Notes on Flannery O'Connor & "Good Country People"

·       Identify the multiple examples of verbal irony and the use of each in the story

·       Identify the multiple examples of situational irony and the use of each in the story

·       What similarities exist between Joy-Hulga and Mrs. Hopewell?

·       What similarities exist between Manley Pointer and Mrs. Freeman?

·       Which characters serve as character foils?

·       This story is both secular and non-secular.

o     Discuss the story as a religious teaching: in order to receive God’s grace, one must first realize the need and one’s Inability to create it for one’s self

o     Discuss the story as a typical story of initiation, similar to “Young Goodman Brown”

·       What does the story suggest about intellectuals (or anyone) and the concept of control?

 From R. Neil Scott’s Flannery O’Connor: An Annotated Reference Guide to Criticism

Although the body of fiction she published during her lifetime is small . . . O’Connor’s reputation is firmly established. . . .

While more than a few Southern writers have focused upon religious themes, none has done so in quite the manner as O’Connor. Her interest in the effect of God’s grace upon the complacent Christian or reluctant convert, and her pursuit of this theme deep into the hearts and mnds of her readers, has one very specific goal: to turn her reader toward Christ for guidance and redemption

In reference to her own methods in writing fiction O’Conner once remarked, “for the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost –blind you draw large and startling figures.” O’Connor used cutting satire and grotesque imagery to support acts of violence in her work. That use, though intentional, is by no means gratuitous. Instead, she uses it to shock readers into the realization that their own intellectual abilities are far too limited to provide a clear understanding of the nature of the universe and to urge them to carefully consider Christ’s offer of redemption.

Althought there are scores of differeing perspectives as to why O’Connor’s art is so important to American literary culture, to this author, her genius appears to lie in how she uses straightforward, simple prose to draw her readers into the iner world of her characters. Once there, she hopes they will recognize their own flawed character and look to Christ for redemption and deliverance.

Additional Notes on Flannery O'Connor:

In an address delivered before a Southern Writers Conference, O'Connor commented on the wooden leg: "We're presented with the fact that the Ph.D. is spiritually as well as physically crippled . . . and we perceive that there is a wooden part of her soul that corresponds to her wooden leg." Since this is the case, it is not surprising that Pointer's comment that it is her leg which "makes her different" produces the total collapse of Hulga's plan.

O'Connor's account of Hulga's reaction is worth examining in detail since it stresses the fact that Hulga's decision to surrender the leg is essentially an intellectual one:

She sat staring at him. There was nothing about her face or her round freezing-blue eyes to indicate that this had moved her; but she felt as if her heart had stopped and left her mind to pump her blood. She decided that for the first time in her life she was face to face with real innocence. This boy, with an instinct that came from beyond wisdom, had touched the truth about her. When after a minute, she said in a hoarse high voice, "All right," it was like surrendering to him completely. It was like losing her own life and finding it again, miraculously in his.

O'Connor's selection of a well-known biblical parallel ("He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it," Matthew 10:39) clearly depicts Hulga's rational surrender to Pointer and firmly underlines the significance of her rational decision within the context of the story. . . .

Hulga's epiphany, or moment of grace, occurs as a result of Pointer's betrayal of her faith in him and his destruction of her intellectual pretensions. Prior to his betrayal of her, Hulga considered herself to be the intellectual superior of all those around her. She relied upon the wisdom of this world to guide her, contrary to the biblical warning to "See to it that no one deceives you by philosophy and vain deceit, according to human traditions, according to the elements of the world and not according to Christ" (Colossians 2:8).

However, in order for Hulga to progress beyond her present state, it is necessary for her to realize that "God turned to foolishness the 'wisdom' of this world" (I Corinthians 1:20). From Hulga's point of view, the surrender of her leg was an intellectual decision; consequently, the destruction of her faith in the power of her own intellect can come only through betrayal by the one whom she rationally decided to believe in, to have faith in. . . .

it is a totally chastened Hulga who turns "her churning face toward the opening" and watches Pointer disappear, a "blue figure struggling successfully over the green speckled lake." The color imagery associated with Pointer as he leaves (blue, with heaven and heavenly love; green, with charity and regeneration of the soul), coupled with the image of walking on the water, would appear to indicate that O'Connor wishes the reader to see Pointer as an instrument of God's grace for Hulga. Although Pointer may seem an unlikely candidate for the role of grace-bringer, O'Connor, in commenting on the action of grace in her stories, has noted that "frequently it is an action in which the devil has been the unwilling instrument of grace."

 

Topics and Questions: "Young Goodman Brown"

Please note that the full text of the story can be found online. See the right hand sidebar and click on the link. It should take you to the story and you can print a copy of the story to read and use in class. It might be convenient for you to number the paragraphs, to help locate passages, as referred to in class. 

Introduction: 
Are you an optimist or a pessimist?  Do you believe that men are basically good, or basically evil? Is “ignorance bliss” as the old cliché goes? Those are important ideas to consider as you read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown.”

Bring to class any questions YOU have about the story.

DO read, consider and prepare to discuss questions  1, 2, & 4, p. 90.

What is the setting? What is significant about setting in this story?

Does it matter whether Goodman Brown’s experience was real or not? Explain.

In what way is Brown innocent when the story opens?  How does he become disillusioned?

What is the point of having the devil look like Brown?

Topic:  Do authors deliberately use symbols?

A FEW types of symbolism:

•        Name symbolism
•        Color symbolism
•        Time symbolism
•         Universal symbols
•        Story specific symbols

Explain Hawthorne’s use of language when Brown says:

•        “Faith kept me back awhile. . . “
•        “My Faith is gone!”

SAMPLE Quiz Questions:

  Is Goodman Brown a static or dynamic character? Give reason(s) for your response.

  What is Brown's ultimate conflict?

  The figure Brown meets in the wood is obviously meant to be the devil. What shape or form does the devil take in this story? WHY?

  Is the devil the antagonist or does he serve as a catalyst to arouse conflict in Brown? Explain.

  What does the darkness of the wood suggest? How does this contribute to the ambiguity Brown faces?

  NOTE: There will be SOME straightforward questions on the quiz, but many will require additional thought; expect some 2-part questions. In that way, you can receive part credit.

Literature Notes

Escape vs. Interpretive

Fiction

Plot
  standard plot outline
  types of conflict
  *the most important & most enduring

Character
  round
  flat
  stereotype

   static
   dynamic
     Young Goodman Brown
     Joy-Hulga
    

* direct & indirect characterization

* character foils

Setting--not just where and when, but the significance to the story (if any)
  *"Young Goodman Brown"
  * "The Things They Carried;" "How to Tell a True War Story"

Point of View

Theme

Irony - 3 ypes

Symbolism - different types and specific to story

ALL SUMMER IN A DAY by Ray Bradbury

ALL SUMMER IN A DAY  found: http://www.wssb.org/content/Classrooms/tate/content/freshman/All%20Summer%20In%20a%20Day/story.htm
 

by Ray Bradbury 
 

Imagine living on a planet where rain falls continuously, except for two hours every seven years, when the sun comes out. Such is life on the planet Venus as science fiction writer Ray Bradbury imagines it. Although life on Venus is much different from that on Earth, the people he describes are the same as any of us. 
 

"Ready?”

"Now?"

"Soon."

"Do the scientists really know? Will it happen today, will it?"

"Look, look; see for yourself!" 
 

The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun. 
 

It rained. 
 

It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands. A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again. And this was the way life was forever on the planet Venus, and this was the schoolroom of the children of the rocket men and women who had come to a raining world to set up civilization and live out their lives. 
 

"It's stopping, it's stopping!"

"Yes, yes!" 
 

Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could never remember a time when there wasn't rain and rain and rain. They were all nine years old, and if there had been a day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the stunned world, they could not recall. Sometimes, at night, she heard them stir, in remembrance, and she knew they were dreaming and remembering gold or a yellow crayon or a coin large enough to buy the world with. She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands. But then they always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests, and their dreams were gone. 
 

All day yesterday they had read in class about the sun. About how like a lemon it was, and how hot. And they had written small stories or essays or poems about it: 
 

I think the sun is a flower;

That blooms for just one hour: 
 

That was Margot's poem, read in a quiet voice in the still classroom while the rain was falling outside. 
 

"Aw, you didn't write that!" protested one of the boys.

"I did," said Margot, "I did."

"William!" said the teacher. 
 

But that was yesterday. Now the rain was slackening, and the children were crushed in the great thick windows. 
 

"Where's teacher?"

"She'll be back."

"She'd better hurry; we'll miss it!" 
 

They turned on themselves, like a feverish wheel, all tumbling spokes. 
 

Margot stood alone. She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost. Now she stood, separate, staring at the rain and the loud wet world beyond the huge glass.  
 

"What're you looking at?" said William.

Margot said nothing.

"Speak when you're spoken to." He gave her a shove. But she did not move; rather she let herself be moved only by him and nothing else. 
 

They edged away from her, they would not look at her. She felt them go away. And this was because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels of the underground city. If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow. When the class sang songs about happiness and life and games her lips barely moved. Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows. 
 

And then, of course, the biggest crime of all was that she had come here only five years ago from Earth, and she remembered the sun and the way the sun was and the sky was when she was four in Ohio. And they, they had been on Venus all their lives, and they had been only two years old when last the sun came out and had long since forgotten the color and heat of it and the way it really was. But Margot remembered. 
 

"It's like a penny," she said once, eyes closed.

"No it's not!" the children cried.

"It's like a fire," she said, "in the stove."

"You're lying, you don't remember!" cried the children. 
 

But she remembered and stood quietly apart from all of them and watched the patterning windows. And once, a month ago, she had refused to shower in the school shower rooms, had clutched her hands to her ears and over her head, screaming the water mustn't touch her head. So after that, dimly, dimly; she sensed it, she was different and they knew her difference and kept away. 
 

There was talk that her father and mother were taking her back to Earth next year; it seemed vital to her that they do so, though it would mean the loss of thousands of dollars to her family. And so, the children hated her for all these reasons of big and little consequence. They hated her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness, and her possible future. 
 

"Get away!" The boy gave her another push. "What're you waiting for?" 
 

Then, for the first time, she turned and looked at him. And what she was waiting for was in her eyes. 
 

"Well, don't wait around here!" cried the boy savagely: "You won't see nothing!"

Her lips moved.

"Nothing!" he cried. "It was all a joke, wasn't it?" He turned to the other children. "Nothing's happening today: Is it?" 
 

They all blinked at him and then, understanding, laughed and shook their heads. "Nothing, nothing!" 
 

"Oh, but," Margot whispered, her eyes helpless. "But this is the day, the scientists predict, they say, they know, the sun. . ." 
 

"All a joke!" said the boy, and seized her roughly. "Hey, everyone, let's put her in a closet before teacher comes!"

"No," said Margot, falling back. 
 

They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet, where they slammed and locked the door. They stood looking at the door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself against it. They heard her muffled cries. Then, smiling, they turned and went out and back down the tunnel, just as the teacher arrived. 
 

"Ready, children?" She glanced at her watch.

"Yes!" said everyone.

"Are we all here?"

"Yes!" 
 

The rain slackened still more.

They crowded to the huge door. 
 

The rain stopped. 
 

It was as if, in the midst of a film, concerning an avalanche, a tornado, a hurricane, a volcanic eruption, something had, first, gone wrong with the sound apparatus, thus muffling and finally cutting off all noise, all of the blasts and repercussions and thunders, and then, second, ripped the film from the projector and inserted in its place a peaceful tropical slide which did not move or tremor. The world ground to a standstill. The silence was so immense and unbelievable that you felt your ears had been stuffed or you had lost your hearing altogether. The children put their hands to their ears. They stood apart. The door slid back and the smell of the silent, waiting world came in to them. 
 

The sun came out. 
 

It was the color of flaming bronze and it was very large. And the sky around it was a blazing blue tile color. And the jungle burned with sunlight as the children, released from their spell, rushed out, yelling, into the springtime. 
 

"Now, don't go too far," called the teacher after them. "You've only two hours, you know. You wouldn't want to get caught out!" 
 

But they were running and turning their faces up to the sky and feeling the sun on their cheeks like a warm iron; they were taking off their jackets and letting the sun burn their arms. 
 

"Oh, it's better than the sunlamps, isn't it?"

"Much, much better!" 
 

They stopped running and stood in the great jungle that covered Venus, that grew and never stopped growing, tumultuously, even as you watched it. It was a nest of octopi, clustering up great arms of flesh-like weed, wavering, flowering this brief spring.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        It was the color of rubber and ash, this jungle, from the many years without sun. It was the color of stones and white cheeses and ink, and it was the color of the moon. 
 

The children lay out, laughing, on the jungle mattress, and heard it sigh and squeak under them, resilient and alive. They ran among the trees, they slipped and fell, they pushed each other, they played hide-and-seek and tag, but most of all they squinted at the sun until the tears ran down their faces, they put their hands up to that yellowness and that amazing blueness and they breathed of the fresh, fresh air and listened and listened to the silence which suspended them in a blessed sea of no sound and no motion. They looked at everything and savored everything. Then, wildly, like animals escaped from their caves, they ran and ran in shouting circles. They ran for an hour and did not stop running. 
 

And then-

In the midst of their running one of the girls wailed.

Everyone stopped.

The girl, standing in the open, held out her hand. 
 

"Oh, look, look," she said trembling. 
 

They came slowly to look at her opened palm. In the center of it, cupped and huge, was a single raindrop.

She began to cry; looking at it.

They glanced quietly at the sky.

"Oh.Oh." 
 

A few cold drops fell on their noses and their cheeks and their mouths. The sun faded behind a stir of mist. A wind blew cool around them. They turned and started to walk back toward the underground house, their hands at their sides, their smiles vanishing away. 
 

A boom of thunder startled them and like leaves before a new hurricane, they tumbled upon each other and ran. Lightning struck ten miles away, five miles away, a mile, a half mile. The sky darkened into midnight in a flash. 
 

They stood in the doorway of the underground for a moment until it was raining hard. Then they closed the door and heard the gigantic sound of the rain falling in tons and avalanches, everywhere and forever. 
 

"Will it be seven more years?"

"Yes. Seven."

Then one of them gave a little cry.

"Margot!"

"What?"

"She's still in the closet where we locked her."

"Margot." 
 

They stood as if someone had driven them, like so many stakes, into the floor. They looked at each other and then looked away: They glanced out at the world that was raining now and raining and raining steadily. They could not meet each other’s glances. Their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their hands and feet, their faces down. 
 

"Margot."

One of the girls said, "Well. . . ?" No one moved.

"Go on," whispered the girl. 
 

They walked slowly down the hall in the sound of cold rain. They turned through the doorway to the room in the sound of the storm and thunder, lightning on their faces, blue and terrible. They walked over to the closet door slowly and stood by it. 
 

Behind the closet door was only silence. 
 

They unlocked the door, even more slowly, and let Margot out. 
 

Syllabus & Policy Statement

Macon State College

Department of English

Spring 2013

English 1102- Syllabus and Policy Statement:

A book is a portable form of magic. ~ Stephen King

Instructor: Mrs. Sharon Aiken, H/SS 248   

Office phone: 478-471-2893

Office hours:  M/W: 2-3 p.m.; T/TH: 1-2 p.m. and by appointment

Email: sharon.aiken@maconstate.edu

       Website:   AE02S13.blogspot.com
(Note: Strange initials and numbers refer to: Aiken English 1101 Spring 2013)

Best means of contact: email.  Use your Macon State email. I check and respond to my Macon State email, Monday-Thursday and on Sunday evenings.  I expect you to do likewise, because I use email for class announcements.

Required Texts and Materials: 

Lunsford, Andrea A. The St. Martin’s Handbook. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2008 or other collegiate grammar text

Literature: The Human Experience – Shorter 9^th edition; Richard Abcarian & Marvin Klotz, editors

blue or black pens (NO  hot pink, neon orange, lime green) for in-class quizzes and compositions—not pencils

Suggested Texts:

King, Stephen.  On Writing -- the second half of the book

a good collegiate dictionary                                               

Class Description:   This is a composition course that develops writing skills beyond the proficiency required by English 1101; English 1102 emphasizes interpretation and evaluation based on an introduction of fiction, drama, and poetry, and incorporates a variety of more advanced research methods.  An oral communication component is also required.

Class Goals:  By the end of the course, each student will:

Be able to research a work of literature using the Web and traditional library resources

Gain further experience using MLA citation methods

Be able to write a clear, in-class explication of a poem

Be able to write an effective analysis of a work of fiction and a work of drama

Gain further experience in using Web-based course assignments

The best way to develop your writing is to write AND to read.  There are no shortcuts, no easy outs, and no simple solutions.  Read everything, both good and bad; read cereal boxes, directions for electronics, the internet, job descriptions, grocery lists, novels, essays, magazines, candy wrappers – everything.   You will gradually begin to develop a sense of identifying good writing that is detailed, organized, unified, coherent, clear, and complete. Bad writing will show you what to avoid; good writing will show you what to emulate.  This class does not meet every day, but if you truly want to succeed and develop, it is in your best interest to write and read, every day, to seek help when you need it, to do your best, whether your best is a “C” or an “A.” 

Class Policies:

1.  You must have passed English 1101 with a “C” to be enrolled in this class.

2.  You may miss two class days without penalty; if you miss more than four class meetings, your grade is up to my discretion.  Be on time.  If a student is late on a regular basis, I may advise the student to drop; I have the discretion to penalize constant tardiness by either adding a missed day to the number of absences or lowering the overall course grade.  If tardiness disrupts my class, the lab door will be locked, and you will be counted as absent.

3.  Assignments are to be handed in on time, typed. Title all assignments and use MLA format. *Do NOT title your essay as the work read in the text.  You didn’t write “A Worn Path;” therefore, your essay analysis of the story’s should not be titled by that name; it would be more appropriate to title it The Importance of Place in Welty’s “A Worn Path.”   Use the name of the work in the title, if you like, but NOT as the title.

4.  If you miss a daily assignment or one specified on the syllabus, you may not make it up; if you miss a major assignment, that grade will be based on my discretion. You must complete all major assignments to pass the class.

5.  I will give letter grades on essays; numerical grades on quizzes. if you have a question about a grade, drop by my office or ask me after class; if you wish to challenge a grade, do so in writing, no sooner than a day after getting your paper back, and no later than three class days after I return that assignment.

6.  If you plagiarize an assignment, that grade will result in a zero.  If you cheat on a test, you will get a zero.  Plagiarism occurs when a writer uses the ideas, wording, organization, etc. of another writer without proper citation, whether intentional or unintentional. This includes having someone “help” you write the paper, buying the paper online, or lifting ideas, sentences, and paragraphs from another text.  Keep an electronic copy of all assignments and be prepared to send it to me immediately if asked.  Please go to the MSC Library site for further information on avoiding plagiarism.  Students should know that failing the class is the common penalty for plagiarism.

A plagiarism prevention service is used in the evaluation of written work submitted for this course.  As directed by the instructor, students are expected to submit their assignments, or have their assignments submitted, through the service in order to meet the requirements for this course.  The papers may be retained by the service for the sole purpose of checking for plagiarized content in future student submissions.

7.  POLICY ON ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT:  “As a Macon State College student and as a student in this class, you are responsible for reading, understanding, and abiding by the MSC  Student Code of Conduct.  The Student Code of Conduct is included in the MSC Student Handbook and is available online at  http://www.maconstate.edu/studentlife/studenthandbook.pdf”

8.  POLICY ON DISABILITY ACCOMODATIONS:  “Students seeking academic accommodations for a special need must contact the MSC Counseling and Career Center (478-471-2714) located on the second floor of the Student Life Center on the Macon Campus.”

9.  If you have a D average based on the major assignments, no participation or daily grade average can bring that average up to a C. [Division Policy]

10.  I expect common sense and courtesy, including the following:

• Unless there are extenuating circumstances, please set your phones on "Manner Mode" before entering the class. 
• It is unprofessional, rude, and ill-advised to wear electronic devices either in your ears or dangling from them during lecture or class participation; in other words: DO NOT WEAR EARBUDS IN CLASS.
• Please avoid distracting other students (or me) – I am usually distracted enough for us all.

11.  REQUIRED:  You will need to keep your all of your various writings [paragraphs, drafts, revisions, and final drafts], neatly, in chronological order in a folder of your choice.  These will be submitted to me prior to the final exam.  It is the policy of this department that I keep your writing for one semester.  Therefore, should you want these returned, please see me at the end of Spring Semester 2013.  Suggestion:  I would suggest to anyone taking this course that you keep a personal folder with copies of all your writing, as it is a representative of the unique individual you are.

12.  There is always a possibility that we may be affected by inclement weather.  In the event that weather conditions make travel conditions hazardous, be aware that class may be cancelled for the day and a class assignment may be given via email.  Check your email, as I will typically notify you in advance, if at all possible.  NOTE: I live in rural Jasper County; if schools are closed in Jasper County, it is a safe bet that MY classes at MSC will not be held.

At the collegiate level, students are expected to take responsibility for a large part of their education.  Examples:  all papers must be submitted in MLA format.  If you do not remember what MLA format consists of, look it up.  Assignments should be read in advance of class, not in class, unless specified.  When a student is absent, he/she should check the blog first, before emailing me.  Students should assume that when the instructor is discussing the elements and nature of literature, they should be noting terms in relation to the up-coming assignments.  Students are expected to have the presence of mind to look and plan ahead to avoid scheduling conflicts.  Final exams will be given only during the scheduled time, indicated on the MSC Academic Calendar.

1102 Assignments:

Combined average of quizzes, exercises
and class participation*                                             20%

Fiction Essays  - 2                                                          20%  (10% each)

Written & oral explication of poem                     20% (10% each)

Research Paper (Essay)                                              20%

FINAL  Exam                                                                    20%

*Active Class Participation:

Criteria	25 pts.	20 pts.	15 pts.	0-10 pts. & below
Attendance	Attends class regularly – with no more than 1 absence at mid-term; usually prompt & professional	Attends class regularly; no more than 1 absence at mid-term; professional & seldom tardy	Attends class regularly; may have more than 2 absences at this point; professional	Has missed more than 2 days and often presented as unprofessional
Level of Active Engagement	Proactive in class; contributes with ideas, questions, observations; answers questions; treats classmates & professor with courtesy	Contributes to class; frequently offers comments, answers & asks questions; treats classmates & professor with courtesy	Offers some observations and answers questions now and then or when called on; treats classmates & professor with courtesy	Rarely contributes to class by offering ideas or asking questions. primarily a non-participant. Does not add to class discussion, but sits silently.
Listening Skills	Listens when others talk; builds on others’ ideas; involves others in class by asking questions or seeking others’ responses	Listens then others talk; frequently builds on ideas of others.	Listens when  others talk, but does not respond to ideas	Often does not listen when others talk; often distracted by his/her own agenda—e.g., the internet, studying for another class, talking to peers, when inappropriate
Preparation	Almost always prepared for class, with assignments and required class materials	Usually prepared for class	Frequently prepared for class	Seldom prepared

Tentative Schedule:

Week 1/ Jan. 7: Review syllabus; discuss books, genres, elements of fiction; reading for literal vs. figurative meaning, including symbolism & theme; reading & discussion over "All Summer in a Day" by Bradbury; story online
Week 2/ Jan. 14: the importance of storytelling; elements of fiction, storytelling, symbolism and theme in "Young Goodman Brown" (80) and "Good Country People" (100)
Week 3/ Jan. 23: Quiz #1; Essay #1 assigned
Week 4/ Jan. 28: Essay #1 DUE; selection and discussion of "The Things They Carried" (1036) and "How to  Tell a True War Story" (story online)--both by Tim O'Brien; 
Week 5/ Feb. 4: Discussion of "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin and Quiz #2
Week 6/ Feb. 11: Essay #2 DUE; reading selection: "The Yellow Wallpaper" (729)
Week 7/ Feb. 18: discussion and research on "The Yellow Wallpaper"
Week 8/ Feb. 25: discussion and research on "The Yellow Wallpaper;" Essay #3 (Counts 20%) DUE
Week of Mar. 4 - 8: SPRING BREAK
Week 9/ Mar. 11: Mid-Term; Last Day to withdraw from a Regular Session Class with a "W."  Introduction to poetry and study of select poems (TBA)
Week 10/ Mar. 18: In class study of poetry
Week 11/ Mar. 25: Quiz #3 and Individual explication of poem and Essay #4 over poetry
Week 12/ Apr. 1: Individual explication of poem and Essay #4 over poetry (individual explication typically takes several days; the in-class essay over poetry will take only one)
Week 13/ Apr. 8: Begin Study of Drama & Shakespeare's Othello
Week 14/ Apr. 15:  Shakespeare's Othello
Week 15/ Apr. 22:  Shakespeare's Othello & Quiz #4
Week 16/ Apr. 29: Last Day of Class

FINAL ESSAY WILL BE OVER OTHELLO