Journeys+Inward+&+Outward

AP Lang & Comp/Parrish Jan-Feb 2011

**Unit 3: Journeys Inward & Outward** **in the Changing American Literary Tradition**

__Background:__ We began our year of study with T. S. Eliot’s “Tradition and the Individual Talent” and the questions it raises about tradition and innovation in literature. We have studied Transcendentalism, American Romanticism and Modernism both formally and thematically. This study has revealed repeating American concern with shaping a literary identity that speaks to something universal--an American mythology that transcends individual dreams. Joseph Campbell has written extensively on the universal nature of mythology and the extent to which the lessons of ancient mythology can and should speak to contemporary individuals. Many of you are familiar with his concept of the “monomyth,” or an archetypal pattern for a hero’s journey out and return home from a quest. In this unit, we will study two formally and historically distinct novels, Cormack McCarthy’s //The Road// and Mark Twain’s //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// in the context of the archetypal hero’s journey. The philosophical and theoretical framework for this unit will come from Campbell’s transcribed interviews with Bill Moyers’ published in //The Power of Myth//. Additional supplemental texts will include the documentary film //Born to Trouble// about the attempt to ban the novel from an Arizona school district in the 1990s; resources for understanding Twain’s deliberate and rhetorical use of dialect and an interview with Cormack McCarthy in which he discusses his inspiration for writing //The Road//.

__Questions to Consider:__
 * What is the relationship between the journey inward and the archetypal hero’s quest?
 * In what ways is the quest framework useful in understanding //The Road// or //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn//? Why?
 * What, if any, similarities do the journeys in McCarthy’s and Twain’s texts share?
 * How does studying //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// reveal something about //The Road//? And vice versa?
 * What role does language (specific diction, tone, dialect, imagery, allusion, etc.) play in creating meaning in //The Road// and //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn//?

__Graded Assignments:__ [|__http://parrishaplangandcomp.blogspot.com__] [|__http://parrishaplangandcomp.blogspot.com__]
 * Summative one-to-two page rhetorical analysis on //The Road// due January 25, 2011
 * Formative blog posts on “The Journey Inward” and “The Hero’s Journey”: January 27, 28, 2011
 * Summative in-class rhetorical analysis on //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// on February 4, 2011
 * Formative blog posts on //Born to Trouble//: February 7, 8, 9, 2011
 * Summative in-class argument prompt on the banning of //Huck Finn//, February 10, 2011
 * Summative end-of-unit synthesis essay: draft due February 21, final due February 25, 2011