Course Description:

Welcome to American Literature! In class discussions and compositions, students examine the breadth, diversity, and evolution of American literature within the unique context of the American experience and American values/traditions. This rigorous approach to the literature requires closely reading and re-reading texts to identify patterns, contradictions, and the relationship between motifs and larger themes/ideas. Students will also learn different methods of critically interpreting the texts and produce argumentative, explanatory/informative, narrative/creative pieces independently. Students will apply critical terminology such as tone, mood, theme, and irony and articulate the distinguishing features of genres. Students are expected to be active, engaged, and regular participants in class discussion.

We will study some or all of the authors listed here, supplementing their works with speeches, stories, essays, poems, songs, paintings, and films. Representative authors include Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, H.D. Thoreau, Ralph Ellison, Emma Lazarus, Celeste Ng, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Yussef El Guindi.

While reading a variety of literature, we will explore essential questions:

How do authors comment on American society through literature?

How does American literature reflect its historical contexts?

How do authors depict elements of the American Dream including exceptionalism, prosperity,

equality, and self-determination?

How do authors’ personal and social experiences influence their writing?

Whose voices are heard and whose stories are told?

Google Classroom: Please go to Google Classroom to find class materials, handouts, homework, and writing assignments.