I might as well rename my contemporary literature class, and call it something like "humanity at its worst". The course description would read something like this: "explore the very worst regions of possible human experience through literature--cannibalism, rape, suicide, infanticide, starvation and more!"
What sort of teacher am I to drag my students through the monstrous, mysterious, post-apocalyptic world of The Road, only to follow it with The Kite Runner, a book so heart-breakingly shame-soaked it's infuriating at times? Well, the thing is, I'm not actually dragging them; they're enthusiastically charging ahead at full speed.
My original idea for the second half of this class was to focus on the theme of coping with disaster, beginning with Life of Pi, then The Hunger Games, and following up with the books mentioned above. I expected The Road and The Kite Runner to be challenges, the former for its bleak, spare narrative style and shocking content, and the later for its drawn-out emotional story telling and foreign-ness. I realize now, however, that I had not given much consideration to the agony, the darkness and depravity in which we would be miring ourselves for a whole quarter.
Would I change it now if I could? No way. Once again, my students have shown me that they are not to be underestimated. As 17 and 18-year-olds they are ready for this stuff, actually hungry for it. They're hungry for some serious conversation and for a brutally honest writer like Cormac McCarthy to balance out the romanticizing of young adult literature like The Hunger Games. I've seen more visceral reactions to these books among my students than I could have ever anticipated. They have cared about these characters, placed themselves in their shoes and really thought about what it would mean to lose everything they cared about.
So, I guess what I'm getting at here is that I'm grateful to my students for taking this challenge and running with it. I'm grateful for writers like Yann Martel, Cormac McCarthy, Suzanne Collins, and Khaled Hosseini. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have as a teacher to spend my time connecting these young people with these books. After my experiences this semester, I will always be willing to stand up for teachers who are willing to take intelligent risks in the face of censorship and thoughtless standardization.
What sort of teacher am I to drag my students through the monstrous, mysterious, post-apocalyptic world of The Road, only to follow it with The Kite Runner, a book so heart-breakingly shame-soaked it's infuriating at times? Well, the thing is, I'm not actually dragging them; they're enthusiastically charging ahead at full speed.
My original idea for the second half of this class was to focus on the theme of coping with disaster, beginning with Life of Pi, then The Hunger Games, and following up with the books mentioned above. I expected The Road and The Kite Runner to be challenges, the former for its bleak, spare narrative style and shocking content, and the later for its drawn-out emotional story telling and foreign-ness. I realize now, however, that I had not given much consideration to the agony, the darkness and depravity in which we would be miring ourselves for a whole quarter.
Would I change it now if I could? No way. Once again, my students have shown me that they are not to be underestimated. As 17 and 18-year-olds they are ready for this stuff, actually hungry for it. They're hungry for some serious conversation and for a brutally honest writer like Cormac McCarthy to balance out the romanticizing of young adult literature like The Hunger Games. I've seen more visceral reactions to these books among my students than I could have ever anticipated. They have cared about these characters, placed themselves in their shoes and really thought about what it would mean to lose everything they cared about.
So, I guess what I'm getting at here is that I'm grateful to my students for taking this challenge and running with it. I'm grateful for writers like Yann Martel, Cormac McCarthy, Suzanne Collins, and Khaled Hosseini. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have as a teacher to spend my time connecting these young people with these books. After my experiences this semester, I will always be willing to stand up for teachers who are willing to take intelligent risks in the face of censorship and thoughtless standardization.
