Dr. Catherine M. Eagan
Spring 2003
English 3-V01: Composition and Analysis of Literature
TuTh 11:00 am-12:15 pm, Room 1604
Office, Room 2175; Phone, 925-373-4972; E-mail, ceagan@laspositascollege.edu
Office Hours: WF 12:00 pm-1:30 pm; TuTh 9:30 am-10:30 am
Welcome! English 3 is a course designed to develop your writing skills by reflecting on literary
art and the culture in which it is fostered. I hope to introduce you to the multitude of ways in
which artists reflect on the world around them through writing, and to aid you in developing the
critical thinking skills needed to fully appreciate and understand those reflections. If you are not
already accustomed to reading literature, I can only hope that you come away from this course
with a new found enjoyment of fiction, poetry, and drama.
Please be aware that the prerequisite for his course is completion of English 1A with a grade of
“C” or higher. Credit for English 3 is transferable to both the CSU and UC systems.
The first portion of this syllabus will serve as our “contract” for the course—it outlines my
expectations and your rights and responsibilities. We will review it together on the first day of
class, and you will initial each section, to show that you have read and agreed to that section’s
contents. The second portion of the syllabus contains the class schedule. Please be aware that
this schedule is subject to change—if you are absent and miss any announcements about changes
to the schedule, you will still be held to the new schedule. Therefore, you should make sure to
contact me or another student about the day’s announcements and activities if you are forced to
be absent.
Student’s Initials ________
Required Texts:
Barnet, Sylvan, et. al. An Introduction to Literature. 12th ed. New York: Longman, 2001
(You will bring this text to every class meeting.).
A good writing manual. You may already have Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference (4th
ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999) from your English 1A course; if you would like to use
another manual, just bring it in for approval.
A good dictionary. The choice is yours; the LPC bookstore usually has a good selection. If you
can afford it and don’t already have one, I recommend buying as comprehensive a dictionary as
possible (i.e. not a tiny little abridged paperback dictionary), so it will be a truly useful aid to
your reading comprehension, and so that you can better appreciate literature and its nuances of
expression. It will be helpful to bring your dictionary to class every day, but if it is too big you
may leave it at home and consult someone else’s during in-class readings. You will be expected
to enter word definitions into your journal periodically.
Paper (if you use a spiral notebook, make sure the pages are detachable along perforated lines), a
binder or folder, pens, pencils, blue books (for the final), and access to a computer, printer, and
e-mail.
Student’s Initials ________
Grading Criteria:
Everything you do for this course will be graded, with the following letter grades and values: A+
(98), A (95), A- (93), B+ (88), B (85), B- (83), and so on. Final letter grades for the course will
be whole letter grades (i.e. no A minuses or B pluses), and will be determined based on the
following scale: A (90-100), B (80 89), C (70-79), D (60-69), and F (59 or lower). Please take
your assignment deadlines seriously—as I explained above, a missed assignment is an
automatic zero, which is very hard to recover from. Also keep in mind that unexcused
absences adversely affect your participation grade, since you are physically unable to participate.
Make sure to keep track of your grade as the class progresses--last minute efforts to raise grades
are often fruitless.
The following list of assignments and how much they count towards the final grade should help
you keep on track:
Reader Responses and Journal Entries: 25%
Essays and Essay Drafts: 40%
Group Dramatic Reading: 5%
Research Paper: 10%
Final Exam: 10%
Class Participation: 10%
Reader Responses and Journal Entries:
Journal entries and reader responses may be handwritten, but don’t take this to mean that they
can be as loosely constructed as a freewrite—you should write as thoughtful and well-organized
an entry or response as you can. Sometimes you will have explicit directions for journal entries
and reader responses—but most often, you will be expected to write in your journal on your own
initiative. Journal entries may include notes you take on the text while reading; reader responses;
word definitions; essay and essay revision ideas; or responses to the textbook’s “topics for
critical thinking and writing.” Markings you make on the text while reading are also counted as
journal entries. Aside from the individual journal entries and responses which I will ask you to
submit, your journal as a whole will be submitted for a grade near the end of our semester.
Essays and Essay Drafts:
To ensure that you receive full credit for your essays, type and double-space them in 12-point
Times New Roman font with one-inch margins and left justification, and head them with your
name, my name and the course number, and the day the assignment is due (not the day you
completed it). I will accept journal entries and in-class writing exercises handwritten on lined
binder paper, but the pages must not be ripped out of a spiral notebook—use loose leaf paper, or
spiral notebook paper that has perforation lines. If you like to handwrite essay drafts, I will ask
you to submit them with a typewritten version.
Group Dramatic Reading:
The planning and execution of this reading will all take place during one of our class meetings.
Since this will be a group project, an individual who is absent will not be able to make it up, and
will get a zero for the project. Review the course schedule below, and make sure you will be
able to attend this class meeting. More information on my expectations for this reading will be
forthcoming.
Research Paper:
The research paper will challenge you to do a literary/historical interpretation of two to three
poems, united by theme. You will receive a list of research paper topics and appropriate poems
to choose from towards the end of the session.
Final Exam:
The exam will be on the last day of class, and will most likely demand that you do some writing
and answer some questions on the texts we read and genres and concepts we studied.
Class Participation:
This portion of your grade will be based on your participation in class discussion and in group
work. Class participation is so important not only because it makes our classes exciting and
enjoyable, but because it provides me with an indication of how well you are keeping up with
and comprehending the reading. Remember that absences adversely affect your participation
grade—if you aren’t in class, you can’t participate!
Student’s Initials _______
Attendance:
Attendance is mandatory. If you miss a total of four consecutive or six cumulative
instructional hours and/or two consecutive weeks of instruction, you may be dropped from the
course. Like language courses, writing courses require a high level of commitment and
conscientious completion of all assignments. If you decide to drop the course, do not just stop
attending and assume that I will drop you. It is your responsibility to ensure that you officially
withdraw and get withdrawn from the course, or you risk receiving a failing grade. The last day
to add or drop with a no-grade-of-record is February 7; the last day to withdraw with a
“W” is April 11. As a general rule, late papers and writing exercises will not be accepted,
unless serious sickness or family emergency is to blame. If you miss an assignment deadline due
to such an emergency, you must leave a voice message or e-mail with me before the end of the
class period, if you hope to submit your assignment late.
Student’s Initials ________
Rules of Conduct:
Participation is integral to your grade in this course, but comments made in class should always
be relevant and not disruptive. Though this class meets early in the morning, I expect students to
be prepared and attentive. Please do not talk to others while I am teaching or while students are
contributing to class discussion; if you wish to contribute to the discussion, raise your hand or
respectfully interject your comments, taking care not to aggressively interrupt. Wearing caps
and hats in class will not be allowed, simply because they often preclude eye contact. Cell
phones and beepers must be turned off before class begins.
Most importantly, please familiarize yourself with LPC’s policy on academic dishonesty. For
your information, cheating is “the act of obtaining or attempting to obtain credit for academic
work through the use of any dishonest, deceptive, or fraudulent means.” Cheating includes
copying or obtaining answers from other students, submitting work previously presented in
another course, using unauthorized materials during an exam, altering or interfering with grading
or grading instructions, sitting for an examination by a surrogate, or as a surrogate, any act which
“defrauds or misrepresents," and aiding or abetting in any of the previously mentioned actions.
Plagiarism is “the act of representing the work of another as one's own (without giving
appropriate credit) regardless of how that work was obtained and submitting it to fulfill academic
requirements.” You must give appropriate credit if you incorporate the “ideas, words, sentences,
paragraphs, or parts thereof, of the specific substance of another's work,” not represent them as
your own.1
When a student is charged with cheating, plagiarism, or some other breach of proper academic
conduct, Las Positas will process the charge “in accordance with the policy and procedures in
order to protect the student’s rights and the College’s interest. A student may be expelled,
suspended, placed on probation or given a lesser sanction, as deemed appropriate, for one or
more of the causes occurring on College/District premises” (Las Positas College Catalog 20022004 40). For more information, you may consult the Office of the Vice President of Student
Services, the Counseling Office, and the Office of the Associated Students.
As the Internet has become more popular, it has become increasingly easy to cheat and
plagiarize. To avoid being accused of plagiarism or cheating as a result of a careless mistake,
please feel free to consult me if you are unsure how to attribute someone's work or properly
proceed with a paper assignment or exam.
Student’s Initials ________
Extra Help and Advice:
1
Quotations and summary taken from Ohlone College’s “Policy on Academic Dishonesty.”
Whether you seek to avoid plagiarism, improve your writing and grammar, or just talk about the
course and your academic career, please do not forget that I am here to help you. You should
know that I will make myself available for limited individual consultation on the days devoted to
workshops, group work, and preparing your research project and portfolio. But if you desire to
speak with me at greater length, please visit my office hours or approach me after class to set up
an alternate conference time. Reading and writing tutors are also available in the English Center,
in room 400, at no charge.
Student’s Initials ________
I look forward to our semester together!
COURSE SCHEDULE:
Please be advised that this schedule is a provisional one, and is subject to change.
Tuesday, January 21:
Introductions. Freewriting exercise on your experiences with literature. Analyze Pat Mora’s
“Immigrants,” p. 7, in class.
Assignment: Read p. 3-11. Read topic #2 in “Topics for Critical Thinking and Writing,”
p. 6-7, and write a journal entry explaining your conclusions.
Thursday, January 23:
Discuss process of interpreting literature for “performance” and “significance.” Share journal
entries on Frost and discuss poem. Introduction to writing (and pre-writing) about literature, pp.
24-26, and to “how to mark a book.”
Assignment: Read and mark Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” pp. 26-28, and then
read pp. 28-32. Write your own impressions of the story in your journal, either as a freewrite, a
list, a series of questions, or a combination of these. Continue reading until p. 40.
Tuesday, January 28:
Discuss Chopin story, and review student analysis of it. Read and mark Ernest Hemingway’s
“Cat in the Rain” and following commentary, pp. 55-59, in class. Make notes on your
impressions of the story before reading the sample student response.
Assignment: Read pp. 59-65, the student response to and textbook questions about
Hemingway’s story, and write a journal entry describing the differences in your responses. Read
and mark Anton Chekhov’s “Misery”, pp. 69-73.
Thursday, January 30:
Discuss Hemingway story and responses. Lecture on aspects of short story—plot, character, and
theme. Explain how the assumptions of reader-response criticism might help guide student
interpretations of literature. Analyze “Misery” as a class.
Assignment: Read pp. 85-89, on narrative point of view and pp. 109-12, on symbolism
and setting. Then read and mark Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” pp. 133-38.
Write your impressions of the story in your journal.
Tuesday, February 4:
Discuss Poe story briefly. Then break up into 7 groups and review the questions on pp. 130-33
as they relate to Poe’s story. Report back to the class. Review student response and essay, pp.
138-43.
Assignment: Read and mark Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal,” pp. 151-62. Make notes
towards a response to the story in your journal. Review pp. 45-47, then write a 2-3 page essay
draft in response to one of the questions on p. 162. Bring two copies of your essay and your
writing manual to class.
Thursday, February 6:
Discuss Ellison story. Break up into pairs and share essays, filling out peer editing questionnaire
and discussing answers with your partner. Review writing manual on essay format and citation
style (Hacker, pp. 329, point 10, and 348-51).
Assignment: Read the rest of “A Casebook on Ralph Ellison’s ‘Battle Royal’” (pp. 151
and 162-84), and write a one-page journal entry on how your paper might improve in light of
what you now know about the larger contexts for Ellison’s story.
Tuesday, February 11:
Discuss casebook, and formalist style of interpretation versus historically informed
interpretation. Share journal entries. Review writing manual on proper way to integrate quoted
and paraphrased information into essay (Hacker, pp. 85-91).
Assginment: Finish revising essay, expanding it to 4 or 5 pages. Pay special attention to
issues of grammar. Gather essay together with reader response, prewriting exercises, and first
draft. You will submit the whole package on Thursday.
Thursday, February 13:
Lecture on the novel, and how it is different from and similar to the short story. Begin reading
and marking Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, pp. 546.
Assignment: Read The Awakening up until page 590.
Tuesday, February 18:
Discuss The Awakening.
Assignment: Finish The Awakening. Make notes towards an essay which responds to
questions 5 or 6 (see pp. 637-38), or which takes up a topic of your own choosing.
Thursday, February 20:
Discuss The Awakening. Essay-writing workshop.
Assignment: Finish 3-4 page essay on The Awakening. Be sure to leave time for editing
and proofreading.
Tuesday, February 25:
Lecture on drama, covering plot and character, directions, gesture, costumes, sets, sound effects,
type of theater, tragedy versus comedy.
Assignment: Read “A Note on Greek Tragedy,” pp. 972-73 and Sophocles’s Antigone,
pp. 1010-37.
Thursday, February 27:
Discuss Antigone, paying special attention to the issue of whether fate or hubris is responsible
for Antigone’s death. Talk about possible effects of English staging. Review film clips of two
different versions of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and write brief journal entry on their
differences.
Assignment: Read and mark “A Casebook on Hamlet, pp. 1038-48, and beginning of
Hamlet, pp. 1048-61.
Tuesday, March 4:
Discuss Hamlet and two different filmed versions. Review film clips, and add to journal entry
on their differences.
Assignment: Continue reading Hamlet, pp. 1061-1109 (Act 3, Scene 2). 1158. Note any
words you don’t know in your journal, and use your dictionary to provide definitions. Also,
write down any lines that you don’t understand.
Thursday, March 6:
Discuss Hamlet.
Assignment: Finish Hamlet. Read “In Brief: Writing about Drama,” pp. 1246-59. Write
a 2-3 page essay answering one of the questions on pp. 1158-60 (I will tell you the questions
from which you can choose in advance.). Bring your completed essay to class on March 11.
Tuesday, March 11:
Divide into groups, if possible according to essay topic. Pick one scene and as a group, discuss
how you might present it on the stage, taking into account setting, costumes, sets, and the other
factors we’ve discussed. Also take into consideration an interpretation of the scene suggested by
one, or more than one, of your essays. Assign one of your number to be the note-taker. Submit
essays at end of class.
Assignment: Read the remainder of “A Casebook on Hamlet,” pp. 1160-77. Consider
whether anything you learned by reading these essays should influence the presentation of your
group’s Hamlet scene, and write a journal entry noting your conclusions.
Thursday, March 13:
Continue group discussion of how to present Hamlet scene on the stage, taking casebook and
journal reflections into account. Co-write a 2-3 page journal entry on your decisions.
Assignment: Make any necessary preparations for the presentation of your Hamlet scene
on Tuesday.
Tuesday, March 18:
Perform Hamlet scenes.
Assignment: Begin reading and marking Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, pp. 13991431 (end of Act I). Write reader response on your impressions of what you’ve read so far in
your journal.
Thursday, March 20:
Discuss Death of a Salesman. Break up into groups and discuss how you’d direct a dialogue of
30 lines or so (see topic #9, “Topics for Critical Thinking and Writing,” p. 1468). Report back to
the class.
Assignment: Finish Death of a Salesman, and then read “Tragedy and the Common
Man, pp. 1468-71. Read topic #1, “Topics for Critical Thinking and Writing,” p. 1468, and begin
planning an essay you’ll write in response to it in your journal. Instead of Oedipus Rex, consider
Antigone along with Hamlet and Death of a Salesman.
Tuesday, March 25:
Begin screening made-for-television version of Death of a Salesman, starring Dustin Hoffman, in
class.
Assignment: Write first draft of 4-5 page essay on tragedy. Bring one copy to submit to
instructor on Thursday.
Thursday, March 27:
Finish screening TV version of Death of a Salesman.
Assignment: Write extended (2-3 page) journal entry on television version of Death of a
Salesman. Bring copy of your 4-5 page essay to class on Tuesday.
Tuesday, April 1:
Discuss TV version of Death of a Salesman. Revision workshop.
Assignment: Revise essay on Death of a Salesman,
Thursday, April 3:
NO CLASS—INSTRUCTOR AT CONFERENCE.
Tuesday, April 8:
Submit revision of essay. Review elements of comedy, and read Wendy Wasserstein’s The Man
in a Case, pp. 1181-87, in class.
Assignment: Write answers to the two “Topics for Critical Thinking and Writing” in
your journal.
Thursday, April 10:
Discuss Wasserstein play, and answers to p. 1187 questions. Read Luis Valdez’s “The Actos,”
pp. 1482-83, as preparation for reading Los Vendidos.
Assignment: Read and mark Luis Valdez’s Los Vendidos, pp. 1471-81. Respond to
topics #5-9 in your journal.
Tuesday, April 15 and Thursday, April 17:
SPRING BREAK—NO INSTRUCTION
Tuesday, April 22:
Discuss Los Vendidos, and read sections out loud. Discuss journal entries.
Assignment: Read and mark “Explication,” William Butler Yeats’s “The Balloon of the
Mind,” and sample student analysis, pp. 40-43. Then read and mark “Approaching Poetry:
Responding in Writing,” pp. 641-51.
Thursday, April 24:
Lecture on and examination of lyric poetry: poems may include “Michael Row the Boat
Ashore,” “Careless Love,” “Stop All the Clocks, Cut Off the Telephone,” “Deep River,” “Didn’t
My Lord Deliver Daniel,” “Evenin’ Air Blues,” “I Ask My Mother to Sing,” “A Noiseless
Patient Spider,” “anyone lived in a pretty how town,” and “Sympathy.”
Assignment: Pick one of your favorite lyric poems and respond to one of the “Topics for
Critical Thinking and Writing” that follows it in your journal. Read and mark “The Speaking
Tone of Voice,” pp. 671-74.
Tuesday, April 29:
Examine poems written in a speaking tone. Poems may include “We Real Cool,” “Not Waving
but Drowning,” “Homosexuality,” “My Last Duchess,” “To the Virgins, to Make Much of
Time,” “My Mother and the Bed,” and “next to of course god america I.”
Assignment: We already got a taste of how a knowledge of history might enhance our
understanding of a short story when we read the casebook on Ellison’s “Battle Royal.” For your
research project, you will explore how a knowledge of history can enhance one’s understanding
of a poem, and write a paper which outlines your findings. As preparation for our research
paper, read Appendix C, “New Approaches to the Research Paper,” pp. 1719-62. Then read
“Writing a Research Paper,” pp. 1700-05.
Thursday, May 1:
Examine poems for figurative language, imagery, and symbolism. Poems may include “A Red,
Red Rose,” “A Simile for Her Smile,” “A Work of Artifice,” “The Red Wheelbarrow,”
“Digging,” “The Sick Rose,” “The Tropics in New York,” “Diving into the Wreck,” and
examples of haiku. Discuss handout on research paper.
Assignment: Review handout and read through poems that you may choose to write a
research paper about.
Tuesday, May 6:
Examine poems for irony. Poems may include “Rites of Passage,” “Dream Boogie,” “Tony
Went to the Bodega but He Didn’t Buy Anything,” “Love Is Not All: It Is Not Meat nor Drink.”
Assignment: Read and mark pp. 746-49 and 755-59, on rhythm and versification.
Thursday, May 8:
Examine poems for rhythm and versification. Poems may include “An Immorality,” “Eight
O’Clock,” “Do not go gentle into that good night,” “Blackberry Eating,” and “When I Heard the
Learn’d Astronomer.
Assignment: Read “In Brief: Writing about Poetry,” pp. 764-73. Do some preliminary
research on two of the poems you are interested in writing about.
Tuesday, May 13:
Discuss poems selected for research project in class. You will only do minimal research, but it
should be a nice complement to your explication and analysis of the poem. Library tour.
Assignment: Decide which poem you will write about, and carefully read and mark it
multiple times. Though you haven’t started your research yet, do some prewriting exercises to
figure out how you’d like to approach the poem. This will make it easier to do only the amount
of research you need to fill out your analysis.
Thursday, May 15:
NO CLASS—INDIVIDUAL APPOINTMENTS IN INSTRUCTOR’S OFFICE.
Assignment: Complete your minimal background research over the weekend. Write in
your journal about how it will fit into your paper.
Tuesday, May 20:
NO CLASS—INDIVIDUAL APPOINTMENTS IN INSTRUCTOR’S OFFICE.
Assignment: Finish your 5-7 page research paper. Attach all poem markings, journal
notes, prewriting exercises, and drafts.
Thursday, May 22:
Submit 5-7 page research paper in class. Write detailed journal entry on how your appreciation
for literature has deepened (you will not fail this assignment if you confess that you still don’t
like literature, but I hope you’ve liked some of what we’ve done!). Prepare for final exam.
Assignment: Study for final exam.
Tuesday, May 27:
FINAL EXAM—9:30-11:20 AM