20th-CENTURY LITERATURE CURRICULUM FOR PIUS X HIGH SCHOOL
RATIONALE
This course promotes independent learning and student responsibility through reading, discussing and writing about
literature written in the twentieth century.
OBJECTIVES
1. To have students learn to enjoy literature and develop good
reading habits.
2. To share with an open mind ideas and experiences gained through
the readings, expressing opinions on how the story pertains
to the reader.
3. To read and discuss literature according to its merits,
including discussions on literary devices and techniques
used by the author.
4. To improve writing style by answering essay questions,
preparing reaction papers, journals and analytical pieces.
5. To understand the correlation between the author and the times
in which he/she lived and the material he/she writes.
FALL SEMESTER (20TH CENTURY LITERATURE I)
1. Students will read the following novels in the course of the
semester:
Ethan Frome (Edith Wharton)
A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway)
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisernos)
Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
2. Discussions will focus on plot development, characterizations,
literary devices, and themes of the stories.
3. Students will discover the relationship between the authors'
lives, their stories, and the historical events involved.
4. Students will discuss the current messages, or the
correlation, to modern day and the readers' lives.
5. Students will write a variety of pieces based on the
literature. These writing assignments include journal writing,
reaction essays, creative pieces, and answering essay questions
on tests.
6. Students will be required to know vocabulary words taken from
the texts.
SPRING SEMESTER (20TH CENTURY LITERATURE II)
Students will read the following in the course of the semester:
My Antonia (Willa Cather)
All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Remarque)
The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway)
Cry, the Beloved Country (Allan Paton)
Animal Farm (George Orwell)
Course expectations are the same as for 20th Century Literature I.
ASSESSMENT
1. READING QUIZZES. Quizzes will be used to determine students'
understanding of basic plot elements and completion of reading
assignments.
2. VOCABULARY. Students will be evaluated over vocabulary taken
from the texts.
3. WRITTEN WORK. Student's written work for each of the novels
will be evaluated based on clarity, completeness and technical
correctness.
4. TESTS. Students will be given a unit test over each novel and
a vocabulary test.
5. COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM. Students will take an exam
administered at the end of each semester.
It is not necessary to take both semesters of this course. Each
semester is a separate course and may be taken individually.
Reading assignments and expectations are targeted for non-
motivated readers. This course is open to juniors.