Priscilla L. Luoma
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“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
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- From
Amendment XIV
of the
Constitution of the United States
It is a rare person who does not act in his own self-interest, and our interests vary depending upon what we individually believe. Throughout this unit students will examine texts and explore how American society has been established in relation to the individual. When America is such a vastly diversified nation, how is it that the interests of every citizen are equally treated? Did the Founding Fathers find the magic mixture and create the “perfect union” in America? Students will read literature from the Puritan period to present day to assess the effectiveness of America as a truly equal state. To provide students with information that will help them develop informed opinions and judgments student will read the writings of men who worked to form a new society in the New World. Some of these writings include John Winthrop’s
, A Modell of Christian Charity
; excerpts from Benjamin Franklin’s,
The Autobiography
; Thomas Jefferson’s
Declaration of Independence
, and sections of the
Constitution of the United States
. They will also examine texts that depict the society in action such as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s,
The Scarlet Letter
; the Supreme Court’s decision in
Brown v. Board of Education
; and Michael Moore’s,
Fahrenheit 9/11
. Of course, any or all of these specific texts may be substituted for others of the respective periods. It is my hope that students will broaden their understanding of their nation and of their perspectives of themselves as citizens. Why in these past two centuries have so many people flocked to America? Why has America been revered as a utopian destination? Is it the proclamation guaranteeing individual liberties and equal rights to all that has drawn the crowds? Is equality in America real or imagined? Are all people actually provided equal protection under the law? Is equality an idealistic aim? Is it true that the
you
, the voice of the individual, is the foundation of our American utopia, or is the American dream is just that?
When my English students begin the text for the American Literature survey course, they seem to feel that they have little connection to the material. The object of the unit is to enable them to see the idea of society, and particularly theirs, in a different way. This ability to navigate their world with awareness is an important skill for my students. Despite the fact that they are eleventh-grade, honors students, many have limited first-hand exposure to diverse conditions, cultures, and perspectives. To take on a different approach to a seemingly familiar theme is challenging. Introducing the concept of utopia is an appropriate way of forcing students to examine, or reexamine, their understanding of society, their perceptions, their values, themselves. Adolescents generally think in an idealized way. Moreover, they often express dissatisfaction about the way things are at school, home, in their community, the nation, and the world. Their knowledge base is often insufficient to enable them to engage in profound discourse about their world and even, again, themselves. It is my hope that this unit will provide my students with a better understanding of major themes and ideas that give rise to a society and a state.
