AML1000

1. WEEK 2 AUTHORS
AND READINGS

2. Exclusion from the American Dream
As explained in this week’s American Dream lecture, women were traditionally
considered to be keepers of culture. Much of the writing of early American women
had to do with moral instruction or documentation of culture for future generations.
As you also learned in this week’s American Dream lecture, women also wrote to
bring awareness of other social issues. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) wrote
about themes of inequality and the traditional gender role of women.
“TheYellow Wall-paper” is a story of a woman’s
struggles with post-partum depression, women’s role
in society and marriage, and the expectation that
women needed to rely on men to know what was best
for them. Women had very little authority to make
decisions for themselves, and this story shows what
effects this lack of autonomy has on women.

3. Exclusion from the American Dream
Other writers portrayed strong women in their work. Kate Chopin (1850-1904)
wrote about women who acted in ways that did not adhere to societal norms.
In The Awakening, Chopin writes about a woman named
Edna, who moves out of her husband’s home and
begins an adulterous affair. As the title suggests, it is a
story of self-discovery. However, the novella was
considered scandalous and was not well received in the
19th century. Today, however, it is seen as a significant
work of feminism in American literature.
In her short stories “Désirée's Baby” and “The Story of an Hour,” Chopin portrays
women who seem to have achieved autonomy, only to have this independence
taken away, leading to tragic consequences. As you read “Desiree’s Baby” this
week, look for ways Désirée and the other characters are limited by their gender
and their racial identity.

4. Exclusion from the American Dream
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), as you will learn in the biography in your textbook, is
widely considered to be one of the greatest American poets, and her work continues
to influence writers today. The form and content of her poems are vastly different
from the “traditional” poets who write before her.
Dickinson published very few of her own poems during her
lifetime; most were published after her death. She did not
actively seek to have her poems published, but she did
share them with family and friends, many of whom
encouraged her to publish.
She did begin to purposely group her poems and bind
them together. She called these collections fascicles, and
these groupings of poems were discovered after her
death.

5. Dickinson is often thought of as a recluse or an “old
maid.” While her poetry includes themes of nature,
spirituality and religion, and death, she also wrote
about love—not just the emotional element, but the
physical one as well. The underlying themes of lust
and eroticism in “Wild Nights—Wild Nights!” may
be a surprise to you this week as you read the
poem.
As you read the poem this week, think about they
way in which she portrays love and lust. Are they
different? What symbols does she use in the poem,
and how do they relate to these themes? How
might this poem be seen from a feminist
standpoint?
In the video on the following screen, former poet
laureate Billy Collins gives an overview to the
imagery and meter in Dickinson’s poetry.
Exclusion from the American Dream
Dickinson’s handwritten version of the poem

6. Exclusion from the American Dream
Susan Glaspell (1876-1948), as you learned in the
biography printed in your textbook, had many talents.
Her work tends to reflect realism, a literary technique that
focuses on the faithful representation of reality (or
verisimilitude). Realism tends to portray members of the
middle class.
Glaspell was well known in her day, but the canon of her works (9 plays and
more than 50 short stories) is not well known today. She is best known today
for her one-act play Trifles, which is commonly seen as a statement about
women’s equality. As in many of Glaspell’s works, Trifles, which was written in
1916, features women who push against boundaries. As you read the play this
week, think about ways in which all the women (even Mrs. Wright, who never
appears on stage in Glaspell’s original script) face boundaries. How does each
woman push against them?

7. Exclusion from the American Dream
Women’s roles continued to evolve from keepers of culture to shapers of culture.
Women like Susan Glaspell wrote about women who did not have a voice to
stand up against violence.
In the decades that followed, women such as Audre Lorde embraced their voices
and used them to speak out.
Audre Lorde (1934-1992),
described herself as “black,
lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.”
She used her poetry as a
platform to fight against racism,
sexism, and homophobia.
Lorde was concerned with the labels that are assigned to groups of people and
marginalization (to marginalize means to trivialize or disregard) that results
from those labels.

8. Exclusion from the American Dream
Lucille Clifton (1936-2010), as the editors of your textbook explain, “allow[s] us
to hear the language of our daily lives as poetry and to experience the poetry
in our ordinary lives” (Levine, 2017,Vol. 1 p. 1494).
We’re reading a poem from Clifton this
week called “homage to my hips.” How
does this poem include the language of
our daily lives?
On the surface level, the poem is clearly
about hips, but ask yourself as you are
reading what else the poem is about. How
might this poem relate to the status of
African American women, or of all women?

9. Exclusion from the American Dream
David Sedaris (b. 1956) is a nonfiction writer and
humorist. Sedaris writes social commentary and
autobiography.You may know some of his
works, including Naked and MeTalk Pretty One
Day. His work is frequently published in The New
Yorker magazine.
You’ll be reading “A Modest Proposal,” which
appeared in The NewYorker in 2015. The essay is
about the legalization of gay marriage.
What message is Sedaris sending about gay marriage? What is he saying about
marriage in general?

10. Exclusion from the American Dream
Kate Bornstein (b. 1948) was born male, and her parents
named her Albert. She realized at a young age that her
body did not match her identity. She identifies as
“gender non-conforming,” meaning that she does not
fit into gender norms.
Gender Outlaw focuses on gender identity and the
problematic approach that there are just two genders,
indicating that a person needs to fall completely into
one category or the other—male or female.
We have explored in what ways people have been excluded from the American
Dream because of their gender or sexuality. Various laws have been written and
enacted to make the American Dream more accessible to women and gays and
lesbians. What happens when people don’t fit into categories? What impact does
that have on their ability to achieve the American Dream?

11. Exclusion from the American Dream
There are two additional authors to consider this week to help you
select your topic for your literary analysis essay.
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is best known for his novel The
Great Gatsby, which is often viewed as the finest example of
American modernism. He is also the author of many short stories,
including “Babylon Revisited” and “Winter Dreams.”
Fitzgerald’s writing chronicled the 1920s, which he called “The Jazz
Age.”
Watch the video on the next slide for more information about
Fitzgerald.

12. Exclusion from the American Dream
The other writer to consider this week for your literary analysis
essay is AliceWalker (b. 1944). Walker, the author of The Color
Purple and short stories such as “Everyday Use,” was born in
Eatonton,Georgia, into a family of sharecroppers.
She was educated in the North but returned to the South after
college to work in the civil rights movement. Her work often
focuses on the need for strength.
Watch the video on the following slide for more information about
Walker and her work.

13. Exclusion from the American Dream:
A Note about Creative Nonfiction
“Truth” with a capitalT indicates complete adherence to actual facts. The lower-case “truth” indicates an
emotional truth where the writer may change some details, but the story conveys the emotions that the
writer wants to focus on while mostly adhering to facts. An example might be consolidating multiple
conversations between people and turning it into one conversation. The conversation still happened, just
not all at once.
Some writers, like Annie Dillard and David Sedaris, admit to fudging some details or embellishing certain
events to create a certain effect or establish a dramatic arc. There is a lot of controversy about this; can
such stories still be called nonfiction?
What do you think? Is it ever possible to tell theTruth?
We’ll be looking at some creative nonfiction this week. The
term “creative nonfiction” is somewhat problematic. How can
nonfiction (truth) be creative? Shouldn’t nonfiction be 100%
factual? Can it be 100% factual?
Let’s examine the issue of “Truth” (with a capital “T”) and
“truth.”