Literature

Catalog description

This course introduces students to forms of literature that include short story, drama, poetry, and the novel with a concentration on American literature, specifically focused on The American Dream. Students will learn how literary devices from all of the genres are used to create meaning for readers: plot, characterization, theme, point of view, setting, and figurative language. Students will engage in close reading: they will be asked to analyze literature inductively, using clues from the surface level of literature (literary devices) to create larger truths they see in the literature. Additionally, students will examine how these texts define what it means to be “American,” specifically what material, social, spiritual, psychological, intellectual and environmental conditions contribute to this definition (both in the making of the texts and within the texts’ representations). Students’ analysis of texts will be expressed through writing projects, journals, presentations, and other activities.