vengeance? Did justice prevail, in the end,
in the film?
Assignment: Read George Orwell, 1984 (due tomorrow) or Ira Levin,
This
Perfect Day (due May 13). In approximately three typed, double-spaced
pages,
answer the following questions about the novel you read:
1. Briefly describe the world of this novel. Who is in charge?
How did
they get to be in charge? By what means do they maintain their power?
2. What does it take to achieve intellectual freedom in this novel?
How is
intellectual freedom defined -- as the ability to do what?
3. What restrictions are placed on intellectual freedom? Why?
4. What does this novel say about human nature? As a species,
what do we
seek? What do we fear?
May 11: Students who read George Orwell, 1984, conduct the class
according to the
discussion questions you answered.
Assignment: Students who read This Perfect Day should be prepared
to
conduct class tomorrow. All students: Work on final papers.
May 13: Students who read Ira Levin, This Perfect Day, conduct
the class according to
the discussion questions you answered.
Assignment: Work on final papers.
May 16: Completed papers are due today. The papers must be typed
and in final form;
rough drafts are unacceptable.
If the paper is less than complete, two to four
points will be deducted from the final
score for lateness depending on how
close to finished the manuscript is.
Using a peer editing form, students will
work in pairs to evaluate each other’s
work. Each student will assess at least
two other students’ work and have yours assessed by at least two other
students.
Assignment: Go over the peer review forms filled by two other students.
Make
the changes you consider appropriate and write a brief explanation (two or
three
sentences) explaining why you decided not to make other suggested changes.
May 18: Revised final papers due today.
PAPER TOPICS
Choose one of the following four options:
Option 1: Using five online and/or print sources, find out as much
as you can about the censorship or attempted censorship of Huckleberry
Finn going back no more than twenty-five years. If you prefer,
you can concentrate on more recent challenges; just don’t go back before
the 1980s. Then write approximately five pages summarizing the information
you found. For the rest of your seven-page paper, respond to the following
prompt:
First, decide whether you are a librarian, a teacher,
or a college professor. Then imagine that some local activists come
to you and demand that you remove Huckleberry Finn from your collection,
curriculum, or reading list. Decide who the activists are and what
they object to. Feel free to give them names if you like. Explain
these decisions in a paragraph: I am a [whatever], and activists who
don’t like [whatever] are asking me to remove Huckleberry Finn.
The description of why the activists don’t like Huckleberry Finn should
be at least a few sentences long and should include examples of scenes or
language from the book that they find offensive. Then write a dialogue
between yourself and the activists – or if you prefer, you can argue with
just one spokesperson for the group – in which you either defend the book
or agree to their demands. Your reasons for taking your stand should
be clearly stated and should include examples from the novel.
Option 2: Using five online and/or print sources, research either the
real-life Salem witch trials or the activities of the House Un-American Activities
Committee. Write approximately five pages summarizing the information
you found. For the rest of your seven-page paper, respond to the following
prompt:
You have taken a summer job as a student assistant with
the Office of International Affairs, and you are assigned to work with a
group of ten Chinese undergraduate students from the University of Beijing
who are spending two months at the University of Delaware. They all
speak English perfectly, so you don’t have to worry about language difficulties.
A history professor has taught them about the events you researched – the
witch trials or the HUAC investigations. They have also read any two
of the following literary works (your choice): The Narrative of
the Life of Frederick Douglass, “Civil Disobedience,” “The Yellow Wall-paper,”
Huckleberry Finn, and The Crucible. Your job is to use
all these sources – the historical research and the two literary works –
as a springboard for conducting a debate with the Chinese students about
whether America deserves to be called “the land of the free.” Feel
free to be as creative as you like – give the Chinese students names, write
these pages as a dialogue, get into arguments with the students, etc.
Just be sure that you stay focused on the historical research and on the
two literary works you chose, and that you explain how these materials relate
to the concept of freedom in America.
Option 3: Using two online and/or print sources for one author and
three for the other, find out as much as you can about any two of the following:
Eugene O’Neill, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Tennessee Williams. Write
approximately five pages summarizing what you found and explaining how the
biography of the writer improves your understanding of the play we read.
For the rest of your seven-page paper, respond to the following prompt:
The two authors you selected are sitting together in a
bar that’s located in heaven, hell, or the past – your choice. Be as
creative as you like in establishing the setting. The two of them get
into an argument about who did a better job of showing how people limit their
own freedom and prevent themselves from achieving their goals. They
argue about whose work has more depth, uses symbolism better, etc.
Using the biographical information you found and specific examples from the
literary works we read by those authors, write that argument. Be sure
that it’s clear which of them you think wins the argument: who did
do a better job?
Option 4: Use a total of five online and/or print sources to find the
information required in this paper. First, find out as much as you
can about who Ray Bradbury is and why he wrote Fahrenheit 451.
Then do the same with respect to the author of the other dystopia you read
(either George Orwell or Ira Levin). What historical and social events influenced
each author? What made him mad? What events in his life predisposed
him to express the ideas he did? Write approximately five pages summarizing
the biographical information you found and explaining how it relates to the
novels. For the rest of your seven-page paper, respond to the following
prompt:
You are walking along South College Avenue late on a Saturday
night, minding your own business, when a spaceship lands in front of you
and six very large purple aliens come scrambling out of it. They scoop
you up and whisk you to another planetary system, where scientists whose
knowledge is advanced beyond our wildest dreams are conducting experiments
on primitive terrestrial life forms – which, in this case, means you.
They plan to find out how a humanoid would respond to a high-stress social
condition, and they give you a choice between spending ten years in a world
that looks very much like 1984 or This Perfect Day (whichever
you read) or spending that time in the world of Fahrenheit 451.
You can’t make up your mind at first, so you talk it over with the large
purple lab assistant who feeds you and cleans out your cage. Using
the information you found about what the author of each work was trying to
convey, together with specific examples from the novels, write a dialogue
between yourself and the alien exploring what each world means, what it’s
like to live there, and why. Then decide which one you’d prefer and
tell the alien why. Be sure to talk nicely to him or he’ll eat you.
Criteria for Paper Grading
1. The paper must address one of the options listed here
unless you had advance approval to write about something else.
2. The paper must include all the elements listed in the
topic. As an example, if the option you chose requires you to explain
how the new material you learned about while writing the paper fits in with
the material we read for class, make sure that your paper does this.
3. All factual statements must be accurate.
4. All assertions, arguments, and interpretations must
be clearly based on the required research materials and literary works.
Be sure to include examples, quotations, and other references to the source
material. Do not use the overall topic of the decision as a springboard
for a lengthy statement of personal views that are only tangentially or generically
related to the material you are supposed to be analyzing.
5. It does not matter whether your viewpoints coincide
with mine. I have given As to papers with which I disagreed and Ds
to papers with which I agreed; the relevant question is how well the paper
meets the standards listed here.
6. The paper should be written in correct English – spelling,
punctuation, subject/verb agreement, etc. If this has been a problem
for you in the past, I strongly recommend setting up an appointment to have
someone in the Writing Center review your final draft.
7. Look again at the Academic Honesty section of the syllabus.
No kidding.
8. Use footnotes or endnotes to cite your sources and provide a Works
Cited page.
Citations should follow the MLA style sheet, available
at
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/MLAstyle.pdf.
If you scroll down almost to the bottom of this style sheet, you’ll find
information on how to cite online sources, but it might not fit every kind
of website you use. Just come as close as you can to the format shown
here, and be sure to include an accurate url because I do sometimes look
at those sites.
.