ENGL 480/680
STUDIES IN LITERATURE, HISTORY AND LAW
WINTER 2004
Joan DelFattore
Class hours: MW 5-9
062 Memorial Hall
Office hours: By appointment any day
831-2987 (office)
E-mail: jdel@udel.edu
737-7124 (home and fax)
Homepage: www.english.udel.edu/jdel
DESCRIPTION
This course explores literature, lawsuits, and historical
background dealing with three major themes: challenges to literary
works for various age groups, freedom of speech, and racial equity.
Throughout the course, students will engage in online research and student-run
discussions. Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory. Grading
will be based on points given for four student-led discussions, three in-class
essays, and a final paper.
TEXTS
Those texts with a url are available online; each student should print his/her
own. The charge for printing, if any, will be much less than the cost
of either a published anthology or a course booklet made up and sold through
a bookstore or copyshop.
All students will read the following texts:
Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged
Bird Sings
Joan DelFattore, “Textbook Controversies Based on Content, Values, and
Viewpoints,” http://www.english.udel.edu/jdel/textbooks/html
George Orwell, 1984
Each student will sign up to read one of the following texts:
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
Lois Lowry, The Giver
Each student will sign up to read one of the following Supreme Court decisions:
Hustler v. Falwell
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/hustler.html
Texas v. Johnson
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/comm/free_speech/texas.html
Hurley v. Irish-American Gay Group of Boston
http://www.mit.edu/afs/athena/course/17/17.245/www/Hurley.htm
Each student will sign up to read one of the following Supreme Court decisions:
Belton v. Gebhart (Delaware Court of Chancery):
http://www.english.udel.edu/jdel/beltonvgebhart.html
Gebhart v. Belton (Delaware Supreme Court):
http://www.english.udel.edu/jdel/gebhartvbelton.html
Brown v. Board (U.S. Supreme Court, May 17, 1954):
http://www.nps.gov/brvb/pages/decision54.htm
Depending on the paper topic each student chooses, some students will read
one of the following
texts:
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Linda Brent, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American
Slave
Jung Chang, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Students will also be required to access additional information online and
print it out. Students who do not have their own computers, printers,
and Internet access are welcome to use any of the computing sites on campus.
If any student does not know how to do Internet research, please either see
me or seek help from the staff at the computing centers.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
Short Version: If I’m here, you’re here.
Long Version: The schedule for this class involves a tradeoff.
On the one hand, students receive
three credits for a class that meets only twice a week for five weeks.
On the other hand, each class meeting is four hours long, which means that
missing even one of them is comparable to missing more than a week of classes
in a regular semester. Moreover, students who miss participation points
for in-class work will not be permitted to make them up unless arrangements
have been made in advance (see Grading, below). 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.)
Moaning about the four-hour periods is optional but immature, since they
are part of an arrangement whose benefits you are also enjoying. Arriving
late and leaving early are not options except under unusual circumstances.
To avoid a lot of grief, please do not remain in this course if your work
schedule, ride home, or social life will not allow you to meet these standards.
GRADING
Written/Oral Presentations: In five of the assignments for this
course, everyone will not read the same thing; each student will sign up
in advance for his/her particular assignment. Students will then be
responsible for sharing what they have learned with the rest of the class.
Since these assignments are meant to serve as the basis for in-class activities,
papers handed in to the professor following an unexcused absence will be
eligible for only two-thirds of the possible points. Similarly, if
a student is unprepared in class, or if the contribution is inadequate, points
will be deducted. The number of points given for each student-led activity
appears in the description of that assignment on the Schedule, below. Following
the class discussion, the written work will be handed in for a grade.
Response Papers: When everyone reads the same book or the same
short pieces of literature, the class period will begin with an in-class
response paper that will become the basis for starting the class discussion.
It will also reward students who do the reading and come to class prepared
for that day’s work.
Final Papers: A listing of the options and requirements for
the final paper appears at the end of this syllabus.
Written/oral assignments (total):
40 points
Response papers (two papers @ 10 points each):
20 points
Final paper:
40 points
Final Grades: 95-100 = A, 90-94 = 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
Graduate Credit: Graduate students taking this course at the
600 level will meet with the instructor to formulate individualized plans
for additional work to qualify for graduate credit.
SCHEDULE
Please bring the assigned readings to each class.
Mon., Jan. 5: Introduction to the course
Discussion of issues involved in challenges to
literature for adult readers,
teenagers, and children
Students sign up to do online research on Heather Has Two Mommies,
Daddy’s Roommate, or Nappy Hair
Assignment for the next class:
Read “Textbook Controversies Based on Content, Values, and Viewpoints”
http://www.english.udel.edu/jdel/textbooks.html
Go to www.amazon.com. Type the
title of your assigned book in the Search
box. When the book
comes up, click on “product details.” Scroll down
the page to the editorial reviews (i.e., professional
published reviews) and then to
customer reviews. Print out any two of the editorial
reviews and any six of the customer
reviews, and come to class prepared to discuss them.
Are the professional reviews you
selected generally positive or negative? What
are the two or three main reasons for either
praise or criticism? What about the customer reviews
– do most people whose comments
you read like the book or not? What are the main
reasons they give for either liking or disliking
the book? If any of the reviews you read include
really good quotes, please mark them so you can
share them with the class. 8 points
Wed., Jan. 7: Discussion of “Textbook Controversies”
Documentary videotape: “Censorship in Our Schools”
In-class reading and discussion of Heather Has Two Mommies, Daddy’s
Roommate, and Nappy Hair
Presentation of the reviews from amazon.com
Discussion of the distinction between setting reasonable standards and censorship
Discussion of how that distinction works with respect to adults, adolescents,
and
children.
Discussion of broader issues concerning intellectual freedom and freedom
of
expression
Students sign up to read one of the following novels, all of which have intellectual
freedom as a dominant theme. Reports
on these books will be presented on
Jan. 21.
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
Lois Lowry, The Giver
Assignment for the next class: Read George Orwell, 1984
Mon., Jan. 12: In-class response paper on 1984
Discussion of 1984
Discussion of where the line should be drawn between a totalitarian, mind-
controlling state and reasonable restrictions on the expression of controversial
opinions or the acquisition of knowledge considered dangerous
Mini-lecture on how to read a court decision, definition of common legal
terms
Mini-lecture on how the Supreme Court works
Students sign up to read one of the following Supreme Court decisions:
Hustler v. Falwell (Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority,
sued Hustler
magazine for publishing a comic parody of a liquor ad in which Falwell
ostensibly talks about the first time he had sex)
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/hustler.html;
these
students should also read the introductory material at
http://www.hfac.uh.edu/comm/media_libel/cases-conflicts/print/hustler.html;
also click on “Jerry Falwell Talks About His First Time” for a view of the
parody that sparked the lawsuit
Texas v. Johnson (Gregory Johnson burned an American flag to protest
the
renomination of Ronald Reagan
for a second term as president. The State of
Texas sentenced him to a prison
term for burning the flag, and the Supreme
Court was asked to decide whether flag-burning is protected free speech under
the First Amendment.)
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/comm/free_speech/texas.html
Hurley v. Irish-American Gay Group of Boston (Irish homosexuals and
bisexuals
wanted to march as a group in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, carrying a banner
announcing their homosexual orientation. The parade’s organizing committee
refused permission, and the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether that
refusal violated the gay group’s right to free expression.
http://www.mit.edu/afs/athena/course/17/17.245/www/Hurley.htm
Assignment for the next class:
Read your assigned Supreme Court decision.
Be prepared to address the following questions:
What are the facts of the case? That is, what happened that led to
the
lawsuit? What were the main arguments on behalf of the plaintiffs?
On
behalf of the defendants?
Who won? What were the three most important reasons for the Court’s
ruling?
How many Justices (if any) dissented? What were the three most important
reasons he/she/they gave for disagreeing with the majority?
Are you happy with the outcome of this case? Why or why not?
8 points
Wed., Jan. 14: Students meet in groups to discuss how to present the
cases they read
Panel discussion of Hustler v. Falwell
Panel discussion of Texas v. Johnson
Panel discussion of Hurley v. Irish-American Gay Group
Tape(s) of Supreme Court oral arguments in one or more of these cases (class
vote)
Assignment for the next class:
Finish reading the novel you signed up for.
Be prepared to address the following questions:
What is the story line?
What is the main point of the novel? What is it about – not the plot,
but the
ideas?
How does this novel compare and contrast with 1984 in respect to the
treatment of intellectual freedom issues? Which book did you prefer?
Why?
How does this novel compare and contrast with the court decisions we’ve
discussed with respect to the treatment of intellectual freedom issues?
Do you have any theories to explain the differences and similarities that
exist between literary and legal approaches to these matters?
12 points
Mon., Jan. 19: Martin Luther King Day
Wed., Jan. 21: Students meet in groups to discuss how to present the
novels they read.
Panel discussion of Brave New World
Panel discussion of A Clockwork Orange
Panel discussion of The Giver
Introduction to racial equity as a theme in literature, history, and law
Assignment for the next class: Read I Know Why the Caged
Bird Sings
Mon., Jan. 26: In-class response paper on I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings
Discussion of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Mini-lecture/discussion on Jim Crow, “separate but equal,” the Civil Rights
movement, and desegregation
Tape of Supreme Court oral argument in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S.
(racial
desegregation of places of public accommodation), Palmer v. Thompson
(integration of public swimming pools), or Loving v. Virginia (challenge
to a
law forbidding interracial marriages) – students vote on which to hear
Students sign up to read one of the three court decisions that made up
Delaware’s part in the famous Brown v. Board school desegregation
case:
Belton v. Gebhart (Delaware Court of Chancery):
http://www.english.udel.edu/jdel/beltonvgebhart.html
Gebhart v. Belton (Delaware
Supreme Court):
http://www.english.udel.edu/jdel/gebhartvbelton.html
Brown v. Board (U.S. Supreme
Court; this decision also covers
desegregation cases from Kansas, South Carolina, and Virginia;
May 17, 1954): http://www.nps.gov/brvb/pages/decision54.htm
Assignment for the next class:
Read your assigned decision. Be prepared to answer the following questions:
What were the facts of the case? That is, what was going on in the
school,
and how did the case get to court? Who sued, and why?
What did the court say? What were the three most important reasons
for the
ruling? 10 points
Wed., Jan. 28: Students meet in groups to decide how to present the
decision they read.
Presentation on Belton v. Gebhart
Presentation on Gebhart v. Belton
Presentation on Brown v. Board of Education
Tape of Supreme Court oral argument in Cooper v. Aaron
Documentary videotape: “Ten Years After Brown”
Discussion of final papers
Assignment for next class:
Continue working on the final paper
Mon., Feb. 2: Reading day to work on the final papers (Please do not
plan to be away at this
time because if a snow day causes the cancellation of any classes, this period
will
be used to make up the missed class, and all students will be expected to
be
available to attend)
Wed., Feb. 4: Presentation of final papers
Final papers handed in
OPTIONS FOR FINAL PAPERS
Since this course is entitled “Studies in Literature,
History, and Law,” choices are offered in all three categories.
Literature
Option 1: Go to http://www.ala.org/bbooks/top100bannedbooks.html,
the American Library Association’s list of the most frequently challenged
books. Choose any book on this list that was not among the class readings.
Read the book, and then find out how and why it’s been challenged.
There are several ways to do this research, and you’re welcome to use any
method that works for you. Suggested approaches: See if the author
of the challenged book has a website; if so, it probably includes some information
about challenges to the author’s works. Be aware, of course, that this
material will not be objective; it is likely to reflect the author’s side
of the dispute. You can also go to Google, Yahoo!, etc. and search
under the title of the book. Finally, you can go to the UD library
homepage, click on Databases and then on Lexis/Nexis Academic. Click
on “News” and use keywords to find news articles dealing with challenges
to the book you’ve chosen. Don’t forget to adjust the date range, or
Lexis/Nexis will search only the last six months. If you learn from
the news articles that a particular organization has been challenging that
book, you could also check that group’s website. If you prefer
to do library research rather than online research, a good place to start
would be the American Library Association’s Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom.
Go to the periodicals room of Morris Library, read the last few issues of
that newsletter, and find out where the book in which you’re interested has
been challenged. Then follow up with newspapers from that location
(the newsletter will provide the dates you need) and other materials.
You need at least five sources for the paper – print, online, or a combination
thereof.
Before making a definite decision about which book to
select, it might save time in the long run to do a quick scan of possible
sources of information to be sure that you’re going to be able to find the
material you need. It would be very frustrating to put in the
time to read a particular book and then discover that you can find little
if anything on why it’s been challenged.
Write a short summary of the book (two to three pages),
followed by two to three pages explaining specifically why it’s been challenged.
Provide as much detail as you can about who has challenged it, where the
challenges have occurred, and so forth. Finally, write two to three
pages explaining how the material you found fits in with other things we
read in the course.
Option 2: Read either Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale
or Jung Chang’s Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China.
Write two to three pages summarizing the book, and two to three pages explaining
how it deals with issues of intellectual freedom. Then write two to
three pages explaining how it fits in with the relevant material we read
in the course.
Option 3: Read either Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass, An American Slave, by Frederick Douglass; or Incidents in
the Life of a Slave Girl, by Linda Brent (Harriet Brent Jacobs).
Write two to three pages summarizing the book, followed by two to three pages
explaining how the author treated the theme of racial equity. Then
write two to three pages explaining how the author’s quest for basic human
rights fits in with the work we’ve done on the post-World War II Civil Rights
movement.
History
Option 4: Using at least five sources (print, online, or a combination
thereof), write five to seven pages describing one of the following events
and two to three pages demonstrating how it fits in with the relevant material
we read in this course:
The Spanish
Inquisition
Senator
Joseph R. McCarthy’s hunt for communists in the state department, film
industry, universities, and/or military (if you prefer, you can focus on
any one of those
“worlds”)
The massacre
at Beijing’s Tianemen Square
The events
leading up to the racial integration of the U.S. armed services under President
Harry S Truman
The fight
over the racial integration of either Little Rock High School or the University
of Alabama
The origin
and history of the Ku Klux Klan.
Law
Option 5: Choose one of the Supreme Court cases listed below.
Read the decision, and find at least five background sources providing additional
information about it. Among other approaches, you could try typing
the name of the case in the Search box in Google, Yahoo!, etc. to see
if any background material turns up. You could also go to the UD library
homepage and click on Databases, then on Lexis/Nexis Academic. Click
on “News” and use keywords to find news articles dealing with the court case
you’ve chosen. Do not use the name of the case as a keyword because
news articles rarely identify cases by name. Instead, use the kinds
of words that a reporter is likely to include in a news article: the
names of key people in the lawsuit, the name of the place where the dispute
arose, etc. Don’t forget to adjust the date range, or Lexis/Nexis will
search only the last six months. To find print sources, you could go
to the UD library website and search both Delcat and the relevant periodicals.
Write three to four pages summarizing the background material you found.
Then write three to four pages answering the following questions based on
the information provided in the decision: Who sued whom, and why?
When the case reached the Supreme Court, who won? By how many votes?
What were the most important reasons that caused the majority of the Court
to vote as it did? If there was a dissent, what were the most important
reasons for it? How did the background material you read influence
your understanding of the Supreme Court’s decision? Finally, write
two to three pages explaining how this decision fits in with the relevant
material we read in this course.
Supreme Court Cases:
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988). Over the objections of student editors,
a high school principal deleted two stories from the school newspaper:
one on teen pregnancy and the other on the effects of divorce on teenagers
in the family. Students on the newspaper staff sued the school, claiming
that
their rights to free speech and freedom of the press had been violated. http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/comm/free_speech/hazelwood.html
Board of Education v. Pico (1982). A school board summarily removed
books from the school
library on the grounds that the books were “anti-American, anti-Christian,
anti-Semitic, and just
plain filthy." Students asked the courts to restore the books and to
vindicate the students’ right
to receive information. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=457&invol=853
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1856): In this infamous pre-Civil War case,
the Supreme Court ruled that people of African descent whose ancestors were
enslaved are not citizens and do not automatically acquire a right to freedom
when they go from a state that permits slavery to a state that forbids it.
Note: the beginning of this decision is confusing, but persevere –
it’ll make more sense as it goes along.
http://www.tourolaw.edu/patch/Scott/
Plessy v. Ferguson (1892): This is the decision establishing the “separate
but equal” doctrine that was later overturned in Brown v. Board and other
civil rights cases.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=163&invol=537
General Specifications:
1. The paper must be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point
font. It should be approximately 7-10 pages in length.
2. There should be no footnotes; just indicate in the text where you
found the information you are summarizing. As an example, you might
say, “According to [source], the first meeting of the Ku Klux Klan was in
. . . .“ If you use direct quotes, cite the reference in parentheses
following the quote. It does not matter what style sheet you use as
long as you are consistent throughout the paper. When citing online
sources, give the url. Options 2 and 3 do not require sources other
than the novel or autobiography you selected, so students who choose
those topics will probably not have any citations. If you quote from
the book itself, just give the page number.
3. Attach a Works Cited page listing all the sources you used for the
paper (does not apply to Options 2 and 3).
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, all the topics require 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 court decisions, law review articles, and news stories
you read for this paper. 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. I hope this won’t happen, but
by way of fair warning -- if you plagiarize all or part of the
paper from either online or print sources, it’s possible that I’ll recognize
it (or suspect it and go looking) because I’m fairly familiar with this material.
If that happens, the grade for the paper will be 0, which will result in
an F for the course.
RESPONSE PAPER: 1984
When Winston is confronted by his greatest fear – great
big hairy juicy rats – he cries out, “Do it to Julia!” Why is that
such a major turning point in his life and in the novel? Why does what
he says matter so much?
RESPONSE PAPER: I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS
Identify and briefly explain three episodes that would have had a particularly
negative effect on Marguerite’s self-esteem. To what extent do you
think those episodes damaged her? Explain your answer.
RESPONSE PAPER: LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL
To whom was this letter addressed, and what was its main
purpose? Identify and briefly explain three specific arguments King
used to support the point he was making.