ENGL 2329 – Fall 2013 2012
Section 12 8:00AM - 9:20 GS104
Section 09 9:30AM - 10:50 Arch 401
Thomas A. Mackenzie, PhD
Office Number: C407
Office Hours: Thursday: 12:30 to 3:30
E-mail: [email protected]
NOTE: Changes to the syllabus will be
communicated in Blackboard.
“Read, read, read. Read everything, and see how they do it.
Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and
studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write.”
William Faulkner
ENGL 2329 American Literature: (3-0) Consideration of significant American works with a focus on ideas
and the ways in which they reflect cultural and aesthetic values; emphasis on critical methods of reading, writing,
and thinking; at least three genres and six authors considered.
“The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.”
D.H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature
A SEARCH FOR IDENTITY AMIDST VIOLENCE: This course is not an introduction to or survey of American Literature.
Instead it introduces students to a selection of significant American works that contribute to the on-going defining
of American identities (i.e., the characteristics by/with which a person or group defines him/her/them self(ves) and
or is recognized) through violence. This dialogue is often a fascinating index to important American cultural and
aesthetic values. Despite the selectivity of the readings, the course examines a broad range of time periods,
genres, geographical areas, and perspectives shaped by different gender, class, and ethnic backgrounds.
OBJECTIVES
By engaging in a variety of reading, discussion and writing assignments, students will:
become familiar with a culturally diverse range of American literary genres, works, and authors;
become familiar with the conventions of fiction and literary criticism;
learn how to analyze literary texts in order to become more adept critical readers, thinkers, and writers;
examine connections among the literary texts, as well as between literature and the world;
interrogate the fictional characters’ experiences and their interpretations of American values and cultural
norms, and discuss the implications of their motives and actions, within and outside of the framework of the
text; and
 develop academic writing skills by presenting analyses and syntheses of our readings, discussions and class
activities in essay form.
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REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS
Snow White, Donald Barthelme
Woman Hollering Creek, Sandra Cisneros
The Sunset Limited, Cormac McCarthy
Absolutely True Diary of a PT Indian, Sherman Alexie
* Supplemental readings provided online and via Blackboard
WARNING: This course will include readings involving violence, cursing, and sex. In discussing these
issues we will maintain a respectful decorum, though students who object to this content and discussion
might consider a different course.
The point of reading is living. Reading helps you love with greater appreciation, keener insight, and
heightened emotional awareness …. Reading and action reinforce each other in an ever-escalating manner.
Steve Leveen The Little Guide to Your Well Read Life
COURSE GRADE MATRIX
Weight
Total
Exam 1
Exam 2
Literary Journal
Literary Analysis Essay
10%
15%
15%
27.5%
100
150
150
275
APQs = Assignments,
Presentations, and
Quizzes
Final Exam
Total
15%
Assignments
A = 900 to 1000 Points
GRADES:
Background Essay = 50
T-Chart Analysis = 25
Body = 50
Intro & Conclusion = 50
Final version = 75
Assessment Essay = 25
150
20%
200
100%
1025
B = 800 - 899 Points
C= 700 - 799 Points
F= 648 or fewer
Keep all handouts, journals, and essays until after completing the final exam.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS:
Papers are due before class of assigned date. Each late day results in an additional 10%
deduction. Work is not accepted after three late days. If you must be absent, your work is still due as assigned.
ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Regular attendance is necessary for success in ENGL 2329. Students are expected to attend
class regularly and to arrive on time. Students must inform the instructor in writing
at least one week in advance of an excused absence. While excused, absences for
official university activities, military service, and/or religious holidays still are counted
as absences.
Beautiful Woman
Arriving late 3 times equals 1 absence. See Preparation. Yes, you missed
A.R. Ammons
something important while you were out, but I do not repeat the class, including
reviewing what you missed by email. Exchange contact information with members
The spring
of the class and arrange for notes ahead of time. Students accruing six absences or
in
more will be penalized 5% off their final grade for each additional absence.
PREPARATION AND PARTICIPATION: This is a class based on collaborative discourse. As
her step
has
such, being prepared to participate in discussions is a course requirement. This
entails having read and thought about the complete assignment carefully before
turned to
class starts. Furthermore, you must bring your copy of the text to class every day.
fall
Since we will be engaged in closely examining the texts we read and the language
that they use, if you don’t have your text then you aren’t prepared for class, even if
you have read the assignment. Naturally, this admonition also applies to the texts
that you will find online. If you do not have a copy of the text that we are discussing, you cannot participate
effectively in our discussion, and I will mark you absent.
METHOD OF INSTRUCTION:
Liberal education is not a body of knowledge that can be imparted to the student; it is the examination
of the issues raised in various sources--an examination of texts that engages the student's thinking
about these matters but does not merely implant the "answers" to the questions. These texts are
not "taught"; they are read, and reading is dialectical. That is, the sources are taken
seriously, as when one listens to a person who may know something. In this
personal dialogue the reader and the text address each other's questions.
-- Edward Tingley
With these objectives in mind, learning takes place through lecture, discussion, online and library research, and
testing. Learning is not just a passive intake of knowledge; instead, it requires active engagement. Engaging
literature means that we do more than simply impart a supposedly received body of knowledge; instead, we question
and perhaps even enhance a response.
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Assignments
APQs = Assignments, Presentations, & Quizzes
Because preparedness and engagement in the discussion factors heavily in each student’s
success in the course, expect a weekly APQ to reward prepared students. Together these are
worth 150 (15 points each) for the semester. Students who do not attend class on the
day of the assignment will not earn points for the assignment. Attendance counts.
APQ # 4 Group Research on setting & characters in Sherman Alexie’s “Giving Blood”
APQ#10 5 Minute Group Presentation: Author & the Essence of an Assigned Text
Exams
The exams will test your knowledge of the material from assigned readings, class
discussions, and handouts. In addition, essay questions will require you to apply your
knowledge to literary texts and concepts. At least half the each exam consists of essay questions, the
other half consists of short answers, fill in the blanks, and matching questions. Final Exam will call for
you to recite the poems “Sand Creek” and “Caged Bird.”
Literary Journal
Maintain a Reading Journal for all reading assignments, including five literary analysis journal entries.
Primary journal entries consist of:
1) Name of text;
75 points
2) Name of author;
3) Quotation of your favorite passage;
4) 1-2 sentence summary that will serve as exam study notes.
5 Literary Analysis journal entries provide greater detail. Each 1 page entry (worth 15 points)
provides a miniature literary analysis of the text, not a summary of the plot, consisting of:
A) proper text citation,
B) the author's brief biography,
C) the historical setting of the text,
D) your favorite passage,
E) an abstract of the text,
F) and your analysis to one element of the text.
Simple research will be required for the biography and historic scope of the work, but not for your
response or analysis of the text.
Entries should be maintained in sequential order in a folder or blog and will be graded during Exam
2 and the Final Exam. This is not a group assignment, each student must write their own analysis –
plagiarized versions will be penalized.
Literary Analysis Essay
Length: 5-6 full pages (not including Works Cited) in MLA format, 12-point font, double-spaced
Source Requirement: Four scholarly sources.
The Literary Analysis Essay will analyze the novel Snow White from different perspectives. Initial topic
research and the Background Essay will be conducted as a group assignment. Don’t write about
something obvious from the text – mere summary is not helpful, the original text says it better. Use
outside sources to provide insight and bearing; however, the analysis must represent your own
interpretation. Do not assume your reader has read the story, at the same time don’t summarize the
text, simply provide the reader plot details on an as needs to know basis. The assignment will be
staged and graded according to the following required components:
LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY
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Stage 1. Select one of the essay topics. Groups will conduct initial joint research and construct a joint
Background Essay. Each of these topics explores questions of American world view and the role of
violence which you will explore further in your essays:
Environmentalism
Gender Roles
Education & Philosophy
1960s Sexuality
Fairy Tales as Life
Purpose & Meaning
Religion
Conformity
Postmodernism
The Avant Guard & Art
Survivance: Use the theory of Gerald Vizenor and perhaps insight from the “That the People Might Live”
Stage 2: Background Essay (50 points). Develop a dynamic plot diagram based on Freytag’s Pyramid.
The chart should be comprehensive yet amplify details from your group’s selected worldview lens.
This diagram will serve as Exhibit 1 for a three page group essay (including four academic sources)
detailing the historical setting/context of the text and introducing the particular element, i.e., fairy
tales, of the text your final essay will explore. This essay is heavily based on research, not merely a
close reading of the text. Join the academic conversation of scholars and experts on the text.
Stage 3: T-Chart Analysis (25 points). Complete several T-Charts to analyze the text and discern a
suitable question to explore and prove throughout the essay. Use the T-Charts to produce a detailed
outline of the final essay, including a thesis statement that promises readers a debatable claim
statement that you seek to prove.
Stage 4: Body (50 points). Develop and prove the argument advanced in the claim statement in Stage
3. Rely on both new research and that explored in the Background Essay. Demonstrate research.
Stage 5: Introduction & Conclusion (50 points). Develop a suitable introduction with a hook and a
strong thesis statement. The conclusion should mirror the introduction. Submit with a revised body.
Stage 6: Polished Literary Analysis Essay (75 points). Integrate each component into a complete
college level essay. Continue to revise and polish the essay. Incorporate Works Cited page.
Stage 7: Assessment Essay (25 points). Develop a 1 page assessment of your writing process. Detail
how research contributed to your final essay, upon the editing and revision process, and ways to
enhance future research writing.
THE ABILITY TO LAUGH AT VIOLENCE PROVIDES A TYPE OF “ANESTHESIA TO UNDERMINE
ANY MORAL REVULSION WE MIGHT FEEL ABOUT VIOLENCE”
(RICHARD CORLISS “A BLAST TO THE HEART” TIME 14 OCT. 1994: 76).
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SCHEDULE
OF
ASSIGNMENTS: Fall 2013 Class Calendar
Readings and Excerpts
Theme 1 – Introduction & War
Thur 22 Aug: “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell
and “Sand Creek” by Simon Ortiz
Video: “What Makes Violence”
Tues 27 Aug:
“An Episode of War” by Stephen Crane (Blackboard Reader)
Group Work
Theme 2: Assassinations & Executions
Thur 29 Aug:
“The Names” by Billy Collins and “Capital Punishment” by Sherman Alexie
-- Discuss Literary Journal
At beginning of class: APQ1: Groups 1-3 Presentation – Highlight a TED.com talk on violence (or evil). 3-5 minutes.
Tues 3 Sept: Song: “Green, Green Grass of Home” – Charlie Pride
Poem: “When Lilacs Last In the Door-yard Bloo’d” Elegy to Abraham Lincoln” by Whitman
At beginning of class: APQ1: Group 4 Presentation – Highlight a TED.com talk on violence. 3-5 minutes.
“My concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure."
Abraham Lincoln
Thurs 5 Sept: Short Story: Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”
At beginning of class: APQ1: Groups 5-8 Presentation – Highlight a TED.com talk on violence. 3-5 minutes.
APQ#10: Essence: ___________________________________________________
Tues 10 Sept:
Read Literary Criticism: “Puritan Depravity in Young Goodman Brown”
APQ2 Due: In 200 words define violence within the American context: Include some combination of slavery,
human trafficking, rape, domestic violence, verbal abuse, racial discrimination, economic oppression, suicide,
murder, war, capital punishment.
Theme 3: The Native Other
Thurs 12 Sept:
Poems: Lydia Howard Huntley Sigourney, “Indian Names” &
Essay: “Shades of Sh*t” from Wisdom Sits in Places by Keith Basso (Reader)
APQ#10: Essence: ___________________________________________________
APQ#10: Essence: ___________________________________________________
Group Presenting on Basso might attempt to draw a layout of the setting
Tues 17 Sept
Essay: William Apess, “An Indian’s Looking Glass for the White Men”
APQ3: Theme 3 Reading Quiz
Group Work on “Giving Blood”
Thurs 19 Sept:
“Giving Blood” by Sherman Alexie
APQ4 DUE: Group Assignment. Provide a detailed and cited commentary/research
notes on ten elements of “Giving Blood,” including 1 or 2 on the author.
Tues 24 Sept: EXAM 1 – Essay Section online
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Theme 4 – Violence and Women
“The death of a beautiful woman [is] unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world”
– Edgar Allen Poe, “The Philosophy of Composition” from 1846
Thurs 26 Sept: Essay: “On the Domestic Education of Children” (Reader 25-29)
Poetry: Read selections of Phillis Wheatley in Reader (3-9)
APQ#10: Essence:
___________________________________________________
Tues 1 Oct: Read: Woman Hollering Creek, by Sandra Cisneros
Thurs 3 Oct: Woman Hollering Creek
APQ5: Active Reading Sheet Due at Beginning of Session
Theme 5 – Discrimination
Tues 8 Oct and Thur 10 Oct: Novel: Snow White by Donald Barthelme
APQ6: Active Reading Sheet Due at Beginning of Thursday’s Session
Tues 15 Oct: Excerpts from Gloria Anzaldúa (Blackboard)
APQ#10: Essence: ___________________________________________________
Group Work on Background Essay
Theme 6 – Abuse & Racial Oppression
Thurs 17 Oct: “Black and Blue” by Louis Armstrong and
“Let America be America Again” by Langston Hughes
Background Essay DUE – Peer Review in Class
Figure 1: The Scream
by Edward Munch
Tues 22 Oct: Gloria Naylor – “The Meanings of a Word”
Bring Blank T-Charts to Class
Thurs 24 Oct:
Short Story: “Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison
APQ#10: Essence: __________________________________________
APQ7: Comprehensive Reading Quiz Theme 6
Theme 7 – Pulp Fiction
Tues 29 Oct: Short Story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
T-Chart and Outline DUE
In class essay consultations
Thurs 31 Oct: Short Story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
In class essay consultations
Tues 5 Nov: Short Story: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
APQ8: Comprehensive Reading Quiz Theme 7
Body of Essay Due
Thurs 7 Nov: Exam #2
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Critical Thinking
Reflection on arguments and propositions, “analyzing them for gaps and
errors, exposing their unstated assumptions, and evaluating their evidence”
(Norton Anthology World Lit Volume D 101). Critical thinking functions as a
catalytic and habitual exercise in living above the level of mediocrity.
Theme 8 – Aging & Medicine
Tues 12 Nov: Short Story: Edgar Allan Poe “The Masque of the Red Death”
APQ#10: Essence:
______________________________________
Thurs 14 Nov: Poems: “Beautiful Woman” by A.R. Ammons
Emily Dickinson, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
Introduction and Conclusion Due
Theme 9 – Self Violence
Tues 19 Nov and Thurs 21 Nov: Play – Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy
APQ9: Reading Quiz
Tues 26 Nov: Life Narrative: “Talking a Stranger through the Night” by Sherry Amatenstein
Poem: “Summer Solstice, New York City” by Sharon Olds
APQ#10: Essence: ___________________________________________________
Polished Essay Due
Tues 3 Dec: Short Short Story: “Good Brother” by Peter Markus
Poem: “Hands” by Sarah Kay www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuAbGJBvIVY&NR=1&feature=endscreen
Assessment Essay Due
Theme 10:
Overcoming
Thur 5 Dec: “Still I Rise” and “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HiE4lt_DUY
Final Exam
First Fig
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light!
Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1920
If poetry comes not naturally as the leaves of a tree, it had better not come at all.
– John Keats
Mackenzie – ENGL 2329
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