Women in Literature

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Butler Community College	English Department
Humanities/Fine Arts Department	Spring 1998

Women in Lituature

Course Outline

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
LT230. Women in Literature. 3 hours credit. Women in Literature consists of readings in fiction, poetry, essays, and drama written by and about women. Students will read assigned work and discuss the significance of concepts, characters, and events relating to women's issues.

TEXTBOOK:
Ferguson, Mary Anne, Images of Women in Literature. 5th Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.

Walker, Alice. Possessing the Secret of Joy. New York: Harcourt, 1992.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
The primary objective of Women in Literature is to provide reading, writing, and discussion experiences that will allow students to improve their knowledge, analysis, and understanding of women's issues as they are dealt with in fiction, drama, poetry, and essays, both contemporary and historical.

At the completion of this course, the student will demonstrate the following skills:
Identify the elements of literature in various genre.
Analyze an author's purpose, writing strategy, audience, and viewpoint as these appear in literature written from a woman's perspective.
Apply critical thinking about women's historical and contemporary roles and situations to reading and discussion.
Recognize issues relating to women in literature written by, for, and about women.
Respond analytically in class discussion and journal entries to issues raised by the literature that are relevant to women.
Expand vocabulary and use appropriate diction, particularly the vocabulary and diction specific to literature by, for, and about women.

TOPICAL OUTLINE OF UNITS:
Identify Elements of Literature

To show how the use of plot, characterization, theme, point of view, and setting as devices for developing a literary work.
To identify how the structure of an essay is used to formulate and develop ideas related to issues.
To develop ad use vocabulary and diction defining concepts relevant to women's issue in literature.

Recognize traditional images of women.

To analyze the traditional images of women as wife, mother, woman on a pedestal, sex object, and single women as they are presented in literature.
To study how these literary images raise issues relating to women in general.
To relate these images to stereotypes and expectations that women have faced throughout history and face currently.

Understand self-actualization in women.

To identify full-developed women in literature.
To identify and discuss what stands in the way of self-actualization for women.
To gain knowledge of the process of self-actualization for themselves as depicted in women's literature, and to discuss and develop methods of self-actualization.

REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE:
At the completion of Women in Literature, students will have read 25 to 30 short stories, poems, and essays, read one novel and view one movie on the theme of women's issues. Students will keep a journal, take two exams and complete a final project, which will vary from semester to semester.

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION:
Methods of instruction may include lecture; class discussion; daily exercises; tests, including quizzes and chapter or unit tests; handouts; audio-visual aids; study guides panel discussions; observation reports; writing assignments, including essays and journal entries; field trips; and individual conferences.

Telecourses: Independent study of audio/video materials augmented by text and study guide; collaboration and participation with class members and faculty via available means. Faculty role is facilitator of learning experiences.

METHODS OF EVALUATION:
Methods of evaluation may include the following: tests, both essay and objective; daily work; written composition; class participation; and other methods of evaluation at the discretion of the instructor.

Miscellaneous:
Students with impaired sensory, manual or speaking skills are encouraged and have the responsibility to contact their instructor, in a timely fashion, regarding reasonable accommodation needs.