The elective program in English offers a wide variety of courses for student selection. These offerings range from thematically organized courses, to special seminars on specific authors, with each course covering relevant short and long works that fit the course’s focus. The typical composition students write at this level continues to build on student’s mastery of the five-paragraph essay. Students are expected to write three such essays each semester. They also study topics such as outlining, introductions and conclusions, transitions, and parallel structure designed to develop specific skills necessary for the writing of effective essays.
Gunslingers, outlaws, and cowboys: every American knows these figures. Our understanding of justice and heroism, as well as our culture's obsession with violence, come from our narratives about the Wild West. In this course, we will start by analyzing classic Western films to see the origin of America's foundational myth. Then, we will study more contemporary neo-Westerns to see how directors have complicated those foundational values. Finally, we will investigate Western novels, climaxing with Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, to see how contemporary authors have deconstructed the genre.
Ultimately, by studying the Wild West, this course will explore not only the development the America's core values but also the universal human need for grand narratives and myths to understand our place in the world. At its heart, this course raises the question of how we as individuals and as a society make meaning and how those forms of meaning translate to moral codes.