American Literature. What makes the literature particularly American? We'll look at this literary question by looking at what we consider to be particularly "American"--history, philosophy, ideas, dreams, and identity. We'll start with a reading quiz on A Farewell to Arms (the summer reading book due for the first day of school). We'll discuss the book in terms of the book itself, Hemmingway, the time period, and our questions. We'll then step back in time to the beginning of the "settling" of this country. We'll look the ideas/ideals with which our country was set up. We'll need to keep this in mind as we move forward. You will also have a major project on an American Writer to work on throughout the entire year. It's a fruitful project and yields a great discussion piece at the end of the year--something I've come to look forward to every year.