American Values and Institutions II

Professor Park Goist
Case Western Reserve University

Course Introduction

AMST 108 is the second course in a two semester core sequence for Western Reserve College students. It is also one of the two required introductory courses for students majoring in American Studies.

The basic issue dealt with in the American Studies Core is the formation and expresion of values. How did Americans in the past adopt and/or develop values which ahve become dominant in our own time? What institutions have helped foster those values? Which individuals and organizations have challenged those values and why?

Answers to these questions may be found in the public expressions of cultural and political leaders and those who challenge them. Values are also evident in the beliefs and actions of "ordinary people" and in such institutions as church, local agency, family, work palce, union, volunteer associations, etc., which touch their daily lives. Thus, while the significant political, economic and technological developments are important to our discussions, attention will also be given to the interaction between the larger historical tapestry and the lives and beliefs of everyday American men and women.

In AMST 108 we will examine selected social and cultural changes taking place in the 20th century. This follows from the changes which occured in the course of our country's emergence from a scattered wildnerness into an industrial nation by 1900.

AMST 108 encourages students to develop the following skills: (1) an understanding of the connections among cultural, social, economic, and political changes; (2) an ability tot think critically about primary and secondary aources; (3) an insight into how individuals and groups are affected by social changes; and (4) an understanding of how to use evidence in reaching a conclusion, and how to translate the results of that process into clearly written prose.

The course requirements include: (1) a research paper on the Persian Gulf crisis, (2) two short papers (3-4 pages), (3) a mid-term essay on Cowley, Odets and Steinbeck, and (4) a final essay on Kerouac, Brown, Angelou and Postman.

Required Reading
  1. Malcolm Cowley. Exile's Return
  2. John Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath
  3. Clifford Odets. Waiting For Lefty
  4. Jack Kerouac. On The Road
  5. Maya Angelou. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
  6. Claude Brown. Manchild In The Promised Land
  7. Neil Postman. Amusing Ourselves To Death

Course Schedule

Written Assignments:

One student of American life has noted that "individualism is one of the most predominate social beliefs by which Americans try to live their lives". He goes on to describe individualism "as a feeling which disposes each citizen to isolate himself from his fellows and withdraw into a circle of family and friends, leaving the greater society to look after itself. Such citizens believe that they owe no man anything and hardly expect anything from anybody. They form the habit of thinking of themselves in isolation from others and imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands. They isolate themselves from their contemporaries, each person thrown back upon himself alone."

This social belief has been questioned since its formulation in the 17th and 18th centuries. Duringthe 1920s Malcolm Cowley used the idea of individualism to explain the strengths and weaknesses of his literary generation; and in the 1930s, Clifford Otes and John Steinbeck were among those whose work questioned the American commitment to individualism. In an essay focusing on Cowely's Exile Return (1934), Odet's Waiting For Lefty (1935) and Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939), I would like to have you discuss the criticism of individualism in each of these works.

Evidence for how Cowley used the idea of individualism to understand the 1920s is abundant throughout the book, but a few passages which may help ypu think about the issue include pages 9, 14-15, and 206-214. Futhermore, you might ask yourself what Cowley concluded from his experience with the Dada movement, and what relationship he thought Harry Crosby's suicide had to individulaism and to the 1920s.

In the 1930s the criticism of individualism took on a more political tone. In Waiting For Lefty and The Grapes of Wrath what specific consequences of the Depression are dramatized? How do various characters in these works "explain" the Depression? In the Odets paly what relation is their between individulaism and the course of action advocated at the end of the play? In Steinbeck's novel what "solutions" to the economic crisis are offered Ma, on one hand, and by JIm Casy, and Tom Joad, on the other?

Question 2:
What do the 1950s T.V. quiz show scandal reveal about American attitudes towrad success, wealth and education? Are our attitudes different today? What was so wrong with what people like Stempel and Van Doren did? Wasn't it just part of the kind of entertainment we accept from television? Is T.V. different today?

Final Essay:
One of the major themes which has emerged from our readings and discussions this semester in AMST 108 is the sense of alienation felt and expressed by various articulate Americans. For your final examination in the course I want you to write an essay on Jack Kerouac's On The Road, Claude Brown's Manchild In The Promised Land, and Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, in which you discuss 1) the ways in which and the extent to which each author expresses a feeling of alienation from society, and 2) the ways in which and the xtent to which each author also expresses a reconciliation with or reconcilaiation to American society.

For example, to what extent-- and on the basis of what specific evidence form On The Road-- does Sal Paradise express a sense of being lost or uprooted? Again, using specific examples from the novel, to what extent does he embrace and celebrate American life?

With regard to Manchild In The Promised Land, what specific examples would you use to illustrate Claude Brown's deep sense of confusion, frustration, and anger with American society? On the other hand, how does he try to overcome these obstacles to finding himself? How is his love/hate relationship to Harlem related to this, and how does he eventually work that problem out?

Again using specific examples, this time from I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, discuss the basis for Maya Angelou's feelings of confusion and hostility toward American society and the specific ways in which she tries to come to terms with that society. What are the sources of Maya's pride in herself? Why does the caged bird sing?

Finally, what conclusions about American life-- specifically regarding the sense of alienation from society-- would you make on the basis of the experiences of Sal Paradise, Claude Brown, and Maya Angelou?