Fall 2014
John Gravener
Mondays-Wednesdays, 3:30-5:45pm
Email: john@gravener.com
Room G-9
Phone: 415-310-6677
Office Hours: F31h, Mondays and Wednesdays 6:00-6:30pm
EWRT 1B-15: Reading, Writing, and Research (Literature)
“Dystopias: Our Possible Present/Future”
PREREQUISITES: EWRT 1A with a grade “C” or higher.
THEME: From Brave New World and A Clockwork Orange to The Handmaid’s Tale, the twentieth-century has
produced a slew of horrific visions of the future. This course examines the genre of dystopia with a view to
understanding its common traits, ideological valences, and historical specificity. Although the term “dystopia”
predates 1900, dystopia became a recognizable literary genre during the twentieth century and has not lost its hold
on our imagination in the twenty-first, as evidenced by recent films such as The Island, V for Vendetta, and
Children of Men. Cautionary tales, social criticism, and thought experiments, these stories about terrifying futures
generally tell us more about the conditions in which they are made than about any anticipated future. While
hopefully not prophetic, they deserve our attention as registers of social fears and anxieties. Rather than determine
the single form of a generic dystopia, the course will focus much more on the differences between dystopian texts
and contexts. Over the semester, we will examine how different authors adapt and adjust generic traits to respond to
different socio-political circumstances and concerns, and how this adjustment is re-inscribed back into the genre.
As a way of focusing our reading and selecting specific dystopian texts, special attention will be given to questions
of gender, the importance or non-importance of sexual difference, and the role and fate of reproduction in dystopian
fictions.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This is a composition course focused on the analysis of literature and designed to
develop the process of reading, critical thinking, and writing. Writing about literature requires a great
understanding of the literature; as a class, we will devote a significant amount of time to discussing what we have
read and considering ideas the reading has generated, and therefore, your attendance and participation is essential to
this course. Within the guidelines of a mutually respectful classroom, I highly encourage questions and debate.
Often discussion is the path that leads to ideas for writing about literature, and because writing, writing, and more
writing is the path that leads to good writing, you will be responsible for producing a considerable amount of it.
REQUIRED MATERIALS: The Tempest, Shakespeare, Folger Shakespeare Library
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
Poetry handout
Short fiction handout
College-ruled notebook to be used for notes and in-class activities
Computer with access to internet
College level dictionary
Also, all essay assignments that are not done in class will be submitted electronically via email. There are
at least two benefits to this method: one, each student is encouraged to make use of the technology
available, and two, electronic submissions cut down on paper use. All comments made by me in regards
to your essays will be embedded within the electronic document and returned to you for review and
optional rewrite.
COURSE OUTCOMES:
1. Read and respond critically to various works of literature at the college level.
2. Write and revise critical essays and documented papers totaling at least 8,000 words; the writing
will analyze various works of literature.
3. Demonstrate competent English composition skills, including prewritng techniques,
organizational strategies, a clearly defined thesis and adequate support for that thesis, as well as
competence in usage, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
4. Fulfill all parts of a writing prompt, both in impromptu and out-of-class writing situations.
5. Make appropriate inferences about literature from diverse cultural and historical contexts.
6. Compare, contrast and evaluate various interpretations of literary works.
7. Assess the impact of literary devices such as symbolism, figurative language, irony, tone,
rhythm, rhyme, etc.
8. Comparatively evaluate multiple points of view and integrate them in analytical research paper.
All essays must be written in Microsoft Word only. The computers in the library and computer lab
fulfill this requirement. Do not use WordPad or Note Pad, as these do not allow for correct essay
formatting.
If, by chance, visiting the computer labs does not appeal to you, and you do not want to fork over the
money for Word, there is a cheap alternative. You can download the OpenOffice version of word
processing software AND it is totally compatible with MS Office Word. You can even save your files in
Word format, which is .doc or .docx. www.openoffice.org
QUIZZES: Quizzes will be based on the reading assignments for that day and will occur randomly.
They will be given during the first five minutes or so of the class, so try not to come late. There will be
four questions that will be graded as follows: 4 right = A, 3 = B, 2 = C, 1 = D, and 0 = F. Quizzes cannot
be made up, so if you are absent or late, you will be assigned an F. The quizzes are not meant as grade
breakers, but rather they are a way for me to make sure that you do the reading.
ESSAYS WRITTEN OUTSIDE OF CLASS: As stated above, all essays that are written outside of
class will be submitted via email. The format for each of the essays will be as follows:
Margins:
Font size:
Justify:
Citation:
Line spacing:
Average length:
1” all the way around
No larger than 12, and must be in Times New
Roman
Align text to the left margin, turning off full
document justification
The research paper will adhere to the MLA
guidelines for citations, as will your other
essays (although your shorter essays will not
have as many citations)
Double-space entire paper. There should be
NO MORE THAN one blank line between
each line, including paragraphs.
Essays should be between 4-6 pages, and that
means at minimum a full 4 pages!
MLA FORMATTING: If you are not familiar with MLA formatting (although you should be from
English 1A), you are expected to become so for this class. There are plenty of resources in the college
library, online, or in any writer’s handbook from a bookstore. You are required to adhere to MLA
formatting, and your essay grades will be affected for not doing so.
Believe me when I say that I know all of the tricks to make a printed page look fuller or a completed essay
look longer; I was once a student, too. There is absolutely no reason why each of you should not be able
to write an adequate to exceptional paper based on the material we will be discussing in class. As long as
you do not wait until the last minute to start your papers, you will have no problem in filling at least four
pages completely.
GRADING POLICY:
Final exam
Classroom Participation
Essays:
Novel (3)
Drama (1)
Short Fiction (1)
20% Thursday, December 11th, 4-6pm
20% (includes attendance, presentations, &
quizzes)
60%
All essays written outside of the class will be graded based on the standard letter grade scale. Based on
that scale, final grades will be computed by taking the total of points available for the class and dividing it
into the total points earned by each student. The resulting percentage will determine the student’s final
grade. The following standard scale will be used:
90-100% = A
80-89% = B
70-79% = C
60-69% = D
0-59% = F
FINAL EXAM: Our EWRT 1B final exam will take place on Thursday, December 11th from 4-6pm.
There will be no opportunity to make up this exam, and so students should make all necessary
arrangements for attendance well in advance.
ATTENDANCE: The activities, lectures, discussions, and exercises during class meetings provide you
with valuable insights and guidelines for your papers. Furthermore, since some of your writing
assignments will be done in class, it is imperative that your attendance is prompt and consistent in order to
complete this course successfully. With that said, any student who misses more than two sessions will be
dropped from the class, and any student who is more than 10 minutes late for class will be marked half an
absence. Being tardy is disruptive to the class and disrespectful to fellow students and the instructor.
LATE WORK & REWRITES: Late work will not be accepted unless arranged and agreed upon prior
to due date. Because one of the main objectives for this class is to improve your writing through practice,
you will be allowed to rewrite ONE essay. Bear in mind that rewriting a composition does not guarantee
you a passing grade on an assignment. Your rewrite must show demonstrated improvement.
PLAGIARISM: Submitting work that is not yours is a moral and ethical aberration. If you wish to use
somebody else’s ideas or words, make sure it is well documented. The minimum penalty for plagiarism is
an “F” on the assignment in which the plagiarism occurs.
At De Anza College, dishonesty (such as cheating) is defined as the act of obtaining or attempting to
obtain credit for academic work through deceptive means. Academic dishonesty at De Anza College
includes, but is not limited to:
-copying, in part or in whole, from another person’s test;
-submitting work previously presented in another course;
-using or consulting during an examination, sources or material not authorized by instructor;
-altering and interfering with grading or grading instructions;
-sitting in for an examination for another student;
-allowing anyone else to see your paper during an exam, test, or quiz;
-plagiarizing, copying sentences, phrases, or passages from an uncited source while writing a
paper.
The above policy and student disciplinary/student grievances procedures can be found in the De Anza
College Catalog. It is suggested that you make yourself familiar with these policies.
***Thanks to the ever-evolving nature of the internet, detecting plagiarism has been made easier to detect
for instructors. You have been warned: I can find out if plagiarism has occurred within your work.***
DISABILITY: The Disability Support Services (DSS) at De Anza College is designed to help students
with disabilities to achieve success by providing specialized assessment instructional programs and
support services. If you have a learning or physical need that will require special accommodations, please
let me know as soon as possible. The DSS Office is in Student Community Services Building, Room 141
and the phone number is 408-864-8753.
A FINAL NOTE ON GRADES: I know you are concerned about doing well and earning a good
grade in this class. The best way to do that it is to put your full effort into completing all assignments
along the way, come to class prepared, actively participate in class discussions, seeking help from me in
office hours and support from tutors in the writing center if you have confusions or problems. I will
evaluate your writing based on clear criteria that I will give you for each essay, and it will be your
responsibility to ask about any requirements you don't understand. Come talk to me whenever you have
questions about your work or want to discuss ideas for one of your essays, but do not email asking for a
better grade for individual essays or for the course as a whole. Grades are earned and are not
negotiable.
Stating Your Thesis
Once you have used one or more invention strategies to help you find information about your topic, you
need to decide what specific points you want to make about this topic. You begin doing this by looking
through your invention material to see what main idea it can support. You express this main idea in a
single sentence called a thesis statement.
Topic
Thesis Statement
Free day care for students
Free day care on campus would improve the lives of the
many students who are also parents.
The effects of giving up smoking
Giving up smoking saved me money and gave me selfrespect.
My grandfather
Even though he is over sixty years older than I am, my
grandfather is my role model.
To be effective, a thesis statement must do two things:
 An effective thesis statement must make a point about your topic. For this reason, it must do more
than simply state a fact or announce the subject of your essay.
STATEMENT OF FACT:
Free day care is not available on our campus.
ANNOUNCEMENT: In this essay, I will discuss free day care on campus.
EFFECTIVE THESIS: Free day-care on campus would improve the lives of the many students who
are also parents.
 An effective thesis statement must be specific and clearly worded.
VAGUE THESIS:
Giving up smoking helped me a lot.
EFFECTIVE THESIS: Giving up smoking saved me money and gave me self-respect.
Stating Your Thesis
The thesis that you state at this stage of the writing process is
not definite; it is tentative. As you write, you will probably
change this tentative thesis—perhaps several times.
Sample Dialectical Journal Entry for Louise Erdrich’s “The Woods”
“The Woods”
At one time your touches were clothing enough.
Within these trees now I am different.
Now I wear the woods.
I lower a headdress of bent sticks and secure it.
I strap to myself a breastplate of clawed, roped bark.
I fit the broad leaves of sugar maples
to my hands, like mittens of blood.
Now when I say come,
and you enter the woods,
hunting some creature like the woman I was,
I surround you.
Light bleeds from the clearing. Roots rise.
Fluted molds burn blue in the falling light,
and you also know
the loneliness that you taught me with your body.
When you lay down in the grave of a slashed tree,
I cover you as I always did;
this time you do not leave.
Note taking
“At one time your touches were clothing enough.”
“…Now I am different. / Now I wear the woods.”
“I lower a headdress of bent sticks…”
“I strap to myself a breastplate of clawed, roped
bark.”
“I fit the broad leaves of sugar maples / to my
hands, like mittens of blood.”
“Now when I say come,”
“hunting some creature like the woman I was,”
Note making
Enough what? “Enough” to provide the speaker
with satisfaction and warmth?
A change or transformation in character seems to
have taken place. It seems that the woods have
played a large role in bringing about change, for it
is within the trees of the woods that the speaker
becomes “different.”
The speaker is obviously adorning herself
(himself?) with objects of nature—the woods.
Interesting image of the wild. Could the “clawed
bark” have received its distinction from a bear?
Sugar maple leaves cover her hands completely—
fine. But why are they like mittens of blood? If
blood is an essential part of life, might we conclude
that “mittens of blood” are analogous to mittens of
life?
Why is the word “come” italicized? Perhaps this
refers to “invitations” or “entreaties” the speaker
formerly made.
This line suggests that she was once treated like a
“creature,” but she is no longer that “creature”—a
woman without a sense of self. This was the first
indication of the speaker’s sex in the poem.
“I surround you.”
“Light bleeds form the clearing. Roots rise.”
“and you also know / the loneliness that you taught
me with your body”
“when you lay down in the grave of a slashed tree”
“I cover you, as I always did; / this time you did
not leave.”
Is she implying she is no longer someone who can
be controlled or put in a narrowly defined place or
role?
Bleeding light—nice image, very visual. Since
roots “burrow” rather than “rise” in order for
something to grow, could the speaker be suggesting
that ties to her former relationship have been
released—that she has let loose one lifestyle from
her past in favor of another in the present? On the
other hand, a rising root could be a phallic
symbol…
It seems we are exchanging “realities” and their
ramifications here. The speaker found “loneliness”
(and perhaps lack of personal fulfillment) in her
mate. In her new reality, as part of the woods, he,
now the stranger, will learn the meaning of
“loneliness.”
Has her former lover/mate literally or figuratively
dies? (He seems to lie “down in the grave.”)
What has happened? The speaker indicates that she
is still somewhat of a “nurturer” or “caretaker” with
the line: “I cover you as I always did.” This much
of her character has not changed. Has her
companion left her before? Has he died?
Summary: “The Woods” begins with the speaker reflecting on the past, noting that there was a time when the
physical interaction, “the touches” of another, were enough for her, but she goes on to say now she has changed.
As the speakers moves on to the second stanza, the sort of change which has occurred becomes obvious: she has
returned to the “woman who runs with the wolves,” that is, she now personifies the “wild woman archetype.”
Phrases like “headdress of bent sticks,” a “breastplate of clawed, roped bark,” and sugar maple “mittens of blood”
all attest to such an interpretation. Now when she beckons her over/mate to “come,” she does so as a changed
person. In her transformed self, the speaker—who finally identifies gender with the line “hunting some creature
like the woman I was.” She—like the woods—will then surround the male who is searching for her discarded
persona (the person she was). The reference to the “roots” that “rise” no doubt indicate her freedom from the past.
That is, she is no longer “rooted” to people, places, and things like she once was. The final three lines present
somewhat of a puzzle. On the one hand, it seems as though her mate could have literally dies and she, being the
“nurturer” and “caretaker” she is, covers him one last time. Apparently he will remain in her domain. On the other
hand, these lines could be entirely symbolic, and the “grave” could be part of the “realities” wherein the speaker
was but a “creature,” someone who satisfied him sexually. In the woods, home of the speaker and the “wild
woman’s abode,” his realities are dead and may never again return to life.
Reading Fiction Critically: A Checklist
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Note how characters evolve. In what way do words provide initial exposition, build on
conflicts, reach a climax, and conclude with some sort of resolution?
From whose point of view is the story told? Does this point of view enhance or decrease
the credibility of the tale?
Look for motives behind characters’ actions.
Consider the role ethics, logic, and emotions play in the story.
Reflect on the dynamics of the plot with respect to larger social, political, economic,
ethnic, and gender concerns in the world today.
Reading Poetry Critically: A Checklist
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Look for images and symbols.
Observe how words are presented. In groups? In individual lines? And how do stanzas
(groups of lines separated by space) organize material?
Search for word groups establishing rhythmic patterns. How does rhythm affect the
poem?
Determine the purpose for any rhyme schemes present in the poem.
Notice when and where people, places, and things are referred to figuratively rather than
literally. Where do word sounds echo the subject under discussion?
“Ella, in a Square Apron, along Highway 80”
Judy Grahn
She’s a copperheaded waitress,
tired and sharp-worded, she hides
her bad brown tooth behind a wicked
smile, and flicks her ass
out of habit, to fend off the pass
that passes for affection.
She keeps her mind the way men
keep a knife—keen to strip the game
down to her size. She has a thin spine,
swallows her eggs cold, and tells lies.
She slaps a wet rag at the truck drivers
if they should complain. She understands
the necessity for pain, turns away
the smaller tips, out of pride, and
keeps a flask under the counter. Once,
she hot a lover who misused her child.
Before she got out of jail, the courts had pounced
and given the child away. Like some isolated lake,
her flat blue eyes take care of their own stark
bottoms. Her hands are nervous, curled, ready to scrape.
The common woman is as common
as a rattlesnake.
Old Testament 3:1-7
3Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the L
God had made. He said to
the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the
serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of
the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ 4But the serpent said
to the woman, ‘You will not die; 5for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and
you will be like God,* knowing good and evil.’ 6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its
fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both
were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths
for themselves.
ORD
2