American Lit Since Civil War

School of Arts and Humanities
LITR221
American Literature Since the Civil War
Credit Hours: 3
Length of Course: 8 weeks
Prerequisite(s): ENGL 101
Table of Contents
Course Description Evaluation Procedures
Course Scope Grading Scale
Course Objectives Course Outline
Course Delivery Method Policies
Course Resources Academic Services
Course Description
This course examines the rapid social and technological changes
that have taken place in
American culture during the mid-to-late nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, and how these
upheavals have been expressed in our nation's literature.
(Prerequisite: ENGL101).
Table of Contents
Course Scope
In this course, we will explore American literature from the
Civil War to the present. The

literature selected is diverse and represents the vast tracts of
America’s culture. Timely issues
and traditions are studied in their historical, social, political,
and economic context. With the
passage of time, these issues and dilemmas multiplied, as did
the philosophic, economic, and
cultural assumptions that helped frame our country. Frank
Norris, an American Naturalist author
stated, “The function of a novelist . . . is to comment upon life
as he sees it.”
Table of Contents
Course Objectives
After successfully completing this course, you will be able to
-1: Categorize the major authors of American literature
since the Civil War by both
genre and movement.
-2: Analyze the elements of specific literary genres,
including poetry, prose, and
biographical accounts.
-3: Compare and contrast different periods and movements
of American literature.
-4: Apply knowledge of literary concepts to determine
where a given piece fits into
the American literary canon.
-5: Distinguish the characteristics that make a literary
work uniquely American.
Table of Contents
Course Delivery Method
American Literature Since the Civil War is delivered via

distance learning. It will enable students
to complete academic work in a flexible manner, completely
online. Course materials and access
1
to an online learning management system will be made available
to each student. Assignments
for this class include written assignments and forum
assignments. Finally, in the course project
the learner will be required to relate these movements, periods,
and authors together in order to
assert a general conclusion about American literature.
Throughout the course, the learner’s
writing and documentation skills will prove essential to
demonstrate comprehension of the
material and his/her mastery of the art of academic analysis.
The instructor will support students
throughout the duration of this course.
Table of Contents
Course Materials
Required Texts:
American Literature Since the Civil War. Create edition.
McGraw-Hill, 2014.
ISBN-13: 9781308026794
Copyright Alert
Electronic Materials are provided under licensing or in keeping
with Fair Use exemptions
for your educational use only. You may quote and utilize this

material for this, other APUS
courses, and related scholarly pursuits. Unless the materials are
in the Public Domain or
specific written arrangements are made with the Copyright
holders, you may not sell,
share or otherwise distribute these documents for personal or
other use without the
likelihood of violating Copyright Law.
Software Requirements:
Table of Contents
Evaluation Procedures
FORUMS: (a minimum of 3 weekly posts required, over at least
two separate days)
Students will be asked to respond initially to eight forum topics,
as well as an Introduction
forum. Each student will then be responsible for building onto
the points of two other
students by Sunday. Initial posts in weeks 2 through 8 are due
by Thursday of the
assigned week. In week 1, all posts are due by Sunday.
Forums cannot be made up, so make sure you post your
responses by the weekly
deadlines. Again, your initial post is due by Thursday 11:55
p.m. ET, and the feedback
posts are due by Sunday at 11:55 p.m. ET. Students are
required to post over at least two
separate days each week to encourage week-long, evolving
discussion.

Each forum entry must be pertinent to the subject matter and
demonstrate knowledge
and understanding of the topics discussed with an appropriate
introduction, supporting
paragraphs, and conclusion. Direct references to the weekly
readings (specific lines, page
numbers, etc.) should be included to support--but not dominate-
-student posts.
The initial forum entries should contain 300-400+ words and
cite references to the text
under discussion. Responses to classmates should approximate
a 100+ word requirement
2
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html
each; however, responses to classmates should address the
nature of the topic and
advance the discussion forward.
Attention to proper spelling/grammar/punctuation and
organization of ideas is important
and will factor into the final score. "Texting"-type language
(lowercase i's, no punctuation
or appropriate capitalization) is unacceptable in the forums.
FORUM RUBRIC: See forum description for rubric
FORUM EXAMPLE:
The prompt to a forum might ask how an author uses figurative
language to create a

picture in the mind of the audience.
After reading “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, I was
captured by how Baldwin describes
the terrible numbing shock that his narrator experiences in
learning that his younger
brother has been arrested for possession and sale of heroin: “It
was not to be believed and
I kept telling myself that, as I walked from the subway station
to the high school. And at
the same time I couldn’t doubt it. I was scared, scared for
Sonny. He became real to me
again. A great block of ice got settled in my belly and kept
melting there all day long . . . .
It was a special kind of ice. It kept melting, sending trickles of
ice water all up and down
my veins, but it never got less. Sometimes it hardened and
seemed to expand until I felt
my guts were going to come spilling out or that I was going to
choke or scream” (319).
The image of the “great block of ice” creates the picture of the
numbing sensation that the
narrator feels at the moment of discovery and wondering what
the future will hold for his
brother. In addition, the “great block of ice” signifies the ice
that one uses to numb one’s
pain…plus another 200 words for an exemplary post.
Essays:
The essays should show evidence of careful and thoughtful
development of the subject
with attention to appropriate depth and detail. They should be
clear, coherent, and well
organized. It should be free of errors that hinder meaning and

free of plagiarized material.
Submission Instructions:
Your essays should be in MLA Style and 500-750 words, not
including the Work(s) Cited
page. As with most academic writing, this essay should be
written in third person. Please
avoid both first person (I, we, our, etc.) and second person (you,
your).
In the upper left-hand corner of the paper, place your name, the
professor’s name, the
course name, and the due date for the assignment on
consecutive lines. Double space
your information from your name onward, and don't forget a
title. All papers should be in
Times New Roman font with 12-point type with one-inch
margins all the way around your
paper. All paragraph indentations should be indented five
spaces (use the tab key) from
the left margin. All work is to be left justified. When quoting
lines in literature, please
research the proper way to cite short stories, plays, or poems.
You should use the online APUS library to look for scholarly
sources. Be careful that you
don’t create a "cut and paste" paper of information from your
various sources. Your ideas
are to be new and freshly constructed. Also, take great care not
to plagiarize.
3

COURSE LITERATURE PROJECT ASSIGNMENT RUBRIC:
See Assignments in Classroom
for rubric
Your final grade will be based on the following:
Grade Instruments Percent to Grade
Forums (8x30) 35%
Essays 1 & 2 40%
Essay 3 25%
TOTAL 100%
Table of Contents
Grading Scale
Please see the Student Handbook (click here) to reference the
University’s grading scale.
Table of Contents
8 – Week Course Outline
Week Topic
Learning
Objectives
Readings
Assignments and
Forums
1
Introduction to
the course
Meeting your

classmates and
instructor
Course
expectations
Poetry
Social criticism
Identity in
Literature
LO-1
LO-4
LO-5
Reading(s) Assignment
Introduction/American
Literature Post Civil War
“From Sand Creek” by Simon
Ortiz in the textbook, American
Literature Since the Civil War
“A Postcard from the Volcano”
by Wallace Stevens in the
textbook, American Literature
Since the Civil War
“Why I Write” by Joan Didion in
the textbook, American
“ I'm nobody, who are you? ” by

Emily Dickinson, available at
Poets.org.
“An Agony. As Now. ” by Amiri
Baraka, available at Poetry
Foundation
“We Wear the Mask ” by Paul
Laurence Dunbar, available at
Poetry Foundation
“The Turning Point of My Life”
by Mark Twain, available at The
Literature Network
“America,” available at Poetry
Foundation
“Long Too Long America,”
available at The Literature
Network
I Hear America Singing from
The Patriotic Poems of Walt
Introduction Forum
Week 1 Forum
4
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27494
http://www.online-literature.com/walt-whitman/leaves-of-
grass/164/
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/238130
http://www.online-literature.com/twain/1324/
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/237274#poem
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15392
http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook/grading/index.htm
http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook

Whitman
America by Allen Ginsberg,
available at Poetry Foundation
America by Claude McKay,
Autumn Begins in Martin's
Ferry, Ohio by James Wright,
Let No Charitable Hope by
Elinor Wylie, available at
Poetry Society of America
The Problem of Old Harjo by
John Oskison
2
Civil Rights
Multiculturalism
LO-1
LO-3
LO-4
LO-5
Ancestral Identity
All selections can be found in
"Racial and Ethnic Identity" in
American Literature Since the
Civil War
"A Month in the Country" by
Jay Wright
"Song for a Dark Girl" by

Langston Hughes
"How it Feels to Be Colored Me"
by Zora Neale Hurston
"Sula" by Toni Morrison or
"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
"What You Pawn I Will Redeem"
by Sherman Alexie
"The Third and Final Continent"
by Jhumpa Lahiri
"The Conversion of the Jews"
by Philip Roth
"The Day the Cisco Kid Shot
John Wayne" by Nash
Candelaria or "The Last of the
Menu Girls" by Denise Chavez
Week 2 Forum
Essay 1
3
Feminism
Gender Roles
LO-1
LO-2
LO-3
LO-4
Expanding and Evolving

Gender Roles
“Picture Bride” by Cathy Song
in American Literature Since
the Civil War
“Woman Hollering Creek” by
Sandra Cisneros in American
Week 3 Forum
5
http://web.archive.org/web/20110212134849/http://etext.lib.virg
inia.edu/etcbin/toccer-
new2?id=OskProb.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/en
glish/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1
http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/poetry_in_motion/atlas
/newyork/let_no_cha_hop/
“Big Two-Hearted River: Part I
and Part II” by Ernest
Hemingway in American
“Two Postures beside a Fire” by
James Wright in American

“El Patron” by Nash Candelaria
in American Literature Since
the Civil War or “Government
Goat” by Susan Glaspell in
Best Short Stories of 1919
(found on Gutenberg.org)
”The Revolt of Mother” by Mary
Wilkins Freeman from Short
Stories for English Courses
4
Non-fiction
LO-1
LO-2
LO-5
Other Perspectives
Watch In Cold Blood
Read one of the following
pieces from "Other
Perspectives" in American
Literature Since the Civil War.
"The Wrysons" by John
Cheever
"Going After Cacciato" by Tim
O'Brien

"Somewhere for Everyone" by
John Grisham
"Good Country People" by
Flannery O'Connor
"Sonny's Blues" by James
Baldwin
"The Angel Esmerelda" by Don
Delillo
Week 4 Forum
Essay 2
5
Themes
The American
Dream
LO-1
LO-2
LO-3
LO-4
LO-5
Literary Elements
Begin reading one of the
following:
Week 5 Forum

6
Point of View
Symbolism
Imagery
Each of these is available at
Gutenberg.org and Amazon as
a Kindle download, as well as
the links listed.
At Fault by Kate Chopin
(Available as a Kindle
download from Amazon)
The Octopus: A Story of
California by Frank Norris,
available from Archive.org
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott
Fitzgerald, available from
Literature Project
The Prophet of the Great
Smoky Mountains by Mary
Noailles Murfree, available
from Archive.org
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton,
6
Romanticism

Modernism
Realism
LO-2
LO-5
Literary Movements and
Cultural Impact
Continue reading one of the
following:
the links listed.
Literature Project
from Archive.org

Week 6 Forum
7 LO-1 Reading(s) Assignment
7
http://archive.org/details/ethanfromebruce00wharrich
http://archive.org/details/prophetgreatsmo00cradgoog
http://literatureproject.com/side-paradise/index.htm
http://www.archive.org/stream/theoctopuscwfr05norrarch#page/
n3/mode/2up
n3/mode/2up
http://www.amazon.com/At-Fault-Dover-Thrift-
Editions/dp/0486461335/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&
sr=8-1&keywords=at+fault
n3/mode/2up
n3/mode/2up
Literary
Analysis
LO-5 Elements of Literature
Finish reading one of the

following:
the links listed.
Literature Project
from Archive.org
Week 7 Forum
Final Project
8
Final Thoughts
LO-4
LO-5 Reading(s) Assignment
What Is American
Literature?

Choose a reading from one of
the following:
“Other Perspectives” in your text
A story or poem from The Bird
and Dog
http://www.missourireview.com/a
rchives/ “Poem of the Week” or
“v.i. Prose,” depending on your
interest
https://thesunmagazine.org/
https://www.pshares.org/read/in
dex.cfm
http://www.oxfordamerican.org/a
rticles/departments/literature/
“Literature”
Week 8 Forum
8
http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/departments/literature/
http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/departments/literature/
https://www.pshares.org/read/index.cfm
https://www.pshares.org/read/index.cfm
https://thesunmagazine.org/
http://www.missourireview.com/archives/
http://www.missourireview.com/archives/
http://apus-literary.com/
http://apus-literary.com/

n3/mode/2up
n3/mode/2up
Table of Contents
Policies
Please see the student handbook to reference all University
policies. Quick links to
frequently asked about policies are listed below.
Drop/Withdrawal Policy
Plagiarism Policy
Extension Process and Policy
Disability Accommodations
WRITING EXPECTATIONS
Students are expected to have the background in grammar and
mechanics necessary to
complete the course. Please see the rubric attached to each
assignment for detailed information
regarding writing evaluation.
CITATION AND REFERENCE STYLE
Attention Please: Students will follow the MLA as the sole
citation and reference style used in
written work submitted as part of coursework to the University.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS
Students are expected to submit classroom assignments by the
posted due date and to complete

the course according to the published class schedule. As
adults, students, and working
professionals, I understand you must manage competing
demands on your time. Should you
need additional time to complete an assignment, please contact
me before the due date so we
can discuss the situation and determine an acceptable
resolution. Routine submission of late
assignments is unacceptable and may result in points deducted
from your final course grade.
Netiquette
Online universities promote the advancement of knowledge
through positive and constructive
debate – both inside and outside the classroom. Forums
on the Internet, however, can
occasionally degenerate into needless insults and “flaming.”
Such activity and the loss of good
manners are not acceptable in a university setting – basic
academic rules of good behavior and
proper “Netiquette” must persist. Remember that you are
in a place for the rewards and
excitement of learning which does not include descent to
personal attacks or student attempts to
stifle the Forum of others.
Technology Limitations: While you should feel free to
explore the full-range of creative
composition in your formal papers, keep e-mail layouts simple.
The Sakai classroom may
not fully support MIME or HTML encoded messages, which
means that bold face, italics,
underlining, and a variety of color-coding or other visual effects
will not translate in your e-
mail messages.

especially satire can easily get lost
or taken seriously. If you feel the need for humor, you may wish
to add “emoticons” to help
alert your readers: ;-
DISCLAIMER STATEMENT
Course content may vary slightly from the outline to meet the
needs of a particular class section.
Table of Contents
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http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook/rights-
responsibilities/index.htm#Disability_Accommodations
http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook/extension/index.htm
http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook/writing-
standards/index.htm#Academic_Dishonesty
http://www.apus.edu/student-handbook/withdrawal/index.htm
https://mailbox.apus.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://ww
w.apus.edu/student-handbook
Academic Services (Online Library)
The Online Library is available to enrolled students and
faculty from inside the
electronic campus. This is your starting point for access to
online books, subscription
periodicals, and Web resources that are designed to
support your classes and
generally not available through search engines on the open
Web. In addition, the

Online Library provides access to special learning resources,
which the University has
contracted to assist with your studies. Questions can be directed
to [email protected]
maintains a special
library with a limited number of supporting volumes, collection
of our professors’
publication, and services to search and borrow research books
and articles from other
libraries.
and download over 50,000
titles, which have been scanned and made available in
electronic format.
12,000 journals, which are
available in electronic form and only through limited
subscription services.
are eligible for 10 free hours of
tutoring provided by APUS. Tutor.com connects you with a
professional tutor online 24/7 to
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writing, and more. Tutor.com is
tutoring the way it was meant to be. You get expert tutoring
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you work one-to-one with your tutor in your online classroom
on your specific problem
until it is done.
Request a Library Guide for your course
(http://apus.libguides.com/index.php)

The AMU/APU Library Guides provide access to collections of
trusted sites on the Open Web
and licensed resources on the Deep Web. The following are
specially tailored for academic
research at APUS:
to help launch general
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To locate, search by class code (e.g., SOCI111), or class name.
If a guide you need is not available yet, please email the APUS
Library: [email protected] .
Table of Contents
Turnitin.com
Assignments will be submitted to Turnitin.com upon submission
through the assignment link.
Turnitin.com will analyze a paper and report instances of
potential plagiarism. The report
generated will be available to both the student and the
professor.
10
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mailto:[email protected]
Muirhead 1Your NameDr. Kimberly MuirheadENGL-135
September 5, 2005
Paper Title
This is the way each of your essays should appear (unless
you are otherwise instructed). The entire essay should be
double-spaced. You need a heading in the top left corner as
shown above. You should number your pages as shown as well,
with each page having your last name and the page number.
Include a centered title. Each word in the title should begin
with a capital letter except for articles, conjunctions, and
prepositions within the title (unless one of them begins the
title). The title should not be underlined, italicized, ALL IN
CAPS, or otherwise different from the rest of your paper.
Indent each time you begin a new paragraph. Do not put extra
spaces between paragraphs or between the heading, title, or start
of the essay. Use Times New Roman 12-point font with one-
inch margins on all sides.
Different instructors may expect different formats, so always
ask. I expect you to use this particular format for two reasons.
First, it’s important to be able to follow precise instructions
when preparing a document. Second, this is a standard format
(the style is called MLA [which stands for Modern Language
Association]) that you will use for writing classes and any
literature courses that you might take. You can use this format
whenever an instructor does not specify otherwise. Be sure to
research on your own the extensive details for how to create in-
text citations and Works Cited entries for MLA. This is not
hard, but it's time consuming.

Refresher: Elements of a Literary Analysis
A Few Helpful Reminders for How to Write a Literary
Analysis/Expository Essay
Introduction
An expository essay and in this case, a literary analysis, makes
a claim about a work of literature.
Usually, the writer chooses one main point, one small aspect of
the work and shows how this main point helps to understand the
whole work.
The main point is presented as the thesis.
Thesis Statement
Each essay must include, and work to prove/explore, a thesis
statement.
The thesis is the main claim that you will be working to prove
throughout the essay.
The thesis is stated as the final sentence of the introduction
paragraph.
In the case of a literary analysis or expository essay, the thesis
should tell your audience what it is you are going to write about
the work.
thesis statement (cont.)
For example, if you are writing about Emily Dickinson’s focus
on imagination throughout her poetry, your thesis might look
like this:
One of the main themes of Dickinson’s poetry that informs both
the form and content of her work is the imagination.

thesis statement (cont.)
The following paragraphs of your essay will then discuss how
the theme of imagination can be seen in the Dickinson’s poems.
You might choose two or so poems on which to focus (perhaps
one for each paragraph of your essay) and offer examples and
close readings of “imagination” as a theme in the work.
Your argument will support your thesis.
Paragraphs
Each paragraph of the essay should contain one complete
thought/idea.
Each thought or idea should really be supported by a concrete
example.
When we talk about concrete examples we mean examples from
the text of which you are discussing, usually in the form of
quotes or paraphrases.
In the example on the next slide, notice the topic sentence, or
first sentence of the paragraph which sums up or shares the
mini-thesis/focus of the paragraph.
paragraphs (cont.)
Emily Dickinson, in her poem “Life: XLII” discusses how the
human mind is a source of vast creative energy. She uses nature
imagery to depict the power of the mind when she writes that
“The brain is deeper than the sea/for, hold them, blue to blue,/
The one the other will absorb,/As sponges, buckets do” (3).
Here, Dickinson offers a comparison between the ocean and the
mind, both of which are deep and hold much life, however, the
brain (or the mind, knowledge) is able to grow and become
more vast, through learning and imagination.

paragraphs (cont.)
In the example paragraph, there is a concrete example followed
by a discussion of the quote, unpacking the meaning from the
excerpt and connecting it back to the discussion. This helps to
ground the discussion in the text.
You will also notice the commentary serves as a transition to
the paragraph that will follow.
Discussion vs. Summary
Remember that the essays written in most literature courses are
expository essays comprised of critical analysis and
interpretations.
These essays should not be book reports or plot summaries of
the works we read in the course, but instead, thoughtful
interpretations.
Find a theme, idea, or interesting aspect of the work and discuss
it.
Tell us what you think the text means or why it is an important
read.
Resources
MLA style guide:
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch08_s1-
0011.html
Resource for MLA, grammar, formatting:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/5/
Expository Essay definition
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/02/
Analysis vs. Plot Summary
://dept.lamar.edu/writingcenter/pdf/summary%20vs%20analysis.

pdf
Works cited
Dickinson, Emily. “Life: XLIII”. American Literature Since
the Civil War. Create Editions. Ed. Perkins and Perkins.
Mcgraw Hill Companies, Inc., 2012. 3.

American Lit Since Civil War

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