Unit 6: Shadows, Ghosts, and Scars
Unit 6: Shadows, Ghosts, and Scars
Memory, Trauma, and the Weight of the Unspeakable
Memory, Trauma, and the Weight of the Unspeakable
This unit bridges the end of Semester 1 and the opening weeks of Semester 2, asking students to do something they have not yet been asked to do in this course: live with a book. Not read it in a week, not annotate a short story, not sprint through six episodes of a modernist novel — but settle in, slow down, and let a major work of literature take up residence in them over time.
The primary text is Toni Morrison's Beloved — a novel about slavery, trauma, memory, and the ghosts we carry that refuses to be read passively. Students may alternatively read Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (carried over from prior iterations of this course) or, for motivated independent readers, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (not available in the textbook room; students must obtain their own copy). Where multiple novels are in play simultaneously, the class will function as parallel book clubs — distinct conversations that occasionally converge around shared critical frameworks.
The unit begins in the final week of Semester 1. Students are expected to read approximately half of their chosen novel over winter break and arrive in January prepared to discuss, not summarize. When we return, four weeks of sustained reading, discussion, and analysis will follow. Students will stand and present analytical observations on a weekly basis — not polished performances, but genuine attempts to say something true about the text in front of their peers. The discomfort of that is part of the point.
The unit closes with a capstone literary essay — the most ambitious writing students will have produced in this course. Prompts are deliberately complex and open-ended, and many invite students to draw on texts from across the year. This is the first major encounter with academic research: students will be introduced to library databases, scholarly sources, and the beginning standards of ENGL C1001 research writing, which officially launches Semester 2.
As Mr. Tretyak puts it: the goal of this unit is to read a big-ass book.
Sustain close engagement with an extended literary text over several weeks, developing habits of deep, patient reading.
Participate in literary discussion at a book-club level — presenting analytical observations, responding to peers, and building on ideas collaboratively rather than performing for a grade.
Apply critical lenses developed across Semester 1 (psychoanalytic, deconstructive, feminist, CRT, post-structuralist) to a full-length novel.
Produce a capstone analytical essay that moves beyond summary into genuine scholarly contribution — a response that adds to the conversation about the text rather than merely reporting on it.
Begin developing research literacy: locating and integrating scholarly sources, understanding database navigation, and meeting the introductory standards of ENGL C1001.
Final week of Semester 1: Unit begins. Students receive their chosen novel and reading guides. Begin reading.
Winter Break: Students are expected to complete approximately the first half of their chosen novel before returning in January. This is not optional reading — it is the foundation of everything that follows.
Weeks 1–4 of Semester 2: Sustained in-class discussion, weekly presentations, and analytical writing culminating in the capstone essay.
Reading Log / Reading Guide Responses: Ongoing analytical journal using Mr. Tretyak's reading guides as a framework. Responses should reflect genuine engagement with the text — not plot summary.
Weekly Analytical Presentations: Students will stand and present a short analytical observation or argument about their reading once per week. These are not required to be polished — they are practice in speaking analytically and thinking on your feet. Consistency and genuine effort matter more than perfection.
Capstone Literary Essay (Take-Home): The major assessment of the unit. Students will select from a menu of complex, cross-textual prompts and produce an extended analytical essay that incorporates secondary research. The essay must demonstrate original interpretive thinking — not a rehearsal of what others have said, but a contribution to the scholarly conversation.
Sample prompt directions include:
A comparison of Morrison's narrative style in Beloved — particularly her fragmented, non-linear structure — with Joyce's Penelope episode in Ulysses, examining how both authors render interior consciousness and trauma through form.
An analysis of Ellison's deconstruction of language and identity in Invisible Man set against Shakespeare's use of unstable meaning in Macbeth.
An exploration of symbolism and confined spaces in Jane Eyre read alongside Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," applying a feminist psychoanalytic lens.
A psychoanalytic reading of the ghost in Beloved — Beloved as repressed memory, as the return of the repressed, as a Jungian shadow — using Freudian or Lacanian frameworks developed in Units 1–3.
👉 Beloved by Toni Morrison — Primary text (Full Text)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison — Alternative text (available in textbook room)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë — Alternative text (students must obtain their own copy; not available in textbook room)
👉 = Primary / Required for default track
Divergent Perspectives on Agency and Structures (Link)
RALPH ELLISON In His Own Words, Interview (Link)
Invisible Man: Crash Course Literature 308 (Link)
👉 Invisible Man: Gordon Parks and Ralph Ellison in Harlem (Link)
Gordon Parks Interprets Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" | UNIQLO ARTSPEAKS (Link)
Harlem Is Nowhere by Ralph Ellison (Link)
Cultural Collision and Consequence: Redefining the Invisible in
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man by Nina Shari Kidd (Link)
Ralph Ellison and the Metaphor of Invisibility in Black Literary Tradition by Lieber (Link)
Soul City, 1973 (Link)
No Vietnamese Ever Called Me N**** (Link)
Short Clip from Doc (Link)
👉 Critical race theory: Experts break down what it actually means (Link)
👉 African American Criticism by Tyson (Link)
What Critical Race Theory Actually Is — and Isn't by historian and author Ibram X. Kendi (Link)
👉 The urgency of intersectionality | Kimberlé Crenshaw | TED (Link)
👉 Cornel West Explains Critical Race Theory (Link)
Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement (Link)
Introduction (Link)
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism by Dr. Robin DiAngelo (Link)
Cheat Sheet: What Is White Fragility? | Baratunde Thurston (Link)
Ex-Neo-Nazi Speech by Christian Picciolini (Link)
👉 Foucault: Crime, Police, & Power | Philosophy Tube (Link)
👉 Foucault 2: Government Surveillance & Prison | Philosophy Tube (Link)
👉 "Panopticism" from Discipline and Punish by Foucault (1975) (Link)
Tretyak's Note: I find these videos to be highly problematic, often molding and cherry picking historical details in a façade of academia; they are not taking into account actual contexts, goals, etc. However, I want to make sure we have an opportunity to discuss why these are inaccurate and how to address and navigate arguments formatted in this manner.
Critical Race Theory Explained by an Alt-Right Group (Link)
The Roots of Critical Race Theory | Jordan Peterson (Link)
"On Invisibility and the Black Experience" — JSTOR Daily — Analysis connecting Ellison to ongoing social realities
"Feminist and Post-Structuralist Readings of Jane Eyre" — British Library — Gender, identity, and social control in Brontë’s novel
"Mathematics" by Mos Def (Link)
"Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday (Jazz / Protest)
"Alright" by Kendrick Lamar (Hip-Hop / Liberation Anthem)
"I Am... I Said" by Neil Diamond (Soft Rock / Identity Ballad)
"Formation" by Beyoncé (Pop / Black Empowerment)
"Lost Ones" by Lauryn Hill (Hip-Hop / Social Critique)
---
"We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar (Harlem Renaissance / Identity)
"won’t you celebrate with me" by Lucille Clifton (Empowerment / Survival Poetry)
"Power" by Audre Lorde (Political / Reflective Poetry)
"The Lynching" by Claude McKay (Harlem Renaissance / Protest)
"Let America Be America Again" by Langston Hughes (American Dream Critique)