Breaking Free

“To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Nelson Mandela

The pursuit of freedom lies at the heart of both political struggle and great writing. In this course, we’ll explore different forms that freedom—and the pursuit of freedom—take in literature. Questions we’ll look at include: What is the relationship between personal and political freedom? How does one resist oppression? What does it mean for the human spirit to be truly free? The reading list will feature Henry David Thoreau’s “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground. Other possible texts include Zhuang Zi, Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle, and selections from James Baldwin’s essays. This course will have informal weekly writing assignments, in-class analytical essays, and—time allowing—a personal essay.