Shaw University
English 410:  20th Century American Literature
Spring, 2007

Professor:  Dr. E. Weil     Office:  203 The Cottage     Office Phone:  546-8207
Office Hours:  MW  11 - 12:00,  MW 1 - 2:00;   TTh 11 - 1:00; F 11 - 12:00
Home Phone:  870-6038; before10 PM     email:  eweil@shawu.edu
Web:  Shaw’s home page, click “Faculty Web Sites” then my name.  Look for English 410 link.

Text:  Baym, Nina, et al.  The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 6th ed. Package 2, Volumes C, D, E.  2003.

Course Goals:  We will read and, hopefully, enjoy studying a variety of literary works from the late 19th Century through the 1950’s in American literature.
Additional goals:
1. to become familiar with various literary genres, such as poetry, drama, and prose, including specific genre characteristics such as plot, theme, imagery, & rhyme scheme, etc.
2. to improve the ability to interpret and critically evaluate literary texts through close and careful reading.
3. to apply differing modern literary theories in such a way as to present the possibility of a variety of interpretations of a text.
4. to increase historical, cultural, and contextual awareness and perspective in order to appreciate problems of authorship and audience.
5. to develop an awareness of differing beliefs, values, and ideas, as presented in literary works and to engage in critical analysis of these presentations.
6. to see literature’s relevance to our lives.
7. to see literature as a social act -- to understand how a culture influences literature and how literature influences culture.
8. to improve writing abilities through writing well-organized, coherent, thoughtfully-developed, and carefully-edited research essays.
9. to improve the ability to write extemporaneously by responding to quizzes and examinations.

English 410 is intended to comply with the following “Core Standards for Teachers in North Carolina,” including their accompanying indicators, as approved by the NC State Board of Education March 7, 2002:
Conceptual Framework Theme:  To produce graduates who are critical thinkers and problem solvers with the professionsl dispositions and technological skills necessary to function as competent and effective teachers in a diverse world.
Standard 1:  Teachers know and understand the English language.
Standard 2:  Teachers know and understand the reading process.
Standard 3:  Teachers know and understand written and oral composing processes.
Standard 5:  Teachers understand the range, impact, and influence of technology, print and non-print media in constructing meaning.
Standard 10:  Teachers use instruction that promotes understanding of varied uses and purposes for language.
Standard 11:  Teachers foster in students an awareness of their own and others’ cultures.
Technology:  Standard 1, Indicator 1:  Teachers demonstrate introductory knowledge, skills, and understanding of concepts related to technology.
Standard 2, Indicator 3:  Teachers identify and locate technology resources and evaluate them for accuracy and suitability.
Standard 3, Indicator 1:  Teachers facilitate technology-enhanced experiences that address content standards and student technology standards.
Core Standard 2, Indicator 8:  Teachers teach communication, thinking, and problem solving skills.
Diversity:  Standard 4, Indicator 3:  Teachers promote appreciation and respect for diversity by rejecting the use of stereotypes.

Attendance:  Attendance is essential.  I expect you to be present, on time, and prepared for class discussion, as I expect myself to be.  We have 43 class meetings scheduled.  Each time you come to class you get 2.33 points (43 x 2.33 = 100.19).  Think of it as if you are getting paid for attending class.  You may skip all you like, but each miss costs you 2.33 points.  If you are tardy, you get 1 point.  Conduct your personal business at times when you don’t have class; that’s what I do.

Requirements:  There will be midterm and final examinations.  You will write one research-supported interpretive paper.  The assignment sheet with the specific requirements for the paper will be posted on my website.  There may be quizzes on the readings; you will have 1-page writing assignments due on the day we discuss a work. 

A few words about plagiarism:  There are two kinds of plagiarism, unintentional and intentional.  Unintentional plagiarism is the sloppy, careless, unclear, or incorrect citation of sources.  In other words, unintentional plagiarism happens when you make certain kinds of mistakes.  Avoiding and/or correcting those mistakes is part of what this course is all about.  Bring a draft to a conference with me so that you can get suggestions and earn a better grade on your completed paper.  Intentional plagiarism means cheating -- turning in someone else’s work as your own or copying from sources without providing documentation.  Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, such activities as buying ready-made term papers, either from a person or from a website; cutting and pasting material (even one sentence) from a website to your essay without proper documentation; having someone else write your paper or revise it for you; turning in a paper someone else has turned in, either for this course or another; turning in the same paper for two different courses.  Please note that anything you can find on the internet, I can find on the internet, whether it’s a term paper mill or a website.  Warning:  an essay which includes any intentionally-plagiarized material fails, scoring 0 points with no opportunity for revision. 

Your Final Grade:  This will be determined by the number of points you earn during the semester.  The midterm exam will be worth 50 points, the final will be worth 100 points, and the paper will be worth 100 points.  One-page writings ared graded on a 10 point scale (If you do more than 10, your lowest of these grades will be dropped).  Attendance is worth 100 points.  There may be quizzes.  When the total number of possible points for the semester is determined, 90% will earn an A, 80% a B, 70% a C, and 60% a D.

Readings & Assignments
During the semester, you will write at least ten 1-page writings as preparation for our class meetings.  Simply write a page in response to the question or prompt listed for that date.  You may do more than ten if you wish (what the heck, do all of them!).  Each will be graded on a ten point scale and I will count your best ten (100 points total possible) as part of your final grade.  I prefer these responses printed via word processor or submitted via email prior to class), but I will accept these writings hand-written (please be legible & neat).  Nine points will be the highest grade on hand-written responses.  I will not accept any 1-page writing after the class period when we discuss the work listed on the syllabus for that day if you were present.  I will not accept more than three of these writings in one week.  The whole idea is for you to respond in writing to many of the works we read because studies have shown that writing about literature helps you to do the kind of thinking that enhances learning (and test performance).   Please remember to read the introductory material for each author or work.

F Jan 12:  Intro to the course, the book, and a quick overview of America in the late 19th C.

M Jan 15:  Martin Luther King Holiday.

W Jan 17:  Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain:  Read “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” Huck Finn, Ch. 1 & 2, “The Art of Authorship,” and “How to Tell a Story.”  Write a page about Twain & humor.  Discuss any or all of the assigned works.

F Jan 19:  Hamlin Garland, “Under the Lion’s Paw.”  What does the title mean?  Discuss the economics behind the story.  What is Garland’s point?

M Jan 22:  Henry James, “The Real Thing.”  Discuss the function of irony in this story.

W Jan 24:  Edith Wharton, “Souls Belated.”  Discuss class and gender expectations as they affect Lydia in this short story.

F Jan 26:  Kate Chopin, “The Storm” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper.”       These stories present women in ways that were considered radical in the 1890s.  Explain.

M Jan 29:   Charles Chesnutt, “The Wife of his Youth” and Jack London, “To Build a Fire.”  Compare and contrast the interior and exterior conflicts as they are depicted in these stories.

W Jan 31:  Stephen Crane, “The Open Boat.”  Nature is often considered a character in this story.  How is this so?

F Feb 2:  Edwin Arlington Robinson,  “Miniver Cheevy”  and “Mr. Flood’s Party.”  Also read      Robert Frost, “Desert Places” and “Design.”  Robinson and Frost are usually considered the first American “modernist” poets.  After reading these poems, how do you define “modernism”?

M Feb 5:   Robert Frost, “Mending Wall,” “Home Burial,” “The Wood-Pile,” “The Road Not Taken,” “Fire and Ice,” “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” “After Apple-Picking,” “Birches,” “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.”  Write a page explicating one poem, discussing both technique and theme.

W Feb 7:   Frost, “Departmental,” and “Neither Out Far Nor In Deep.”  Also, reread any of the previously-listed poems that we haven’t yet discussed.    Write a page explicating one poem, discussing both technique and theme.

F Feb 9:  Wallace Stevens, “Anecdote of the Jar,” “The Emperor of Ice Cream,” and “The Idea of Order at Key West.”  Define what you think Stevens means by “ideas of order” (in that poem and/or in others).  What are the “supreme fictions” which he believes are necessary to life?

M Feb 12:  Wallace Stevens, “Sunday Morning.”  Describe what is happening in the poem.  Why is this happening on a Sunday?

W Feb 14:  John Crowe Ransom, read all 5 poems, and T.S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men.”  Choose one of Ransom’s poems and explicate it, discussing technique as well as theme.

F Feb 16:  T.S. Eliot, “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock.”  Prufrock, as a sort of anti-hero, is acknowledged to be a representative modernist character.  Explain.

M Feb 19: William Carlos Williams, “Spring and All,” “The Red Wheelbarrow,” “This is Just to Say,” “The Dance(In Breughel’s great picture),” and “Queen-Anne’s Lace.”  Williams held this motto for his poetry:  “No ideas but in things.”  Choose one or two poems and explain.

W Feb 21:  F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Babylon Revisited.”  What mistake does Charlie Wales make and how does it hurt him?  What is the significance of the title?

F Feb 23:  Ernest Hemingway, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.”  Describe the conflict within the main character. What is the importance of the woman? The leopard?  The hyena?

M Feb 26: Thomas Wolfe, “The Lost Boy.”  This story is about Time, Change, and Memory.  Write about the effect of the different points of view on your understanding of these themes.

W Feb 28:  Midterm exam. (50 points)

F Mar 2:  William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying.  Read the first 24 pages.  Make a list of characters and write a personality sketch for each.

M Mar 5:  As I Lay Dying.  Read the next 25 pages.  Figure out the nature of each family member’s relationship with Mrs. Addie Bundren.

W Mar 7:  As I Lay Dying.  Read the next 24 pages.  The chapter labeled “Addie” is most important.  Write a page about what you learn there (though reading the other chapters will help).

F Mar 9:   As I Lay Dying.  Read to the end.  Each character has had his or her own reason to go to Jefferson.  Which characters achieve what they want and which don’t?

M Mar 12:  Richard Wright, “The Man Who Was Almost a Man.”  What are Dave’s problems?       How do they relate to his idea of manhood?  What is ironic about the title?

W Mar 14:  Ralph Ellison, selections from Invisible Man.  What African-American poem      influences the grandfather’s deathbed advice?  The narrator says that he “had no insight into [the] meaning” of the dream in which the grandfather appears.  As readers, what insight do you have?

F Mar 16:   James Baldwin, “Going to Meet the Man.”  This story is about how whites can be destroyed by their stereotyping of blacks.  Explain.

M Mar 19:  Toni Morrison, “Recitatif.”  What do you think is Morrison’s message to us about race and identity?  about our own perceptions about race?

W Mar 21:  Flannery O’Connor, “Good Country People.” Discuss irony in “Good Country People.”

F Mar 23:  Eudora Welty, “Petrified Man.”  The intro material says that style is more important than plot in Welty’s stories.  Explain whether you agree or disagree.

M Mar 26:  Saul Bellow, “Looking for Mr. Green.”  What sort of a picture of American society comes through in this story?  Why does the story end the way it ends?

W Mar 28:   Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, Act One.  Outline the conflicts between the various characters.

F Mar 30:  Miller, Death of a Salesman, Act Two & Requiem.  What are the psychological crises that drive Willy Loman to his death?  What is the significance of his name?

M Apr 2: Miller, Death of a Salesman.  How does Death of a Salesman fit and/or not fit the classical definition of a literary tragedy?

W Apr 4:  Elizabeth Bishop, “The Fish,” “Questions of Travel,” “In the Waiting Room,” and “The Moose.”  Most of Bishop’s poems deal with the interaction of people and nature (“The Fish” and “The Moose”) or they deal with memory (“In the Waiting Room”).  Given these hints, choose a poem and explicate it.  What is the theme?

F Apr 6 - F Apr 13:  Easter Holiday & Spring Break

M Apr 16:  Robert Lowell, “Skunk Hour” and “For the Union Dead.”  Discuss the psychology of the speaker(s) in Lowell’s poems.

W Apr 18:  Awards Day.  We will probably miss class. 

F Apr 20:  Randall Jarrell, “90 North,” “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” and “Second Air Force.”  Discuss Jarrell’s use of voice in the two poems about World War II.

M Apr 23:  Gwendolyn Brooks, read all.  What is Brooks’ message to the black community in “a song for the front yard” and “We Real Cool” and/or any other poems you wish to discuss?

W Apr 25:  Allen Ginsburg, “Howl” and “A Supermarket in California.”  What aspects of American life trouble Ginsburg?  Explain.  (Last day for May grads.)

F Apr 27:  The following are African American poets anthologized in your book:  Robert Hayden, Audre Lord, Michael S. Harper, and Rita Dove.  Choose a poem by one of these poets and explicate it.

M Apr 30: Your term paper is due (100 points).  We will have class, if we are behind schedule.

W May 2:  Alice Walker, “Everyday Use.”  This story is largely about the “generation gap.”  What is Walker’s message?

F May 4:  Review for Final Exam (non-seniors).