SENIOR ENGLISH OPTIONS
English Literature
 Texts: Siddhartha, by Hesse, Antigone, by
Sophocles, Invisible Man, by Ellison, The Spirit
Catches You and You Fall Down, by
Fadiman, Macbeth, by Shakespeare

Book circles possible choices include: Catch-22,
by Heller, Beloved, by Morrison, Handmaid's
Tale by Atwood, Kaffir Boy by Mathabane, Brave
New World by Huxley, Obasan by Kogawa
Selected short stories, poetry and non-fiction
SENIOR ENGLISH OPTIONS
Film Analysis
 Texts: The Art of Watching Films by Bogs and
Petrie as well as many articles from
contemporary journals. Films (whole films and
excerpts) such as The Stunt Man, The Player,
Pulp Fiction, The Gold Rush, It Happened One
Night, Casablanca, On the Waterfront, The
Graduate, Annie Hall, Raging Bull, American
Beauty, Citizen Kane, Man with a Movie Camera,
Nanook of the North, Triumph of the Will, Thin
Blue Line, Lessons of Darkness, Bowling for
Columbine, The Bicycle Thief, The 400 Blows,
Amores Perros, Salaam Bombay, City of
God, selected short films and others.
SENIOR ENGLISH OPTIONS
Global Connections
 English/social studies class
 Kaffir Boy by Mathabane, Night by Wiesel, two
student-selected non-fiction texts.
 Selected short stories, poetry and non-fiction
 Examples of films that may be shown:
Return to Paradise, Nuremberg, The Power of
One, ,Crimson Tide, Truth and Reconciliation, A
Few Good Men
SENIOR ENGLISH OPTIONS
Creative views
 Drown by Diaz, Running by Rodriguez,Parrot in
the Oven by Martinez
 Selected short stories, poetry and non-fiction
 Examples of films that may be shown:
Malcolm X, Eyes on the Prize, Crooklyn, Do the
Right Thing
SENIOR ENGLISH OPTIONS
Advanced Placement Literature and
Composition
 Great Expectations, by Dickens, Pride and
Prejudice by Austen Dubliners by Joyce, As I Lay
Dying by Faulkner, Beloved by Morrison, The
Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by
Fadiman. Crime and Punishment by
Dostoevsky Invisible Man by Ellison Native
Son by Wright Catch-22, by Heller Hamlet, by
Shakespeare
 Poetry, short stories, news articles, and essays
will also be assigned. In addition, substantial
independent reading is required for the senior
project.
TRANSCENDENTALISM
Mid-1800s
TRANSCENDENTALISM
Ralph Waldo Emerson: traditionally trained at
Harvard, joined ministry before leaving in 1831
 Belief in an “over-soul” – an awareness that
every man and woman share. We are all
connected – every person, thing, drop of nature
 Distrust in authority: “Trust thyself”
 Intuition: we all have within us our own guides
that will lead us in the right direction

MEN SAY THEY KNOW MANY THINGS
BY HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Men say they know many
things;
But lo! they have taken
wings, —
The arts and sciences,
And a thousand appliances;
The wind that blows
Is all that any body knows.