LIU Post Lit Survey

This is a poll to determine which pieces of literature the class will read during the spring semester. Before you make your decision, take the time to read the descriptions and first lines, and/or take a look at the books in class.
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  1. How would you like to cover Hamlet?

    Read Hamlet
    View Hamlet (modern setting/Shakespearean language)
    View Hamlet (period setting/Shakespearean language)


  1. Topic: Society in an uproar/Relationship in an uproar

    ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll --- Description: A satiric look at the imaginative and nonsensical adventures of a girl in a bizarre, topsy-turvy land underground. First line: Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversationsin it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?"
    1984 by George Orwell--- Description: A negative utopia where the "Thought Police" and others keep absolute control over man's actions. First lines: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.


  1. Topic: A feminist perspective.

    THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin --- Description: This novel delves into the psychology of a woman involved in an illicit relationship. First line: A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over: "Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi! That's all right!" He could speak a little Spanish...
    A DOLL'S HOUSE by Henrik Ibsen --- Description: A play wherein the main character is a woman whos epitomizes the human struggle against the humiliating constraints of social conformity and a smothering marriage. First lines: Nora: Hide the Christmas tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it till this evening, when it is dressed. [To the Porter, taking out her purse.] How much?
    THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gillman--- Description: A haunted story of women's "place" in society and the psychological struggles that entails. First lines: It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity--but that would be askign too much of fate!
    A ROSE FOR EMILY by William Faulkner ---Description: Told out of sequence, a narrator recalls the life and death of a woman who is a relic of the old south. First lines: When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral; the men through some sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man servant--a combined gardener and cook-- had seen in at least ten years.


  1. Topic: Cultural Differences

    BREAD GIVERS by Anzia Yezierska --- Description: A lively story of the Jewish immigrant's familiar struggle from rags to respectability brings the woman's viewpoint under her father's Old-World Tyranny. First line: I had just begun to peel the potatoes for dinner when my oldest sister Bessie came in, her eyes far away and very tired.
    A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE by Arthur Miller ---Description: The story of a Brooklyn longshoreman whose life is predictable until his wife's illegal immigrant relatives arrive to stay with him and his niece. First line: You wouldn't have known it, but something amusing has happened. You see how uneasily they nod to me?
    THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neale Hurston--- Description: The story of a woman's journey through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials, and purpose.


  1. Topic: Class Differences (told in period)

    TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES by Thomas Hardy Description: A story of tragic destiny, violated by one man and forsaken by another, the injustices of Victorian society are exposed. First line: On an evening in the latter part of May a middle-aged man was walking homeward from Shaston to the village of Marlott, in the adjoining Vale of Blakemore or Blackmoor.
    STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Tennessee Williams --- Description: The story of a haggard and fragile southern beauty whose pathetic grasp at happiness is cruelly destroyed and a sweat-shirted barbarian, the cruelly sensual brother-in-law who participates in the tragedy. First line: STANLEY: Hey, there! Stella, Baby! STELLA: Don't holler at me like that. Hi, Mitch.
    THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald --- The story of a fabulously wealthy man and his love for a beautiful socialite, with lavish parties, set on Long Island. First line: In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone..."





Ms. Macy
English Teacher
Kings Park High School
Kings Park, NY