Nineteenth Century American Literature
Winter 2016
Dr. Gary Cale
Email: calegaryj@jccmi.edu
Telephone: 517-796-8562
Office: WA 226B
Office hours: TBA and by appointment
The Course: This course is concerned with how writers have imagined and recorded nineteenth
century America. The century begins with the Jeffersonian vision of an agrarian paradise coupled
with the belief that “our” land would not be exhausted for one thousand years; it ends with the
closing of the frontier and the establishment of dirty, dangerous American cities. As we read and
discuss the texts, we will pay special attention to relations between men and women, men and
women of different “races,” between savagery and civilization. This course, then, will examine
the literature and culture of 19th century America.
The Technological Needs: You must have regular—as in every single day to be precise—access
to a computer that is connected to the internet. No excuses. (Yeah, emergencies do occur, but not
nearly as frequently as many of my online students claim. Understand?)
The Reading: To be blunt, there’s a lot to read. To keep up you will need to be, as Whitman and
Thoreau say you must, an athlete in your reading: alert and awake. However, don’t let the
reading list daunt you: in many cases you will only have to read specific chapters out of some of
the longer non-fiction works.
No doubt as you scan the reading list below you will notice some conspicuous absences
including Cooper (go ahead and read The Last of the Mohicans, okay?), Dickinson and Poe. I
could add Emerson to that list, Edward Bellamy, Charles Brockden Brown, even George Catlin.
Although I think they are important writers, we simply do not have time to read every one. I have
replaced them, in some cases, with less well-known writers, writers who in many cases have
spoken “against the grain” of American culture.
Although I will give you a set schedule of readings, we will probably jump from text to text as
we follow particular threads in our discussions. If you need order and a lock-step style of
teaching, this is not the class for you.
The Texts: First of all, it is up to you to decide which texts you should buy and what you can
beg, borrow or steal. I have selected Norton Critical Editions in most cases. I have two kids in
college, so I know that texts are expensive. You can find the longer texts used and online if you
want to buy a print copy or you can find the books online at the websites listed below. Shorter
texts I have uploaded to our JetNet course site. (Every single text is in the public domain, so we
will not be violating any copyright issues.) You can find most of these books for fantastically
cheap prices, if you look around, and plan ahead.
Alexis de Tocqueville, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. Bantam.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/toc_indx.html
Lydia Maria Child, HOBOMOK
Available on JetNet.
“An Appeal for the Indians”: Available on JetNet.
Francis Parkman, THE OREGON TRAIL.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/OREGON/oregon.html
Walt Whitman, LEAVES OF GRASS AND SELECTED PROSE.
Preface 1855: Available on JetNet
“Song of Myself”: http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/whitman/1855.html
Henry David Thoreau, WALDEN AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE.
THE MAINE WOODS, Penguin Books
“Civil Disobedience” http://eserver.org/thoreau/civil.html
The Maine Woods http://eserver.org/thoreau/mewoods.html
Walden http://www.eserver.org/thoreau/walden00.html
Frederick Douglass, NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Douglass/Autobiography/01.html
Harriet Beecher Stowe, UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/utc/
Herman Melville, MELVILLE'S SHORT WRITINGS.
BENITO CERENO: http://books.mirror.org/melville/benitocereno/s001.html
“Bartleby…”: http://www.esp.org/books/melville/piazza/contents/bartleby.html
Mark Twain, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN.
http://www.literature.org/authors/twain-mark/huckleberry/index.html
Kate Chopin, THE AWAKENING. http://www.pbs.org/katechopin/library/awakening/
Jacob Riis, HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES. Dover.
http://www.bartleby.com/208/
Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”
Available on JetNet.
Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle”
Available on JetNet.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Maypole of Merry Mount”
“Main Street”
“The Duston Family”
Available on JetNet.
Sara Winnemucca, Life Among the Piutes.
Available on JetNet.
Chief Joseph, “An Indian’s View of Indian Affairs”
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/JosIndi.html
Zitkala-sa, “Impressions of an Indian Childhood,”
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/ZitImpr.html
“The Soft-Hearted Sioux,” http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/ZitSoft.html
Grading: Your grade will be based on three criteria:
1) Participation in weekly discussion forums —30 points
2) Midterm and final examination—15 points each
3) Two formal essays—20 point each
I would enjoy “reading” collaborative essays/projects instead of individually written essays, so
you might want to find a couple other students in the class who might like to collaborate with
you. I especially welcome multimedia presentations instead of traditional essays.
More detailed information on test dates and essay deadlines is included in the Reading Calendar.
All assignments will be posted on JetNet.
The grading scale for this course is below. I do not anticipate anyone getting a grade below a 2.0.
If you are earning a grade below a 2.0 at mid-semester, I will discuss with you available options
including withdrawal from the class.
4.0 90-100 points
3.5 85-89 points
3.0 80-84 points
2.5 75-79 points
2.0 70-74
Exam and Paper Policy: Plagiarized papers or exams results in a 0.0 grade—no points
whatsoever. However, I expect you to do some research in order to bolster your arguments.
Doing research, then, on the texts is necessary and expected if you want to be successful. If you
use any of that material, if you quote, paraphrase, or partially paraphrase, you must give credit to
the original source. In our department, we use the Modern Language Association (MLA)
guidelines to help us document the material and cite the sources we borrowed. If you do not have
the MLA manual, the address below will take you to one of the many good websites that
explains how to cite sources.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01//mla/index.shtml
Turning in papers or exams late is unacceptable. Late papers will receive a 25% deduction in
grade as will the midterm exam. Both papers and the midterm must be submitted within a week
of the due date. After one week, I will not accept the essay for a grade, and you will receive no
points for that assignment. Because life sometimes gets in the way of school, I am always willing
to talk to you about possible deadline extensions. However, you must discuss your situation with
me before the deadline.
Discussion Forums: We’ve all sat through numerous in-class discussions, discussions often
monopolized by loquacious students and over-eager instructors. In short, often discussions
become two person exchanges or teacher lectures. We will not have this problem. In this
environment, everyone is allowed to speak (and is required to do so); everyone has a chance to
think before they speak, and everyone has a chance to respond to other people’s ideas. Instead of
one or two voices dominating the conversation, everyone has a chance to “sound their barbaric
yawp” (thanks, Walt Whitman) over the electronic rooftops of our digital classroom. Make
sense?
I have only a few guidelines for completing discussions properly.
1. Respond fully to the questions. Sometimes the answers may look like mini-essays.
2. Respond in a timely fashion. Generally, at the end of the week, the discussion forum will end.
Responses posted after the deadline will not be considered for credit.
3. Respond critically, but not hostilely. I am trying to foster a conversation, not an attack session.
Discuss the ideas—be passionate about your considered opinions/interpretations—but ad
hominem attacks are NOT acceptable.
4. Respond by using the texts. Quote liberally or sparingly as meets the intent of your post, but
always explain how the quote supports your interpretation and give us a page/chapter/line
reference so that we can find the passage in the work as well
5. Read everyone’s comments. Sometimes that may take quite a bit of time, but you will be
rewarded by the rich responses of your fellow students. Always read mine; I am, supposedly, the
"expert"; to be honest, I teach via questions.
Correspondence and Miscellany: My email address is listed above. I will post grades online
using the electronic grade book.
You will receive performance/attendance comments at the two, four and eight week point in the
semester. If you have not been participating, I am required to drop you from the class. At the
eight-week point you will also receive a letter grade. If you have been participating weekly, you
should be in fine shape. After week eight, YOU must officially drop the class if you decide to
quit participating; I am not allowed to drop you from the class after week eight.
This course satisfies Associate Degree Outcome 6: Understand and appreciate aesthetic
experience and artistic creativity; and Associated Degree Outcome 1: Write clearly, concisely
and intelligibly.
If you have any questions, please do not ever hesitate to contact me. Thanks. Let’s have a great
semester.
Dr. Cale
CALENDAR OF READING ASSIGNMENTS
All readings should be completed before class of each week. Please use this as a guide: I may
assign additional shorter readings as well, adding and subtracting as I see necessary, but below
are the main assignments.
Week 1: Read carefully Turner's "Significance of the Frontier in American History" and Chief
Joseph’s “An Indian’s View of Indian Affairs.” These are key early reading assignments.
Week 2: In Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, closely read Chapter XVIII, beginning with
“The Present and Probable Future Condition of the Three Races which Inhabit the Territory of
the United States.” Read up to “What are the Chances in Favor of the Duration of the American
Union.” We will be using Tocqueville's “Three Races in America” as a rough outline for the
course, looking first at the relationships between American “Indians” and Euro-Americans (with
a bit of gender analysis thrown in as well), then looking at the relations between African
Americans and Euro-Americans, and looking at relations between men and women. This chapter,
then, is must reading.
****Read as much as you can of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, Volume One, the preface
and chapters 1-4 by the end of the week if you have time. You can skim this material. It will
provide context for the "Three Races" chapter.
Week 3: Read Child’s Hobomok and “An Appeal for the Indians.”
Week 4: Read Parkman’s The Oregon Trail and the Preface to The Oregon Trail (online on
JetNet.)
Week 5: Read (to be decided) selections from Winnemucca’s Life Among the Piutes.
Read Zitkala-sa’s “The Soft-Hearted Sioux” and “Impressions of an Indian Childhood.”
Week 6: Read Thoreau’s The Maine Woods.
Week 7: Read Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener.”
Week 8: Read Whitman’s 1855 Preface o Leaves of Grass, “Song of Myself” and “The
Sleepers.” Different poems may been assigned--so stay flexible at this point. Check out "Song of
the Redwood" and "Song of the Broad-Axe," "Pioneers, O Pioneers," for certain. Hey, Whitman
has been used recently in two Levi's ads. The first is a selection of stanzas from "Pioneers, O
Pioneers." The second is a wax-cylinder recording of Whitman's voice, the only known (?)
recording.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG8tqEUTlvs&feature=player_embedded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdW1CjbCNxw&feature=player_embedded
Week 9: Read Melville's "Benito Cereno."
Week 10: Read Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Week 11: Read Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Week 12: Read Twain's Huckleberry Finn.
Week 13: Read Tocqueville's Democracy in America, (Book III, chapters 1-14), about American
manners and America's attitudes toward equality of the sexes: you only need to skim this section.
Read Chopin's The Awakening.
Week 14: Read in Riis’s How the Other Half Lives: introduction, chapters 1, 2, 6, 13, 22, 23.
Look carefully at all the photographs.
Week 15:
Final Conversations