Course Themes Guide The English 112 course will focus on a central theme that runs throughout the course. Students will choose a theme, and then use this theme when completing assignments under modules 2-4. Course Themes: o Addiction o Aging, death, and dying o Body image/eating disorders o Coming of Age o Heterosexual gender roles: equality and civil rights o Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender roles: equality and civil rights o Mental illness: schizophrenia, OCD, bipolar disorder o Physical disability, impairment, and disfigurement o Psychosis and violence o War and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Module Two: Course Theme Literary Analysis In Module Two, students will work on a literary analysis. To complete the analysis, course theme will have to be paired with a fictional work (such as a fictional short story, poem, play, or film). Below are some suggested fictional works listed under their corresponding course themes. Author names are provided parenthetically. Most of the suggested stories/poems/plays can be found through a quick web search. If a story is unavailable, inform the instructor so he or she may assist you. Addiction: “Babylon Revisited” (F. Scott Fitzgerald) “Sonny’s Blues” (James Baldwin) Aging, death, and dying “Thanatopsis” (William Cullen Bryant) “Midterm Break” (Seamus Heaney); “Death Be Not Proud” (John Donne) Time Flies (David Ives) Body image/eating disorders “Barbie Doll” (Marge Piercy) Wasted (Marya Hornbacher) Coming of Age “A&P” (John Updike) “How Far She Went” (Mary Hood) “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (Joyce Carol Oates) Heterosexual gender roles: equality and civil rights “A Work of Artifice” (Marge Piercy) “The Curse” (Andre Dubus) “Yellow Wallpaper” (Charlotte Perkins Gilman) Trifles (Susan Glaspell) Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender roles: equality and civil rights “Life After High School” (Joyce Carol Oates) “Paul’s Case” (Willa Cather) A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams) Mental illness: schizophrenia, OCD, bipolar disorder “A Rose for Emily” (William Faulkner) “The Tale-Tell Heart” (Edgar Allan Poe) “Bartleby” (Herman Melville) Physical disability, impairment, and disfigurement “Everyday Use” (Alice Walker) “Good Country People” (Flannery O’Connor) “The Birthmark” (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Psychosis and violence “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (Flannery O’Connor) “The Curse” (Andre Dubus) “The Cask of Amontillado” (Edgar Allan Poe) “Hunters in the Snow” (Tobias Wolff) War and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) The Red Badge of Courage (Stephen Crane) “Soldiers Home” (Ernest Hemingway) “The Things They Carried” (Tim O’Brien) “The Thing in the Forest” (A.S. Byatt) Modules Three and Four: Course Theme Research In Modules Three and Four, you will research your course themes in the social and natural sciences. Keywords will help limit searches to the appr.

1. Course Themes Guide
The English 112 course will focus on a central theme that runs
throughout the course. Students
will choose a theme, and then use this theme when completing
assignments under modules 2-4.
Course Themes:
o Addiction
o Aging, death, and dying
o Body image/eating disorders
o Coming of Age
o Heterosexual gender roles: equality and civil rights
o Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender roles: equality and
civil rights
o Mental illness: schizophrenia, OCD, bipolar disorder
o Physical disability, impairment, and disfigurement
o Psychosis and violence
o War and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Module Two: Course Theme Literary Analysis
In Module Two, students will work on a literary analysis. To
complete the analysis, course theme
will have to be paired with a fictional work (such as a fictional
short story, poem, play, or film).

2. Below are some suggested fictional works listed under their
corresponding course themes.
Author names are provided parenthetically. Most of the
suggested stories/poems/plays can be
found through a quick web search. If a story is unavailable,
inform the instructor so he or she
may assist you.
Addiction:
“Babylon Revisited” (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
“Sonny’s Blues” (James Baldwin)
Aging, death, and dying
“Thanatopsis” (William Cullen Bryant)
“Midterm Break” (Seamus Heaney);
“Death Be Not Proud” (John Donne)
Time Flies (David Ives)
Body image/eating disorders
“Barbie Doll” (Marge Piercy)
Wasted (Marya Hornbacher)
Coming of Age
“A&P” (John Updike)
“How Far She Went” (Mary Hood)
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (Joyce Carol
Oates)
Heterosexual gender roles: equality and civil rights

3. “A Work of Artifice” (Marge Piercy)
“The Curse” (Andre Dubus)
“Yellow Wallpaper” (Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
Trifles (Susan Glaspell)
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender roles: equality and civil
rights
“Life After High School” (Joyce Carol Oates)
“Paul’s Case” (Willa Cather)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams)
Mental illness: schizophrenia, OCD, bipolar disorder
“A Rose for Emily” (William Faulkner)
“The Tale-Tell Heart” (Edgar Allan Poe)
“Bartleby” (Herman Melville)
Physical disability, impairment, and disfigurement
“Everyday Use” (Alice Walker)
“Good Country People” (Flannery O’Connor)
“The Birthmark” (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Psychosis and violence
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (Flannery O’Connor)
“The Curse” (Andre Dubus)
“The Cask of Amontillado” (Edgar Allan Poe)
“Hunters in the Snow” (Tobias Wolff)
War and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

4. The Red Badge of Courage (Stephen Crane)
“Soldiers Home” (Ernest Hemingway)
“The Things They Carried” (Tim O’Brien)
“The Thing in the Forest” (A.S. Byatt)
Modules Three and Four: Course Theme Research
In Modules Three and Four, you will research your course
themes in the social and natural
sciences. Keywords will help limit searches to the appropriate
discipline. Below are course
themes and useful keywords.
Addiction
Keywords Social Sciences—drinking of alcoholic beverages;
drinking customs; social context
Keywords Natural Sciences—medical science and addiction;
drug addiction
Aging, death, and dying
Keywords Social Sciences—death attitudes; social support;
psychological aspects
Keywords Natural Sciences—death attitudes; palliative
treatment; physicians
Body image/eating disorders

5. Keywords Social Sciences—body image, eating disorders;
psychological aspects; social support;
social disabilities
Keyword Natural Sciences—eating disorders; research; anorexia
nervosa; bulimia; compulsive
eating; causes and theories
Coming of Age
Keywords Social Sciences—age studies; social emotions; sexual
development; puberty
Keywords Natural Sciences—puberty; sexual development;
biological
Heterosexual gender roles: equality and civil rights
Keyword search terms in the social sciences: feminism;
equality; women -- social conditions;
women’s rights; social movements
Keyword search terms in the sciences: feminism; women's
rights; biological sciences;
Neuroscience
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender roles: equality and civil
rights
Keywords Social Sciences—lesbian; gay; bisexual; transgender
roles; equality; civil rights
Keywords Natural Sciences—lesbian; gay; bisexual; transgender
roles; medical sciences;
neuroscience

6. Mental illness: schizophrenia, OCD, bipolar disorder
Keyword Social Sciences: obsessive-compulsive disorder;
neuroses; compulsive behavior;
schizophrenia; psychoses; social sciences
Keyword Natural Sciences: obsessive-compulsive disorder;
neuroses; compulsive behavior;
schizophrenia; psychoses; medical science; neuroscience
Physical disability, impairment, and disfigurement
Keyword search terms in the social sciences: physical
disability; disfigurement; social sciences;
amputee
Keyword search terms in the sciences: physical disability;
disfigurement; medical sciences;
amputee; psychiatry
Psychosis and violence
Keyword search terms in the social sciences: psychosis;
violence; sociology; criminal justice
Keyword search terms in the sciences: psychosis; violence;
medical sciences; neuroscience;
psychiatry
War and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

7. Keyword search terms in the social sciences: war; post-
traumatic stress disorder; social factors;
social effects
Keyword search terms in the sciences: war; post-traumatic
stress disorder; medical sciences;
Neuroscience
Humanities
Literary Analysis
Objectives:
o Employ critical reading strategies
o Critically analyze course theme within a work of fiction
o Review and practice MLA style and documentation
Introduction:
A literary analysis explores a work of fiction, offering insight
and interpretation to the work. A
literary analysis is not merely one’s reaction to a reading of
fictional literature; it is an objective
argument (written with third person pronouns) that uses a
primary text to provide evidence.
The work of fiction itself is considered a primary text, as it is
an original, creative writing. To
add insight and strengthen the argument, however, a literary
analysis often includes secondary

8. research. Secondary sources offer analysis or interpretation of
primary sources. For the literary
analysis specifically, there are three types of sources generally
used: literary criticism,
biography, and history (Booth and Mays). For the literary
analysis, it is important not to confuse
secondary sources as merely sources outside a text (such as
other short stories, poems, or films).
Again, secondary sources for the literary analysis should
analyze and interpret the work being
discussed.
Critical thinking is a key element to literary analysis, and
reading fictional texts closely employ
skills needed across the disciplines, from comprehension to use
of language to better observation
skills. These critical reading strategies will be useful as one
undertakes new courses.
Through literary analysis, once can better connect with a
culture, an event, and the overall human
experience. Fictional works cover broad themes, and they
include nearly all disciplines, from
religion to psychology to history.
Assignment:
For this assignment you will analyze one fictional work listed
under your course theme, or a
fictional work approved by the instructor (fictional works may
include films). The course theme
must be discussed in your response, regardless, and you must
include at least one secondary
source. As you work, consider how your particular theme is
treated within the work of fiction.

9. Requirements:
o Two full pages, double-spaced in Times New Roman, 12-point
font
o Discussion of course theme
o At least one secondary source
o MLA style/documentation—including a works cited page and
corresponding
parenthetical citations
Secondary Source(s):
Secondary sources should offer analysis and interpretation of
the fictional work being analyzed.
Gordon Harvey provides the following “guide” to better explain
what secondary sources
provide:
x opinion (or debatable claims)—other readers’ views and
interpretations of the text,
author, or topic, which "you support, criticize, or develop";
x information—facts (which "you interpret") about the author’s
life; the text’s composition,
publication, or reception; the era during, or about which, the
author wrote; or the literary
movement of which the author was a part;
x concept—general terms or theoretical frameworks that you
borrow and apply to your

10. author or text.
(Booth and Mays)
Booth, Alison and Kelly Mays. “Writing About Literature.”
LitWeb. W.W. Norton. 2016. Web. 20 May 2016.