Literature: Overcoming Obstacles

Literature: Overcoming Obstacles

What does it mean to live a meaningful life in the face of challenge, disappointment, adversity, and change? In this course, students explore timeless works of literature that examine the obstacles common to the human experience and the virtues required to overcome them. Through stories of growth, friendship, prejudice, courage, freedom, aging, and purpose, students will discover how great literature helps us better understand ourselves and others.

Students will journey from the imaginative worlds of The Little Prince and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to the complex relationships and moral challenges of The Chosen. They will study the remarkable true story of Frederick Douglass and his struggle against slavery, ignorance, and injustice. Finally, students will wrestle with profound questions about aging, legacy, and human fulfillment through The Old Man and the Sea and The Death of Ivan Ilyich.

Along the way, students will develop critical reading, analytical writing, discussion, and communication skills while engaging with some of the most influential works in world literature. More importantly, they will examine enduring questions about character, resilience, purpose, and what it means to live life abundantly. By studying these classic texts, students will gain insight into the challenges that unite humanity across cultures, generations, and circumstances.