On Heroes and Hero-Worship
2007-2008
Dr. Freeman
***
Course Overview & Expectations
Overview:
Every civilization creates its ideals in the process of writing its literature, and in doing so also thrusts its anxieties, fears, and hopes onto its heroes. This course seeks to examine the variety of the heroic experience throughout literary history by considering first the concept of the hero as developed in epic and tragedy; later the condition of modern man is seen through an examination of a sampling of modern heroes as they appear in some essential novels. From the warrior who serves as the bearer of culture—Aeneas—to the rebel who challenges civilization’s values—Lucifer in Paradise Lost—the epic embodiment shows the hero grappling with burdens of systematic meaning in the universe. The tragic hero—be he Cain in Byron’s eponymous mystery play or Shakespeare’s Hamlet—is less a willing vessel of destiny than a vehicle for the necessity for humans to make sense of their place in the kosmos in the face of a seemingly intractable fate. In our modern age, all abstract values come to be placed in question, and the focus devolves upon man’s problematic relationship with his own freedom. We examine the modern and post-modern hero and anti-hero beginning with Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles; from there we move from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness to Stoppard's Arcadia and Pynchon’s Crying of Lot 49. On our journey, we consider why readers continue to seek heroes and patterns of idealization in the frangible, mortal nature of the human condition.
Syllabus:
Milton: Paradise Lost
Tennyson: Idylls of the King
Shakespeare: Hamlet
Byron: Cain: A Mystery Play
Hardy: Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Conrad: Heart of Darkness
Pynchon: The Crying of Lot 49
Stoppard: Arcadia
General Expectations:
Students are expected to be in class on time with all the necessary materials, and to be prepared to contribute to the class discussion.
Grading Policy:
Grades in English XII are determined by the overall quality of a student’s written and oral work. In particular, weekend essays count for 35% of a student’s grade, tests for 25%, oral participation for 20%; creative writing/in-class writing for 20%, and reading quizzes for 10%.
Homework
During any given academic week, homework consists of reading and annotating the assigned text(s), preparing the assigned topics for class discussion, and organizing individually chosen topics for oral presentation to the class; in addition, students should always come prepared to take a "surprise" reading quiz. Occasionally, short writing assignments will also be assigned during the week (in addition, that is, to the longer weekend assignments). Weekly assignment sheets will be distributed at the beginning of each week and are available at my homepage at the English Department Website (see above). Students who are having difficulties or have any questions are free to e-mail me at the address at the top of the page.
Weekend essays:
Weekend essays are generally 5-7 page word-processed papers; they are intended to require a student to generate original thoughts and interpretations. Lecture notes and class readings will provide the basis and direction for these essays, but the students should clearly understand that they are to incorporate their own thoughts into the writing.
Grades for these essays are determined by the student’s command of the topic, his/her depth of understanding, and the clarity and conciseness of the prose (including the effectiveness of sentence, paragraph, and essay structure as well and the proper use of language).
Essays must be word-processed and "hard" copies submitted; in addition, this year Brunswick will be contributing to a nation-wide archive of student essays, with the goal of preventing plagiarism. Therefore, in addition to the "hard" copy of the essay, each student will be asked to submit a copy electronically for this archive. Essays should be double-spaced and the student’s name and the date placed in the upper-left hand corner of each page. Essays should always be titled (and some thought and creativity are needed here; "Waldo’s Essay on Hamlet" is not worth much as far as titles go). The use of spelling and grammar checkers is encouraged, but it must be remembered that even the best machines are fallible; nothing truly substitutes for careful proofreading and editing skills. For questions about formatting quotations and documenting sources, see the English Department Stylesheet located on the Grade 10 homepage.
Lateness Policy:
Essays and other homework assignments are due in class (or, in dire emergencies, in my mailbox located in the faculty worksuite) on the day indicated on the assignment sheet. If I have not received the assignment by the time I leave school at the end of the day, then it will be considered LATE and will be penalized 5 points for each day it is late. A student may seek to gain an extension by asking me at least one day in advance; no extensions will be granted the day on which an assignment is due. I reserve the right to refuse to grant an extension if I feel that the reason for the request is not legitimate or if the student in question has a history of abusing the extension policy.
Make-up Work:
If a student is out of school with an illness the day on which an essay is due, that essay will be due the day the student returns to school; it is considered, except under exceptional conditions, that an essay is a long-term assignment and that students ought to plan accordingly. A student who misses school on the day of a test or other in-class writing will be given two days to make-up the assignment. It is the responsibility of the student to schedule the make-up time with the teacher, not the other way around.
Failure to take a test or submit a paper within the given period of time will result in a 5 points per day penalty. Deadlines following lengthier or more serious illnesses will be negotiated on an individual basis.
Extra Help:
Individual attention is available in two ways: A student may "drop in" to the English department or my classroom during free time, or he/she may schedule a conference at a mutually agreeable time. Extra help may be obtained from any member of the English faculty. In addition, I shall be available on-line for help at selected times, and I shall check my e-mail each night.
Reading great literature and struggling with the weighty ideas contained in that literature has bought joy, fulfillment, and confidence to people for centuries. Not surprisingly, the Brunswick School English Department is committed to the idea that students should learn to read and enjoy great works of literature and should then learn to articulate in clear, concise writing the thoughts inspired by that literature. The thoughts the students generate, however, should be their own, derived from the works read and the guidance provided by the English instructors. The thoughts presented in their written work should not be regurgitated thoughts culled from external sources such as Cliff’s Notes, Sparknotes, or any of the numerous sites devoted to providing students with ready-made essays.
Because students are unfairly tempted to plagiarize ( to illegitimately use someone else’s work in place of one’s own) by taking whole essays, parts of essays, or merely bits of sentences from the websites they find, Brunswick is now subscribing to an online service that will check the authenticity of students’ written work either whole or in part. All essays submitted to us will be checked by this service, developed by a group of professors at The University of California at Berkeley. Initially this may sound like an extreme solution, but further deliberation should bring students and parents to the realization that the pressure to plagiarize in the quest for higher grades has been lifted. The Brunswick English Department has always preferred that students learn to think for themselves and learn to articulate their thoughts in original form rather than merely regurgitating the thoughts of others. The adoption of the new technology merely reinforces the preexisting policy.
Students who wish to use outside sources to assist them in writing papers must cite those sources, and any member of the English Department will gladly provide assistance in doing so. Failure to cite a source will be considered plagiarism. Any assignment found to be plagiarized will receive a zero and the student will be required to rewrite the essay. The maximum grade for the rewritten essay will be a 50.The student will also face serious official sanctions from Brunswick or Greenwich Academy.
The same sort of standards that apply to the construction of essays also applies to daily assignments. Homework of any sort that is handed in under a student’s own name must in fact be work produced by the student, not through collaboration with other students; some assignments may ask students to work in a group, but such projects will be clearly delineated as such. Any homework submitted that is not clearly collaborative in nature must be original. We would like students to learn in to take pride in doing their best on any given assignment. Parents are always welcome to assist their sons and daughters in doing homework, but help should be rendered with the understanding that homework is an opportunity for students to strengthen their knowledge; homework is not something that is merely to be completed.
One of the skills taught in a Brunswick English class is the proper annotation of a text. These notes are valuable during class discussions, the construction of essays, and the preparation for semester exams. Often, students are asked to write essays within the context of class and are frequently allowed to use their texts—it being understood that these should contain valuable annotations. Therefore, students will be required to use only their own books, not books borrowed from other students or siblings for writing "in-class" essays. The annotations of others may indeed constitute an unfair advantage and their use is considered plagiarism. The Brunswick English faculty will confiscate any text not belonging to a student that is used in place of his or her own.
The Brunswick English Department takes very seriously the issue of academic integrity, and we hope that our strong stand on this issue will help students avoid succumbing to the powerful temptations with which they are presented.