ADVANCED COMPOSTION

English 120A

Course Description

In this section of 120A we will concentrate on how to write effective essays about literature. This will not be a "general" writing class; our focus is literature and how one makes an argument about literary texts. We will consider the genres of poetry, short fiction, and novels. Students will write two shorter essays and then choose one of the "anchor" texts and write a longer research paper. We will cover such issues as crafting an argumentative thesis, marshalling evidence from the text, seeking and incorporating secondary sources, and analyzing ideas and material in a compelling fashion.

Schedule of Activites: (PDF copy of syllabus here)

M–8/29--INTRODUCTION
W--8/31–In-Class Essay & Gardner, Chapters 1 ("The Role of Good Reading") & 2 ("The Writing Process") Essays for Review Critique Form

M–9/5–"
W–9/7–Gardner, Chapter 5 ("Writing About Poems") Thesis Statements

M–9/12–Anne Bradstreet, "The Author to Her Book," E. A. Robinson, "Miniver Cheevy," & Robert Frost, "Two Look at Two"
W–9/14–Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess" & W. B. Yeats's "Among School Children"

M–9/19--
W–9/21--Paragraphing

M–9/26--Emily Dickinson, "The Soul Selects her own Society--" Wallace Stevens, "Anecdote of the Jar"
W–9/28–Hacker, "Clarity" (1-20) & Sentences

M–10/3–WORKSHOP (bring complete draft of poetry essay)
W–10/5--James Joyce "Araby" PAPER DUE!! (Poetry Topics)

M–10/10–Herman Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener" & Gardner, Chapter 4 ("Writing About Stories")
W–10/12--Nathanael Hawthorne, "Rappaccini's Daughter"

M–10/17--
W–10/19---Margaret Atwood, "Rape Fantasies"

M–10/24--WORKSHOP (bring complete draft of short fiction essay) Steps for Revision
W–10/26--Ernest Hemingway "Hills Like White Elephants" PAPER DUE!! (sample of successful paper)

M-10/31- Review of Critical articles on Hemingway Study Qeustions of Hemingway essays
W-11/2-Resources Workshop in Computer Lab (Electronic Indexes & Databases)

M–11/7--Grammar
W–11/9--

M–11/14--Gardner, Chapter 7 ("Writing a Literary Research Paper") Annotated Bibliographies Due (see Hacker, 130-47 & Short Guide to MLA Formatting)
W–11/16–Joan Didion, Play It As It Lays ("Why I Write")

M–11/21-- " PAPER DUE!! (Research paper instructions) (sample research paper)
W–1/23--HOLIDAY

M–11/28--Conferences
W–11/30--Conferences

M--12/5--Conferences
W--12/7-- Last Day of Instruction

TEXTS

GRADING

The final course grade will be based on:

1 poetry essay	20% final grade
1 short fiction essay	25% final grade
1 research paper	45% final grade
exercises	10% final grade
class participation & improvement	swing factors

*To miss any of the assignments above will result in an automatic failure of the course. NO EXCEPTIONS.

STUDY QUESTIONS FOR STORIES AND NOVEL

"Araby"--James Joyce

1.) Explain the title; what does it mean both literally and figuratively?

2.) The story abounds in religious imagery. Trace some of this and explain what it's significance is?

3.) What is the point of the series of seemingly unrelated bits of information--disappointment with the dead priest's belongings; standing apart from the girl when speaking to her and his companions at the same time; gossip over the tea table; his uncle's tardiness and inane remarks about the boy's departure; etc.?

4.) Explain the meaning and/or significance of the last line, "Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger."

"Bartleby, the Scrivener"--Herman Melville

1.) Who is the narrator and how do we respond to him?

2.) Who is Bartleby and what is his importance?

3.) What is the importance of the concluding paragraph and it information about Bartleby's former occupation?

"Rappacini's Daughter"--Nathaniel Hawthorne

1.) What kind of garden is this; what kind of plants are here; how is the fountain important?

2.) How are we to interpret Dr. Rappacini; how and why is he important?

3.) How are we to interpret Beatrice; how and why is she important?

4.) How do we interpret Giovannni; who is he?

5.) How are we to interpret Baglioni?

6.) What is the importance of the brief introduction ("Writings of Aubépine")?

"Rape Fantasies"--Margaret Atwood

1 . What is the tone of this story and how is it related to thecharacterization and the method of narration? How is it related to the general subject announced by the title?

2.) Whom do you imagine as the person listening to the narrator? What is the occasion for telling such a story?

3.) Consider the content of these fantasies and what stands out?

4.) What seems to be the point of these stories; look especially at the title.

"Hills Like White Elephants"--Ernest Hemingway

1.) What are these people talking, or trying to talk, about; what's going on here?

2.) What is the importance of the scene where the young woman comments on the hills looking like white elephants and then the one later when she says they don't look that way after all?

3.) Has the quarrel been resolved when the story ends?

4.) Look closely at the story's method; what is significant about this?

PLAY IT AS IT LAYS--Joan Didion

1.) Discuss the importance of the setting.

2.) Analyze the significance of the recurring snake and gambling imagery.

3.) At one point the narrator writes, "Sometimes in the night she had moved into a realm of miseries peculiar to women [my italics], and she had nothing to say to Carter" (62). The suggestion here is that Maria’s experiences are uniquely female; explain the effect of the author’s choosing a female protagonist.

4.) Analyze and explain why Kate is so important to Maria. Granted that she is the woman’s child, but Maria’s obsession indicates that there may be something more involved here.

5.) What are some of the novel’s major themes; analyze the treatment of these.

CSUS Library and Research Tools | Sites of Interest