English 166: American Dreams, American Nightmares

Dr. Pidge Molyneaux
Olney 146

eng166.htm

 

Phone:(215) 951-1150
e-mail
:
molyneam@lasalle.edu
FAX: (610) 449-0418

 

 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Willa Cather, My Antonia
Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Spiral-bound Reader to be paid for at the Bookstore

 

PHILOSOPHY OF THE COURSE: This course will examine the American experience as it is expressed by the men and women who shaped the "American Dream" and were in turn shaped by it: the immigrants. Perhaps no contemporary issue is more hotly debated or less understood in the United States than the issue of immigration, "legal" or otherwise. While immigration is in the spotlight partly because of money, it also impinges on issues like race, the role of government, national identity, and change. While one side looks at an America of soaring welfare spending, the other sees an America built on the backs of immigrants and still benefiting from their brains and determination. Beginning with the Puritans, we will trace both the myth and the reality confronted by immigrants in pursuit of the "American Dream." We will read texts from Americans whose roots lie elsewhere--Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia--as well as from those who have been uprooted from within--Native Americans. Topics for discussion will include what it means to feel "at home" in America, at ease and secure in familiar surroundings, and what it means to feel alienated from family, friends, or community in an unfamiliar country and culture.

 

COURSE EXPECTATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS:

1. Keep this syllabus in your notebook at all times and refer to it frequently. It contains basic information about requirements and expectations and will guide you through the course.

2. Two short papers, 3-5 pages. Papers are to be typed, double-spaced, and handed to me personally at the start of the class period listed as the due date. Late papers will be graded down unless you have requested and been granted an extension.

NOTE: You are required to do your own work and the paper topics assigned in this course are not designed to require use of outside sources. A student who copies another student's work, allows another student to copy his or her work, or fails to document ideas or written work obtained from outside sources is guilty of plagiarism. The penalty for plagiarism is failure for the course and a charge of academic misconduct. Please note further that a plagiarized paper is so easy to spot that it is really not worth the risk.

3. Three exams, each about one hour long.

4. Attendance and Preparation: I expect you to demonstrate adult responsibility in terms of attendance and preparation. I require all readings to be complete by the date assigned and that you will participate fully and energetically in class discussion. I also expect you to be present for every class and will subtract one point from your final grade for every unexcused absence.

5. There will be frequent unannounced quizzes.

6. Here is how I will calculate your grade:

Papers @ 15%
Exams @ 20%
Quizzes @ 10%
Total

30%
60%
10%
100% (less unexcused absences)

A = 92-100
B = 84-91
C = 76-83
D = 68-75

SCHEDULE OF READINGS, PAPERS, EXAMS:

Jan. 17
Jan. 19

Jan. 22
Jan. 24

 
Jan. 26


Jan. 29

Jan. 31
Feb. 2

Feb. 5
Feb. 7
Feb. 9


Feb. 12
Feb. 14
Feb. 16

Feb. 19
Feb. 21
Feb. 23

Feb. 26
Feb. 28
Mar. 1

Mar. 4-8

Mar. 11
Mar. 13
Mar. 15

Mar. 18
Mar. 20
Mar. 22

Mar. 25
Mar. 27
Mar. 29

Apr. 1
Apr. 3
Apr. 5

Apr. 8
Apr. 10
Apr. 12

Apr. 15
Apr. 17
Apr. 19

Apr. 22
Apr. 24
Apr. 26

Syllabus; Introduction to the course
The First Immigrants, 17th & 18th Century

Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
Benjamin Franklin, "The Way to Wealth"; "Information
to Those Who Would Remove to America"; "Remarks
Concerning the Savages of North America"
Nathaniel Hawthorne, "My Kinsman, Major Molineux
"

Herman Melville, "The Paradise of Bachelors, the Tartarus of Maids"
Melville
Guest Instructor; text to be announced

Film: Charlie Chaplin, The Immigrant
Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills
Harding Davis


Harding Davis
Exam #1
No class

No Class
Willa Cather, My Antonia
Cather

Cather
Bernard Malamud, "The Jewbird"
Isaac Bashevis Singer, "The Little Shoemaker"

Spring Break

Film: The Immigrants
Film cont'd.
Discussion; Paper #1 due

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald

Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Hurston
Hurston

Sandra Cisneros, "Barbie-Q"
Exam #2
Easter Holiday

Easter Holiday
Richard Dokey, "Sanchez"
Dokey

Leslie Marmon Silko, "Storyteller"
Silko, "Yellow Woman"
Silko

Wang Pink, "Lipstick"; "Lotus"
Katherine Min, "The One Who Goes Farthest Away"
Prep for final exam; course evaluations