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Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2026

American Literature III (Face-to-Face)

ENGL 3220-01

Course: ENGL 3220-01
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2026
Department: English
CRN: 31568

Course Description

This course surveys American literature from 1945 to the present, and is structured chronologically as well as thematically. We will study representative works of American literature from culturally, socially, and ethnically diverse writers, with a focus on fiction and through a range of genres including novels, plays, comics, poems, and short stories. Together we will consider how literature reflects and shapes the experiences of Americans from the mid-twentieth-century to the present, and we will study the political and social movements of the times alongside the literature. We will also think about how different genres and styles of literature depict social struggles, and how fiction in particular has been a way to resist social inequities and imagine new ways of being in the world.

Required Texts

  • Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (1949)
  • Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt (1952)
  • James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time (1963)
  • Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)
  • Julie Otsuka, When the Emperor was Divine (2002)
  • Louise Erdrich, The Round House (2012)
  • Victor Lavalle and Dietrich Smith, Destroyer (2017)

All other readings will be posted to Canvas.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Students will be able to identify, describe, and compare the literary features of a variety of genres of American literature from 1945 to the present.

    SUU ELO: Knowledge of Human Cultures: Students demonstrate knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world through study in the fine arts, humanities, social and behavioral sciences, life and physical sciences.

  2. Students will be able to articulate critical positions and interpretations through response assignments, quizzes, and short papers.

    SUU ELO: Communication: Students develop and express ideas and will be able to do so in a variety of ways, namely in writing, by speaking, visually, kinesthetically, through design or aurally.

  3. Students will be able to apply knowledge of historical events and cultural surroundings to their close reading and analysis of literary texts in a longer research paper.

    SUU ELO: Critical Thinking: Students demonstrate disciplined processes of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

  4. Students will demonstrate an ability to conduct scholarly research and create an effective presentation for their classmates through in-class presentations.

    SUU ELO: Digital Literacy: Students strategically and responsibly employ appropriate technologies to explore, create, collaborate, and organize in a digital context.

Course Requirements

Assignments and Grade Breakdown

  • Participation and Attendance: 15%
  • Group Presentation: 20%
  • Literary Analysis Paper: 20%
  • Midterm Exam: 20%
  • Final Research Paper: 25%
Participation and Attendance

This grade will be determined by your regular attendance and participation in our class meetings. Please be sure to come to our meetings prepared and having done the readings. Readings are due the day they are listed; for example, you will come to our meeting on 9/9 having read Act 1 of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.

Group Presentation Activity

Once per semester starting in week 3, groups of students will prepare and present on the day’s reading (we will have 8 of these presentations). The presentations should be thirty minutes long (though they are likely to take the entire class), and every member of the group needs to speak for an equal amount of time. We will discuss the requirements for these presentations; your presentation itself will be posted to Canvas afterward to serve as a study guide for the class.

Paper 1 – Literary Analysis

In this 4-5 page paper, you will close read and analyze one of the works we’ve read in the first portion of class. I will provide several expansive prompts, but you will be free to select your own topic (that you run by me) as well. This paper will have an argumentative thesis, compelling and clear structure, and well-defined analysis of your chosen text.

Midterm Exam

We will have an in-class exam on the readings and class material; this exam will include passage identifications and short response questions.

Paper 2 – Final Research Paper

In this 6-7 page paper, you will complement and complicate your literary analysis by successfully bringing in outside research in the form of secondary criticism and/or further historical evidence. We will have a workshop in class to ensure that everyone is confident about the ins and outs of incorporating outside research into literary analysis papers. Like the first paper, I will provide prompts for students who want more guidance, but you will be free to pursue your own topic once you’ve run it by me.

Course Outline

Week 1 – Introductions

W ****9****/2

Course Introduction and Welcome

F ****9****/****4

Discuss Gwendolyn Brooks “We Real Cool” and “Kitchenette Building” (Poems on Canvas)

Week 2

M ****9****/****7**** – No Class Meeting

W 9/****9

Read: Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman Act 1

F 9/****11****

Read: Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman Act 2 and Requiem

Week 3

M 9/****14****

Read: Patricia Highsmith The Price of Salt chapters 1-8

W 9/****16

Group 1 Presentation!

Read: Patricia Highsmith The Price of Salt chapters 9-19

F 9/1****8

Read: Patricia Highsmith The Price of Salt chapters 20-end

Read: Elizabeth Bishop “One Art” and “The Fish,” Allen Ginsberg “A Supermarket in California,” Adrienne Rich “Diving into the Wreck” (Poems on Canvas)

Week 4

M 9/****21

Read: James Baldwin “My Dungeon Shook” from The Fire Next Time

W 9/****23

Group 2 Presentation!

Read: James Baldwin “Down at the Cross” from The Fire Next Time

F 9/****25

Read: Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (Letter on Canvas)

Week 5

M 9/2****8

Paper 1 Workshop

W 9/****30

Watch in class: “The House We Live In”

F ****10****/2

Watch in class: “The House We Live In”

Paper 1 Due on Canvas

Week 6

M ****10/5****

Read: Toni Morrison Beloved pgs. 1-86 (First 7 chapters, half of part 1)

W 10/****7

Group 3 Presentation!

Read: Toni Morrison Beloved pgs. 87-195 (Till the end of part 1)

F 10/****9****

Read: Toni Morrison Beloved pgs. 199-277 (Part 2)

Week 7

M 10/****12

Read: Toni Morrison Beloved pgs. 281-end (Part 3)

W 10/****14

Group 4 Presentation!

Read: Gloria Anzaldúa “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” and “To Live in the Borderlands Means You” (Essay and poem on Canvas)

F 10/1****6

Read: Julie Otsuka When the Emperor Was Divine Part 1 and 2 (Evacuation Order No. 19 and Train)

Week 8

M 10/1****9**** – Fall Break – No Class

W 10/****21

Group 5 Presentation!

Read: Julie Otsuka When the Emperor Was Divine Part 3 (When the Emperor Was Divine) and Part 4 (In a Stranger’s Backyard)

F 10/****23****

Read: Julie Otsuka When the Emperor Was Divine Part 5 (Confession)

Week 9

10/26

Read: Etheridge Knight “The Idea of Ancestry” and “He Sees Through Stone” (Poems on Canvas)

10/28

Group 6 Presentation!

Read: Angela Davis “The Prison Industrial Complex” (Essay on Canvas)

10/30

Watch: Ava DuVernay’s 13th (Documentary streaming on Youtube and Netflix) – Discuss in Class

Week 10

11/2

Read: Louise Erdrich The Round House chapters 1-4

11/4

Group 7 Presentation!

Read: Louise Erdrich The Round House chapters 5-7

11/6

Read: Louise Erdrich The Round House chapters 8-end

Week 11

M 1****1****/****9

Read: Joy Harjo “Deer Dancer” and “How to Write a Poem in a Time of War” (Poems on Canvas)

Read: Naomi Shihab Nye “Famous,” and “Streets” (Poems on Canvas)

W 1****1****/****11 – No Class

F 1****1****/****13 – No Class

Week 12

M 1****1****/****16

Midterm Review in class

W 1****1****/****18

In-class Midterm Exam

F 1****1****/****20

Workshop Day

Thanksgiving Break

Week 13

M 11/3****0

Read: Victor Lavalle Destroyer chapters 1-2

W 1****2****/****2

Group 8 Presentation!

Read: Victor Lavalle Destroyer chapter 3-4

F 1****2****/****4

Read: Victor Lavalle Destroyer chapter 5-6

Week 14

M 12/****7

Read: Tim O’Brien “The Things They Carried” (Short Story on Canvas)

W 12/****9

Read: Ursula K. Le Guin “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” (Short Story on Canvas)

F 12/****11 ****Last Day of Class

Final Paper Workshop

Paper 2 Due on Canvas December 1****4

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

I offer extensions without any grade penalty, but an extension request must be sent to me by email or Canvas message before the assignment is due. Work that is submitted late (with no extension request) will lose ten points per day that it is late.

Attendance Policy

Your success and the success of this course depend on your active participation; therefore, your regular attendance is required. Be aware that a student whose absences are excessive may run the risk of receiving a lower grade or a failing grade, regardless of their performance in the class. You are allowed two unpenalized absences from class; every absence after that drops your total class grade by 5 points. Missing more than five classes puts you at risk for failing the class. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to get the class notes from a classmate.

Please note: Zoom accommodations related to Covid restrictions for face-to-face classes have ended. There will be no live streaming or recording of class sessions.

Course Fees

none

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.