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These are adults, adults who chose to come to this particular school, who chose this particular class because, I presume, they want to learn, for example, how to read foreign classics of literature with a critical eye.
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You've touched on that theme many times. I'm not sure which college you teach at but at my college the students by and large were there for one thing and one thing only - getting their degree so they could get a decent job. They took classes that 1) filled requirements and 2) sounded easy. That's probably the type of student you're picking up as well - after all, reading courses in highschool were freaking easy right? Read "To Kill a Mockingbird," and manage to remember that it wasn't a hunting book, and you'd pass the unit. So naturally they're going to take YOUR class to fill their humanities requirement rather than some eastern philosophy class in which, they think, they'll have to work much harder.
College kids, especially these days, have their mind on their career. They're only interested in learning what will further their chosen career. And unless the kid intends to become a literature professor, they're not real worried about learning how to interpret literature.
years and years ago when I was in college I saw the same thing in my journalism classes. Some of the people in the class actually had a marketing major, and the radio class was required for them as well. They didn't give a flying crap about journalism, and it was very frustrating to do newscasts with them because all they wanted to do was fool around and make stuff up (hence the marketing major, I suppose).
The kids in your class are no different. The few who are actively discussing the material are either future lit teachers or are genuinely interested in the subject. The majority are trying to do their time until they get a degree and can start making money.