"The literature of a people reflects their basic concerns".  This is the idea that drives the essential question for the year: What does it mean to be an American?  By studying the history and the literature in chronological order, we seek a deeper understanding of what this country stands for and where the country is headed. 

This class examines works of literature and we attempt to understand the dynamic relationship that exists between the individual and society.  We will read about characters who are confronted with difficult choices and the struggle between what they want to do and what society expects of them.

"What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, and replaced by a new dish." - W. H. Auden

"Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could. SOme blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

Ralph Waldo Emerson,

Hamden High School
Mike Capone