Mrs. Crawford's Advanced American Literature

What is the American Dream?

• How does the media shape our view of the world and ourselves?
• What are the politics and consequences of war and how do these vary based on an individual or cultural perspective?
• In a culture where we are bombarded with other people trying to define us, how do we make decisions for ourselves?
• How are prejudice and bias created and how do we overcome them?
• What does power have to do with fairness and justice?
• Does labeling and stereotyping influence how we look at and understand the world?
• What are the costs of the American Dream?

Week 2 - Building the American Dream

• ·Is it possible to be independent?
• What is the relationship between freedom and responsibility?

In this unit we will be looking closely at the language that propelled the British colonies to declare their independence. At a time when most people believed that loyalty to the king was almost a religion, a small, but vocal group of men set about changing the minds of an entire nation. How did they do it? What beliefs underlay their actions? Let's take a look at the beginnings of our American Dream.

Creating a Constitution - the first major linked project

This project will test your ability to work collaboratively and think creatively. As you are working through the assignment, you will come to realize how amazing it was that the Founding Fathers ever managed to combine their separate states into a single nation.

---

Click on the Creating a Constitution Project Below to get started. Your teacher will assign your groups to you.

Week 3 - Selling the American Dream

• In what ways does the American Dream mean different things for different Americans?
• Is freedom ever free?
• What does it mean to be an insider or an outsider?

Week 4 - Planting the American Dream

It takes a lot of people to plant the American Dream firmly into the fabric of our nation. How did the philosophies of the Romantic writer affect the viewpoints of the new Americans? The Transcendentalists saw America as a "City on a Hill" - a golden place of opportunity for the individual and equality for all. The Anti- Transcendentalists saw the influx of immigrants as a plague that brought pollution, squallor, and crime to the once pristine shores of America. Let's take a look at the writers of the New England Renaissance.

The Equality Project - second linked project
How can we make the American Dream available to everyone? What can we do about social injustice?

Week 5 - Growing the American Dream

As with every experiment, the American republic had to go through trials and overcome challenges. The greatest of those challenges was dealing with the economic, political, and social issues of slavery. Even after the war, racial tensions remained, particularly in the South. Prejudice led to Jim Crow Laws and separate, unequal educational systems.

The hypocrisy of this situation led Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, to write his classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As one would expect, many people objected to being told they were hypocrites. They tried to have the book censored and/or banned from libraries and schools.

Week 6 - Living the American Dream


As we continue down the river with Huck and Jim, we become increasingly aware of the racial tensions that ripped the South apart. Living the American Dream isn't always easy. Although the raft provides a safe refuge for the hero and his friend, the shores of the Mississippi River are always waiting to bring them back reality.

Week 7 - Spreading the American Dream

How do we extend the American Dream to all citizens?
What can we do about inequality?

Huck solves his problem by 'lightin' out for the territory,' but not everyone can do that? Let's look at the inequalities in the American Dream.

Week 8 - Taking the American Dream to the World - Manifest Destiny

The rapid influx of immigrants into America pushed people into the plains and mountains of the West as they searched for the American Dream. It was there that the cowboys and ranchers began to build the cattle industry that fueled the growth of cities like Chicago and Houston. The discovery of gold led miners into the depth of the Sierra Nevadas and the wastes of Alaska. All of that was tied together by the Union Pacific Railroad and the telegraph wires that were strung along its tracks. Advocates of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only good, but that it was obvious ("manifest") and certain ("destiny").

Week 9 - The American Dream Expands
The American Dream began with the first settlers to the New World. It was their strong moral fiber and Calvinist principles that allowed the Puritans to succeed and prosper. But that prosperity came at a price. The prejudice against anyone who was 'different' led to horrible miscarriages of justice, and that attitude continued to drive the American psyche as it moved into the twentieth century. As communism began to grow more popular, the descendants of Puritans began to fear that their capitalist beliefs were about to be overcome and their American Dream destroyed. And so began the McCarthy Era...

Week 10 - The American Dream Retreats




With the coming of communism the American Dream turned and ran in full retreat. It was the antithesis of the New England Renaissance. Instead of embracing the potentials of growth and experimentation, writers were forced to follow narrow guidelines that the government dictated -- all in the name of State Security.

Week 11 - Sharing the American Dream
As America's Dream spread beyond its continental boundaries, it came into conflict with ideologies that rejected individualism and capitalism. American ideas entered their societies and began to take root.

Week 12 - Dreaming into the Future
What will the American Dream be like in the 21st century?

Resources

Writing & Grammar

Voice