Women in Literature Daily Syllabus Spring 2008
MWF 8:05-9 am
H148
Brigitte McCray
Office: H106
Direct: 354-2594
Ext. 3394
bnmccray@northeaststae.edu
Office Hours—MWF: 9:10-12:10; T: 3-4 pm
Course Description and Objectives: While focusing on a number of topics throughout
the semester, we will consider what it means for women to be "in" literature, as characters
and as authors. We will pay special attention to questions of literary tradition: is there a
female tradition that is distinct from a male tradition? If so, what are its concerns? How do
female writers approach questions of authorship? How do women writers draw upon the
works of their literary "mothers"? While we focus on commonalities among women and
women writers, we will also ask ourselves what are the differences that exist among our
authors. How do women writers revise and contest each other's works?
Required Text: The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women. 3rd Edition. Ed. Gilbert, Sandra
and Susan Gubar. New York: Norton.
Weight of Grades:
Research Project: 30 %
Response Essay I & II, research note cards, proposals for response essays, and required
conference: 20 %
Written Mid-Term Essay: 15 %
Written Final Exam: 15 %
Study Guide Responses: 10 %
Class Participation and attendance: 10 %
Plagiarism equals F in the course. This is not negotiable for anyone.
Research Project: At the end of the semester you will submit a 5-7 page research essay you
will have worked on throughout the fifteen weeks of the course. Do not let this scare you.
(Unless, of course, you fail to meet the deadlines I set for the materials.) Each assignment
you do throughout the course will build on to each other so that essentially all you will have
to do at the end is organize your material and type it up.
Part I: The Response Essays
The Research Project itself will compare and contrast two women writers focusing on a
theme/topic of your choosing. Your first analytical response essay will be written on one of
those two writers, the second response essay about the other writer.
After the first few weeks of the course, you will submit to me a brief proposal that details
which writer you’d like to analyze for your first response essay. You will also need to discuss
what topic/context you will be analyzing the writer within, providing a rough thesis that you
will attempt to prove about the work. The second proposal will do the same for your second
writer, but you will also need to add into your proposal how you see your second writer in
conversation with your first writer.
I will provide you with an assignment sheet for the response essay so you may begin thinking
and planning. However, it is very important that you do not consult any outside sources for
your response essays.
Part II: The note cards
About a week after you write your response essays, you will submit to me note cards
developed from two outside sources you will have found during the week on the author and
work you wrote about for your response essay along with photocopies of those sources.
These must be scholarly critics in the field of literary studies. Spark Notes, Cliff Notes, and
information gleaned from Wikipedia are not acceptable and will result in a F.
A sample note card will be provided to you. What should, however, be written on the note
card is the following: A key word that will help you organize the cards at the end of the
semester; the correct MLA format of the biographical information from the source as it
would appear on your MLA formatted Works Cited page; an argumentative, opinionated
direct quote from your source you’d like to use in your final essay, either a paraphrase or
summary of the quote as it would possibly appear later in your final essay as well as the
correctly formatted MLA in-text citation; and finally, since from the writing of your response
essay you will have become an authority on your writer, a comment from you about what
you think about what the source is saying. Do you agree or disagree with the source? Why or
why not? What connection are you making between what the source is saying and your own
ideas about the work?
You will have a set of note cards for author 1 and author 2. For each author, you should
pick at least three quotes per source. That means, for example, you should have six note
cards per author. You also must have one physical book per author. Your other source may
be a critical essay found on the Literature Resource Center, located on the library’s home
page.
Part III: Required Conference
You will be required to have one 10-15 minute conference with me. I will schedule these
conferences during class. You may come during my office hours or schedule a different time.
Bring with you to the conference: the two response essays, your note cards, and ideas for the
final essay so that I may give you feedback on the direction your essay is taking.
Part IV: The Research Essay
You will write a 5-7 page persuasive essay comparing and contrasting two women writers.
You must write the essay in third person objective point of view, have correct MLA
formatting, be double spaced and typed with 1 inch margins, and have 12 point Times New
Roman font with a Works Cited page. Your Works Cited page does not count as a page for
the research essay itself. I will grade these essays on writing mechanics as well as content, so
allow yourself plenty of time to proofread your essay.
Your essay should include information from four outside scholarly sources: two books and
two essays. Your essay should be composed of detail/example filled paragraphs. State a
clear, arguable thesis, and support that thesis with evidence from the works themselves and
opinions/analysis from your secondary sources.
Place all your materials in a folder.
Mid-Term and Final Exam: Both of these will be open book and open notes. You will
write about a 500 word response to a question that helps me to see your learning and
thinking about the notion of literature by women writers.
Study Guide Questions: The purpose for these is two fold. First, they will be incentive for
you to read. For each work, I will provide you with about two-three questions. Answering
them will show me that you’ve done the reading for the week. “I don’t know” or “I have no
idea”, etc. are not answers. Also, I’d like you to come up with one question per study guide
on your own. Frame your question in “why” or “how” and allow it to be a question about
the work that puzzles you or interests you about the reading in some way. I will use these to
help guide our discussion during class. Second, your own questioning will serve, I hope, as a
prompt for your response essays. Each study guide is due when you come to class.
Study guide answer grades:
A: At least four to five sentences per question. The writer offers thoughtful and insightful
responses to the reading.
B: At least three to four sentences. The writer provides thoughtful responses to the reading.
C: At least two to three sentences. It is clear and evident that the writer has done the reading.
No answers equals a 0 in the grade book. Again, because these are incentives to get you to
do the reading, I will not give a D or F. If you attempt to answer the questions, and it’s clear
you’ve done the reading, you will get at least a C.
Class Participation and Attendance: Study guide answers may not be made up. I will not
extend the deadline for the final essay/research project. Because we are doing the project in
stages, you have amble time to complete the project. I will not take the essay if it’s more than
one class period late. One class period late equals one dropped letter grade. Response essays,
tests, and exams may be made up due to illness with a doctor’s note and extreme
emergencies.
Attendance counts fifty percent of your participation grade. Each absence counts
five points to be subtracted from 100. These do add up and will affect your grade. Use your
absences wisely. And, in my teaching experience, I have found direct correlations between
what students learn (and the grades they get) in their coming to class and participating.
However, attending class does not count as participation. Participation means answering
questions and becoming part of class discussions. I note who speaks up and who does not.
If you say nothing throughout the semester, you will receive an F for this part of the course.
An average grade for participation is not given for silence. I know that some folks are shier
than others, but I do encourage you to toss in your two cents’ worth on a regular basis.
Students with Disabilities: If a student has a note from the Center for Students with
Disabilities, the student needs to bring it by during my office hours or see me after class. I
will make reasonable accommodations for those students as long as I have a letter from the
Center.
Grading Policy for Essays:
The essay may earn an A if it:
 Deals with the assigned topic.
 Is written completely in standard English. It must contain no significant errors in spelling,
punctuation, grammar, or usage that obscure the writer's meaning or distract the reader.
 Adheres completely to the conventions of academic prose as stated by the instructor.
 Includes an introduction that moves readers smoothly from an engaging opener through a
presentation of the general subject of the essay and into a clear, specific thesis statement. The thesis
must offer some original and thoughtful insight about the work under discussion.
 Thoroughly develops the thesis with clear, well-reasoned arguments supported by specific, concrete,
and appropriate details. In all cases, the relevance of supporting details to the thesis must be explicit.
 Is organized in a pattern appropriate to the thesis. The organization must, in all cases, be clear, logical,
and apparent to the reader.
 Brings readers "full circle" in the conclusion; that is, it reminds readers of some pertinent and striking
motif established in the introduction.
 Is produced in the manuscript form specified by the instructor.
The essay may earn a B if it:
 Deals with the assigned topic.
 Is written primarily in standard English. It must contain very few errors in spelling, punctuation,
grammar, or usage that obscure the writer's meaning or distract the reader.
 Exhibits an attempt to adhere to the conventions of academic prose as stated by the instructor.
 Includes an introduction that gets readers' attention and clearly states the thesis. The thesis must offer
some original insight about the work under discussion.
 Supports the thesis with well-reasoned arguments supported by specific, concrete, and appropriate
details.
 Is effectively organized in a pattern appropriate to the thesis.
 Offers a conclusion that leaves readers with a feeling of completeness.
 Is produced in the manuscript form specified by the instructor.
The essay may earn a C if it:
 Is written primarily in standard English. It may contain some errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar,
or usage; but these errors should never totally obscure the writer's meaning or dominate the reader’s
perception of the essay.
 Includes an introduction that clearly states the thesis.
 Develops the thesis with at least some relevant details.
 Is organized in a pattern that is, for the most part, clear to the reader and appropriate to the thesis.
 Ends with a conclusion that reminds readers of the thesis and the details used to develop it.
 Is produced in the manuscript form specified by the instructor.
The essay may earn a D if it:
 Is written in standard English to a degree that the writer’s meaning is normally discernible. Errors in
spelling, punctuation, grammar, or usage must not dominate the essay.




Includes an introduction, thesis, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
Supports the thesis with at least some details
Exhibits some attempt at organization.
Is produced primarily in the manuscript form specified by the instructor.
The essay will earn an F if it does not meet the minimum criteria for a D. The following errors are the most
common.
 The essay does not deal with the assigned topic.
 The essay is dominated by errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, or usage that obscure the writer's
meaning or which would distract an average reader.
 The essay has no controlling thesis.
 The essay does not develop one central idea or thesis throughout the work.
 The supporting detail is weak or non-existent.
 There is little or no attempt at organization.
 The essay lacks basic parts (introduction, body paragraphs, or conclusion)
Guidelines for Courtesy and Respect
I would like to welcome all students into an environment that creates a sense of community,
pride, courtesy and respect; we are all here to work cooperatively and to learn together.
In order to create a smooth and harmonious learning community, please make every attempt
to come to all class sessions, to come to class on time, and to stay until the end of the
meeting unless you have informed me that you must leave early for an emergency. If no
reason for leaving, you will be counted absent. There may be a time when you are
unavoidably late for class. In that case, please come into the room quietly and choose a seat
closest to the entrance. Please see me after class to record your lateness; otherwise you will
be marked absent. (Please note that two tardies to class will be considered the equivalent of
one absence—see above for details on the attendance policy.)
Please turn off all cell phones unless you have informed me that you are, for example, an
EMT or firefighter, or that you are waiting for a personal emergency call. Also, please take
out I-Pod, etc. earphones and other class homework and papers except for what you need
for our class.
Once the class session has begun, please do not leave the room and then re-enter unless it is
an emergency.
If you miss a class meeting for any reason, you are responsible for all material covered, for
announcements made in your absence, and for acquiring any materials that may have been
distributed in class.
In the study of literature, because of the wide array of subject material and writers, we will
come into contact with controversial subjects such as racism, sexism, and
gay/lesbian/bisexual issues. It’s understandable you may not agree with some of the
thoughts or ideas presented from the study of certain writers. However, I have had African
American students, ethnic students, and gay/lesbian students in my classes. So please, when
we discuss this type of controversial material, be sensitive in your comments to other
students and myself.
It is important that we are all able to stay focused on the class lecture/discussion. For this
reason, only one person at a time in the class should be speaking. Side conversations are
distracting for surrounding students and for me. As you can see, simple norms of courtesy
should be sufficient to have our class run in the best interests of all of us. Thank you in
advance for your cooperation.
Reading and Assignment Schedule:
M: 01/14
Welcome and Introduction!
Assignments: Vol. 2 Virginia Woolf (212-216); “Shakespeare’s Sister”
from A Room of One’s Own (237-244); Adrienne Rich (962-965);
“When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision” (982-994); study
guide responses
(); Adrienne Rich (); “When We Dead Awaken:
Writing as Re-Vision”; reading questions
Finding a woman’s artistic voice
W 1/16
Woolf and Rich
Assignments: Anne Bradstreet (); “The Author to Her Book” ();
Mary Astell (); “Ambition” (); reading questions
F 1/18
Bradstreet and Astell,
Emily Dickinson (); “This is my letter to the World” (); “They shut
me up in Prose—“ (); “Publication—is the Auction” (); reading
questions
M 1/21
No Class/Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
W 1/23
Dickinson
Assignments: Maya Angelou (); from I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings; Maxine Hong Kingston (); “No-Name Woman” (); reading
questions
F 1/25
Angelou and Kingston
Assignments: Isak Dinesen (); “The Blank Page” (); Paule Marshall ();
“Poets in the Kitchen” (); reading questions
M 1/28
Dinesen and Marshall
Assignments: Alice Walker (); “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”
(); reading questions
W 1/30
Alice Walker
Assignments: Julian of Norwich (); “God the Mother”; Aemilia
Lanyer (); “Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” (); Christina
Rosetti (); “Eve”; reading questions
Rewriting the myths
F 2/1
Julian of Norwich, Lanyer, and Rosetti
Assignments: Rich’s “Diving into the Wreck” (); Denise Levertov
(); “The Goddess” & “Song for Ishtar” (); reading questions
M 2/4
Rich and Levertov
Assignments: Handout on myths; H.D. (); “Eurydice” (); “Helen” ();
Muriel Rukeyser ();“The Birth of Venus” (); “Myth” (); Margaret
Fuller (); “Muse and Minerva” (); reading questions
W 2/6
H.D., Rukeyser, and Fuller
Assignments: May Sarton (); “The Muse as Medusa” (); Sylvia Plath
(); “The Disquieting Muses” (); “Medusa” (); reading questions
F 2/8
Sarton and Plath
Assignments: Angela Carter (); “In the Company of Wolves”; Anne
Sexton (); “Her Kind” (); reading questions
M 2/11
Carter and Sexton
Assignments: view “Final Days” on reserve at the library; viewing
questions
W 2/13
In-class viewing: “Chosen,” the series finale of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer
Assignments: Critical essay on feminist reading of the slayer; reading
questions
F 2/15
Joss Whedon’s Buffy: redefining the girl in the alley
Assignments: Charlotte Bronte (); Jane Eyre (); reading questions
The Gothic
M 2/18
Jane Eyre
Assignments: Jane Eyre (); reading questions
W 2/20
Jane Eyre
Assignments: Jane Eyre (); reading questions
F 2/22
Jane Eyre
Due: Proposal for writer #1
Assignments: Mary Shelly (); “The Mortal Immortal”; reading
questions
M 2/25
Mary Shelly
Assignments: George Eliot (); “The Lifted Veil” (); reading questions
W 2/27
George Eliot
Assignments: Carson McCullers (); “The Ballad of the Sad Café ();
reading questions
F 2/29
Carson McCullers
Due: Response Essay #1
Assignments: Anna Leetitia Barbauld (); “The Rights of Woman” ();
Mary Wollstonecraft (); from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman;
reading questions
Fighting Injustice
M 3/3
No class/Spring Break
W 3/5
No class/Spring Break
F 3/7
Barbauld and Wollstonecraft
Assignments: Rebecca Harding Davis (); “Life in the Iron Mills ();
reading questions
M 3/10
Davis
Assignments: Toni Morrison (); Sula (); reading questions
W 3/12
Sula
Assignments: continue Sula; reading questions
F 3/14
Sula
Assignments: Phillis Wheatley (); “On Being Brought” (); Sojourner
Truth (); reading questions
M 3/17
Wheatley and Truth
Due: Note cards
Assignments: Harriet Beecher Stowe (); from Uncle Tom’s Cabin;
Harriet Jacobs (); from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (); reading
questions
W 3/19
Stowe and Jacobs
Assignments: Marita Bonner (); “On Being Young—a woman—and
Colored” (); Zora Neale Hurston (); “How It Feels to be Colored
Me” (); reading questions
F 3/21
No class/Good Friday
M 3/24
Bonner and Hurston
Assignments: Charlotte Perkins Gilman (); “The Yellow Wall-paper”
(); reading questions
Living on the Edge
W 3/16
Gilman
Assignments: Susan Glaspell (); Trifles (); reading questions
F 3/28
Glaspell
Assignments: Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” (); “Dare
you see a Soul at the White Heat” (); “Much Madness is divinest
Sense” (); “One need not be a Chamber—to be Haunted”;
“Volcanoes be in Sicily” (); reading questions
M 3/31
Dickinson
Due: Proposal for writer #2
Assignments: Plath’s “Ariel” (); “Lady Lazarus” (); “Edge” (); reading
questions
W 4/2
Plath
Assignments: Margaret Atwood (); “Rape Fantasies (); reading
questions
F 4/4
Atwood
Assignments: Joyce Carol Oates (); “Where Are You Going, Where
Have You Been?” (); reading questions
M 4/7
Oates
Due: Response essay #2
Assignments: Sarah Orne Jewett (); “A White Heron” (); reading
questions
Women and Nature
W 4/9
Jewett
Assignments: Annie Dillard (); “Holy the Firm” (); “The Death of a
Moth” (); reading questions
F 4/11
Dillard
Assignments: Margaret Atwood’s “Spelling”; “Marsh Languages ();
reading questions
M 4/14
Atwood
Due: note cards
Assignments: Tillie Olsen (); “Tell Me a Riddle (); reading questions
Growing Up Female
W 4/16
Olsen
Assignments: Gertrude Stein (); “Gentle Lena” (); reading questions
F 4/18
Stein
Assignments: Sharon Olds (); “The Mortal One”; “The One Girl at
the Boy’s Party”; reading questions
M 4/21
Olds
Due: Research essay
Assignments: Katherine Porter (); “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
(); reading questions
W 4/23
Porter
Assignments: Jamaica Kincaid (); “Girl” (); Lucille Clifton (); “anna
speaks of the childhood of mary her daughter” (); “if our grandchild
be a girl” (); reading questions
F 4/25
Kincaid and Clifton
M 4/28
Last day of class/Review for final