TABLE OF CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- CHAPTER 1: PROLOGUE -- CHAPTER 2: CHARACTER AS DOPPELGANGER: The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane -- FINDING THE PATH TO THE THRESHOLD OF TRANSFORMATION -- PASSING THROUGH THE THRESHOLD OF ILLUMINATION -- TRANSITIONING FROM PERSONAL EPIPHANY TO CLASSROOM PRACTICE -- TOPICS FOR REFLECTION -- CHAPTER 3: CHARACTER AS CONSCIENCE: Les Miserables, Victor Hugo -- EXPELLING THE SHADOW AND ENTERING THE LIGHT -- ENCOUNTERING OXYMORON -- ENDURING CONFLICTS OF CONSCIENCE -- TOPICS FOR REFLECTION -- CHAPTER 4: CHARACTER AS NEMESIS: American Idiot (Billie Joe Armstrong) -- THE ROAD TO THE BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS -- ONTO THE STREETS OF SHAME -- WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS -- TOPICS FOR REFLECTION -- CHAPTER 5: DISCOURSE ONE -- CHAPTER 6: DIALOGUE AS MEANING-MAKING: Absolum, Absolum! (William Faulkner) Light in August (William Faulkner) The Sound and the Fury (William Faulkner) -- VERISIMILITUDE OVER VERIFIABILITY -- THE DREAM-WORK OF LANGUAGE -- WHEN A WORD IS WORTH A THOUSAND PICTURES -- TOPICS FOR REFLECTION -- CHAPTER 7: DIALOGUE AS IRONY: Seinfeld scripts -- RELATING ONE'S FICTION AS REALITY -- DISCOURSE THAT MAKES THE UNREAL REAL -- WHEN HAVING NOTHING IS THE SAME AS HAVING EVERYTHING -- TOPICS FOR REFLECTION -- CHAPTER 8: DIALOGUE AS A VEIL: Frankenstein (Mary Shelley) -- A VEIL OF FORM AND FUNCTION -- A VEIL OF POWER -- A VEIL OF ETHICS -- TOPICS FOR REFLECTION -- CHAPTER 9: DISCOURSE TWO -- CHAPTER 10: JOURNEY AS METAPHOR: Odyssey (Homer) -- JOURNEY OF INSPIRATION -- JOURNEY OF TRANSFORMATION -- JOURNEY OF TRANSCENDENCE -- TOPICS FOR REFLECTION -- CHAPTER 11: NIGHT AS METAPHOR: Night (Elie Wiesel) -- UNDISCOVERED SELF -- METAPHORICAL CRUCIFIXION -- DESCENT INTO UNDERWORLD -- TOPICS FOR REFLECTION -- CHAPTER 12: DOUBLE-CONSCIOUSNESS AS METAPHOR: The Souls of Black Folk (W.E.B. Du Bois).

IDENTITY AND INTEGRITY DISCOVERED -- SELF-RESPECT REALIZED -- INNER LIFE ACKNOWLEDGED -- TOPICS FOR REFLECTION -- CHAPTER 13: DISCOURSE THREE -- CHAPTER 14: EPILOGUE -- PERSONAL HOPES AND FUTURE POSSIBILITIES -- REFERENCES.