The course is intended to help you achieve the following outcomes:

At the end of this course, you should be able to

1. Deeply and critically read complex literary texts
2. Demonstrate familiarity with the social and political forces shaping American culture during the time period
3. Use textual evidence to support your claims in oral and informal written discussion of assigned texts, without dismissing or oversimplifying views which differ from yours
4. Demonstrate the ability to engage intellectually with your peers
5. Write a college-level research paper that appropriately uses primary and secondary sources (including basic literary theory)