Review and Thoughts on the Class

1. I have learned that teaching is hard work, but that it can be fun and exciting. The possibilities are endless on how to bring texts and ideas together, and I think that the more creative I get with the presentation, books, and formats of my class, the more we will all learn, and the more fun we will have doing it. I like the socratic seminar, and I hope that I can use it in my own classroom someday--it gives everyone a chance to speak at an even level.

2. I actually enjoyed all of the books. I was not familiar with most of them before the class, and this class served as my introduction into the world of graphic novels--I will never be the same! I might take out Harry Potter or Twilight, I liked them both, but I don't think that they are both necessary. The Book Thief was an absolute Gem!!!

3. Actually, I do think that having the classics with the less traditional books would have been helpful. I realize that we are a bit short on how much time we have to read so many books, but rather than just discussing how the books relate, it would have been neat to see them together and get into more in depth discussions about it.

4. I think that my strength is my passion for literature and finding new ways to make it relevant. I think that my weaknesses are and will continue to be my own anxieties about the responsibilities of teaching, and understanding good time management. Getting to actually teach a lesson helped a lot to see these weaknesses come into play, and I am able to start thinking about how to improve.

5. The group teach was helpful because I have never done anything like that before. It was a bit scary and frustrating in trying to plan out without having any concept of how the lesson delivery might possibly go, but I learned a lot. I learned that planning is good, but execution is very important. I also learned that it wasn't quite as scary as I thought. I absolutely think that group teach should be included. I feel a little better about going into methods now that I have at least a little experience.

6. Yes and No. It helped to be able to get my thoughts down, but it was hard to remember to do it every weak. I think it would have been more helpful to me if the assignment was to blog, say, every 2 or 3 weeks and group the books together for comparison. I might think about doing blogs with students because it is a neat way to communicate, but I'm not sure how strict I would be about it.

7. The only thing I would say is that I wish we were able to do a second group teach :D, and that classical literature would have been a big help, since many of the books we read are not already built into the curriculum.

Overall, this class has been a wonderful experience. I learned so much from everyone, and I think it was neat that we are all in different places at the moment--teachers, undergrads, grads. But I felt like we were all treated as colleagues rather than just students, and that helped me to gain the confidence I needed to be more assertive and speak my mind (I tend to have a problem with that in many of my other classes). I think I would like to bring that attitude to my own classroom. A little respect goes a long way.

Harry and Draco

“He turned back to Harry. “You’ll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there” (108). Harry paused a moment as Draco’s words sunk in. Just this morning he was at home with the Dursleys, partly hiding from them, and now here he was on a train headed for a wizarding school and faced with another just like the family he left behind! “Can’t I ever get away from this?” Harry thought to himself. He grinned slightly, however at the thought that perhaps he would soon learn to deal with such people. Maybe, just maybe, Harry could teach this Draco fellow a lesson. It simply wasn’t right to live as pompously and obnoxiously as this fellow clearly did. Harry caught Draco’s eye and extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, and I am sure that your help will be appreciated once we get to schoo,l” Harry said with a smile. Draco looked pleased with himself. Shaking Harry’s hand, and slightly excited by the prospect of having the most famous student to have ever attended Hogwarts as an ally, he missed the quick look that Harry was giving to Ron. Ron smirked in pleasure as he realized that Harry’s pleasantness towards Draco Malfoy was all a ploy. Patting Draco on the shoulder, Harry stood. “Well, it was great talking to you, but I, uh, need to talk to Ron here, and well…” Harry’s voice dropped to a whisper, “you know how it is,” he said nodding his head towards Ron, “I need to let him down easy.” Draco gave Harry a wide, knowing smile. “All right fellows,” Draco said with a slight laugh, “ I’ll see you both at Hogwarts.”
Once Draco had left, Harry turned back to Ron. “Sorry about that,” he said, “I guess I’m just tired of people like that pushing me around!” Harry sat down as Ron leaned back on his seat. “I know that you are planning something, Harry,” Ron said, “What it is, though, I can’t even begin to imagine. The Malfoy’s are famous in our family. Did you know that Draco’s father once stole his professor’s invisibility cloak? The poor man was half blind and thought he had left it in his office. It took him a week to figure out that someone had stolen it, and by then the whole school was in on it. My dad was the one who told the truth, and the Malfoys have never forgiven us for that.” Harry glanced about before leaning in, “I have an idea, perhaps we could…”

I realize that this isn’t the most excited fanfiction out there, it would have been interesting to see Harry and Draco team up, but unless Draco were to be won over to Harry’s side, I think I would have lost respect for Harry. I decided to make Harry plot against Draco because I felt like he sat back too often and let people take advantage of him. Sure, putting the guy in his place like Harry does on the train is good, but I think it would be fun to have Harry a little conniving. As the book goes on Harry is more and more willing to push back, but I thought it would be fun to have him start the war with more of a bang than he does.

Harry Potter

First let me say that I LOVED this book! I remember all the press surrounding these books when the series first came out. I never had the opportunity to read it before since the school I attended was very strict and forbid students from even bringing it to school (I had a friend who covered the cover of the book in a brown paper bag cover like a text book and read it during lunch!) In any case, as with the last book, I probably wouldn't have read it anyways because of its insane popularity and everyone's obsession with it (Somehow that turns me away from wanting to read those books). With all of that, I thought that Rowling did an excellent job in creating a new world that coexists with the real world. I guess Rowling probably had many of the same moments of grating cliches that Meyers had, but the beauty of Harry Potter is in the details. A new sport/past time with specific rules listed out; a three-headed creature protecting a strange mystical object; unicorns; flying broom sticks; magically growing hair; owls; secret train platforms. She has such an imagination! I would actually enjoy using this book in my classroom. It isn't a complicated text, but the story is multi-layered, the characters do develop as the story goes on (Harry's aunt and uncle are a bit flat, and so are many of the other characters, but it does get better). I think that it would be beneficial to use the text to help students start out a creative writing project. In a social studies class (and combined with the English class) during middle school, we were required to make up our own country with laws and hobbies and everything. We created a map using all the various parts we learned in social studies and then wrote a creative writing story about the people who lived there. Rowling's book could be a good starting point or example of how to do something like that.

Twilight

After months of pretending that "Twighlight" didn't even exist, I finally decided to break down and read it. I suppose I thought that anything that caused such a craze among teenagers (teenyboppers as we so affectionately refer to them as) would be a waste of time. However, I must admit that I was a little curious about what all the rage over this book was about. So, alas, I broke down and read it. In less than 24 hours. It is incredibly addicting! I started the novel at 10 pm and finished it by 10 the next morning. It is not as if the writing is all that complex or moving, but the story envelopes the reader and won't let go. In fact, I was so hooked on this book after reading it that I ran to Blockbuster and rented the movie (a huge disappointment after reading the book!)

In any case, I really like Kelly Byme Bull's analysis that part of the pull on readers for this book is in the characterization. Bull writes, "Readers are drawn into this story because the characters are intriguing and develop complex relationships as the story progresses" (113). I think she has a point. There were points in reading the novel that I winced at the cliches that Meyer uses, and yet I couldn't put it down. In fact, Meghan and I discussed this very issue last week. I kept wondering what is going to happen as Meyer took me deeper and deeper into the plot and into the character's thought processes and I was hooked.

I can't imagine using this book in the classroom, although many of the students would certainly love it! Still, I'm sure that we could pull out themes from the novel that coincide with other, more traditional literature. Perhaps using a few pages or chapters would be beneficial. The other way I can see using this text is in a writing class. Meyer clearly excells at characterization, and it would be interesting to study how exactly she pulls us into the story as an example to be used in developing their own stories.

Final Project Ideas and Information

Topic: Inclusion of students with a reading disability in the secondary English education classroom.
Questions:
1. What kind of testing accommodations are appropriate for students with a reading disability.
2. What curriculum changes are appropriate for students with disabilities? (Is it appropriate to
give students with an LD the same material as given to other students? If we give them
separate material, is there a way to help them "fit in" with the rest of the class?)
3. What kinds of techniques are beneficial to help students with a reading disability develop and
progress towards goals (as stated in IEPs).

I found a great deal of information on this topic. A reading disability is especially important to be aware of when teaching English, and if a student is labeled as having a disability in high school levels, it will likely be quite severe (since many districts require a 4 year achievement gap before providing any special education once the child reaches the secondary education level). Also, students with learning disabilities are the most common group to "include" in the general education classes--partly because this group makes up about 50% of students with disabilities, and because those who only have a learning disability are less likely to cause classroom disturbances. I think the difficulty will be narrowing down what areas I am looking to use in my paper. Pennsylvania supports in inclusion, but many other states are more hesitant, so it is a controversial issue. Further, the question of full inclusion is still being debated. I think I will need to focus on full inclusion, though, because that is going to be the extreme example. There are problems with this too, though. I am not sure if I need to talk about the different resources that English teachers would have--as far a consulting with a Special educator, co-teaching with a special educator. There are just so many possibilities of how this situation would be handled. It is a little overwhelming, but I am looking forward to narrowing down what I am focusing on and getting into the writing.

Persepolis

After a good experience with "American Born Chinese" I found myself anticipating the week when I would read "Persepolis". Is was interesting to see how Satrapi would develop her adolescent girl character and deal with the tough issues that she faced in the Iranian Revoluation. Like "The Book Thief" I appreciated having an Iranian character, because, like the Germans during World War II, I often consider the common citizens in Iran to be just as radical as their leadership. It was also a fascinating read because previous to this book, I never really knew anything about the Iranian Revolution. I feel that it is an important issue that still affects the world today, and since the US was connected to the circumstances, I am disappointed that none of my American or World History classes discussed this particular Revoluation at all.

I also think that this book would be wonderful to use in a classroom setting. As we saw with the article, there is definitely a place for Graphic novels in the classroom, and this one in particular would be a good fit. Satrapi deals with some tough issues--growing up amidst war, conflict, religious zealousness, and so on. She handle's it well, and like Liesel in "The Book Thief", we are again dealing with a young girl who is caught in the middle of something that she had nothing to do with starting. Although most American students have probably not been in the middle of a Revolution, the issues that Satrapi deals with are relateable in the sense that they are--aside from the setting--the same issues that a typical American teenager would be faced with. Satrapi gets a lot of information out for such a small book, and so few words. Like the article said, it can be a starting point for so many things, and since Graphic novels can portray emotion through both pictures and words, it is the perfect place to address the issues of war and struggles.

Thoughts on: The Book Thief

This book is, by far, my favorite book so far this semester. I became emotionally involved with these characters. It took me about a week to finish it, and each night I would be anxious to see what happened to Rudy and Liesel. I saw all of the forshadowing, and "Death" even comes outright and talks about parts of the ending, but in my mind, I still hoped that somehow everything would turn out alright.

I wonder how many stories from the point of the Germans during World War II there are. It almost seemed strange, because I have this perception that all of the Germans were in on it from the beginning. Most books focus on those who are being dominated by the Germans who step out and try to help someone else being even more oppressed, but I guess I never thought about it happening in Germany, too. I became sympathetic towards the town and its people. Even Rudy, who wasn't even in on the plot to save the Jewish man, was a sympathetic character. I think the author used children as the main characters because we are more likely to see them as innocent and sympathetic while we might automatically assume that the adults were already corrupted by Nazism.

I also found the narrator--Death--to be absolutely fascinating. He is omniscient in that he is outside of the story, and so his blunt details about what will happen and what he will see is incredibly effective. In the end, I struggled with how the whole street could be blown to bits-it frustrated me to no end. Why would the author even create Rudy if he was going to kill him off in the end? Why does he spend so much time letting us get aquainted with that character who wants to be a runner and who likes to get into trouble with Liesel and who is her ever faithful friend (though he wants to kiss her) if he is just going to be another casualty? But this is relevant to the war that is going on around them. How many children, even younger than Rudy, died during the war? How many were forced to join the army and fight for something they didn't even understand or believe in? Who is it that said "war is hell" ? So often, I think of World War II from the position of a spectator who isn't even personally connected with it. This book is perfect for people who need to see it as something that is relevant and personal. I think students would find it difficult to deal with at first--it is a hard and depressing subject--but if we ignore the issue, we may find ourselves back there in the first place.

I was reading my book report book and the author talked about how he taught the book "Night." He got in contact with the local synagogue and found out that some of the survivors from the Holocaust were living nearby. The teacer contacted the woman, and even though she had never spoken about her experience after the fact, she wanted to talk to the class because she had heard some people say that what happened to her had never really happened. One of the most touching parts of this story was when the kids asked to touch her arm--and the numbers tattoed on it from the Nazi camp. Something they had heard about was now something they could experience.

If I were teaching this, I would think about showing a few clips from the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." It is also a very sad story, but again, it is told from the perspective of a German family. The mother first tries to ignore the fact that her husband is running a concentration camp--and many lies are told about how it is really a "work camp" and how the Jews are benefitting from it--but they experience its horror first hand. (I won't give away the ending in case someone hasn't seen this movie yet).

Thoughts on: American Born Chinese

First of all, I had a blast reading “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luen Yang. I think that Yang touches on several incredibly important and relevant subject that we as teachers are going to deal with. Students, whether in elementary, middle, high school, or college are constantly re-evaluating themselves and trying to figure out who they are. I am 23 years old, and I am still no closer to figuring out who I am than I was as a five year old asking my mom if I could be an astronaut, a ballerina, a pianist, and a singer or if she could turn my older sister and I into twins. Ironically, the one thing I never wanted to be while I was growing up was a teacher, but that’s beside the point. If there is one thing I have learned this year—thanks to Dr. Galioto’s Psychoanalytic approach to 19th century American Literature—it is that identity is an endlessly complicated idea. We can have as many theoretical approaches to discovering how each person develops their own identity as we want, but there will never be one simple equation that tells us exactly how we form our identity. In the novel, Jin Wang has to grapple with the idea of becoming his true self—which firsts requires him figuring out who that true self is. Is he just the boy that his classmates see? No. There is clearly so much more to him than what others see—especially since most can’t see past the label of FOB (fresh of the boat) even though he was born in America. Is he simply whoever he believes himself to be? No, if that were true, he would only be “Danny”. So then who is Jin Wang? I think that identity is a learning and developing process. The things we experience now are all a part of who we become, but they aren’t the only part. And while we clearly make decisions about who we are and who we become, that isn’t the only part either.

Identity is obviously not the only, or even main focus in the novel. Something that we will all have to deal with as teachers is stereotypes that we have, and that other students have. It would be so easy for me to write this post by condemning American youth for not being tolerant, but where are they getting this attitude? At least in part by emulating the adults that they are around. I feel like such a bad “teacher in training” for saying this, but I am constantly having to check my own feelings and thoughts because, whether based on race, gender, sexuality, I know that I make assumptions about people. Often times I am not even aware of what my silent actions say about what I am feeling. Students are incredibly in tune with subtle messages that we send, and as much as much as we like to think that as long as we are not outright in our prejudices, assumptions, (the name doesn’t matter much), kids pick up on these things. I like what John Gaughan says in his article “Cultural Reflections: Critical Teaching and Learning in the English Classroom.” He writes, “I think most of the classroom communities I’ve worked in since have been healthy places, but had to battle my own prejudices and experiences to construct those environments" (13). In “American Born Chinese,” Jin’s teacher doesn’t even try to get his name right. It may be a gross exaggeration—and I hope it is—but what kind of message does that send to the child and to the other students? That this one kid isn’t important? That if the teacher isn’t even bothering with him, why should they? Alright, I’m done preaching. I appreciated Gaughan’s honesty about how he developed as a teacher, and his descriptions of the various teachers at the beginning were very interesting.

The format of “American Born Chinese” is a breath of fresh air, if you will forgive the cliché. I seriously laughed at such a format when I first bought the book. Twenty minutes into it, I was so engrossed that I forgot to start dinner and had to convince my husband to take me out to eat. I think this book would be a great companion to books about identity (maybe with “The Importance of Being Earnest”—I know, I know, a weird combination if you think about it only from the prejudice stand point, but the idea of identity being so created and confusing is pretty similar). Or even Twain’s “Pudd’nhead Wilson” which explores the ideas of race, stereotypes, and identity. ("Pudd'nhead Wilson" is seriously my new favorite book! Um, I haven’t finished it yet, so don’t hold me to that!) In any case, I think "American Born Chinese" would be a fun book to teach. Its a great jumping off point for a variety of topics, and I think a lot of students would really enjoy it.

Thoughts on: Monster

I really enjoyed “Monster”. As I read, I felt more and more like the jury trying to figure out if Steve was guilty or innocent. I think what I appreciated most was that Myers did not give you a clear answer as to Steve’s guilt. No, I didn’t want him to go to jail. His comments about the horrors of being in jail made me sympathetic. After all, he is just a 16 year old boy. Why should he have to spend the rest of his youth in jail? If he got out in 23 years, he would be in his thirties! That means that the entirety of his twenties would be spent in a cell. He would never get a chance to experience life, date, have fun, make something of himself. At the same time, a crime was committed. If Steve was a part of that, he should be held accountable—even if he didn’t pull the trigger. Steve lies on the stand doesn’t he? Myers blurs many of the details. We learn from the sections that describe jail and what he is thinking that Steve was in the store. However, we also know from Bobo that Steve didn’t give any signal at all—which the two men took to mean that it was all clear. What a hard issue to deal with, and what a hard decision for the jury to make! I certainly don’t envy them their job.

At first I wasn’t sure of the connection between the article and the book. Sure, race comes up a little bit in the novel. Steve’s mom asks if they should have gotten a Black lawyer. One of the witnesses admits that she has a hard time testifying against a Black defendant. I guess that where a multi-cultural reading would come in is in where Steve was raised. He must attend a decent enough school—if he has the opportunity to take a film class. But it is clear that gangs are a part of his every day life. He is very aware of Osvaldo’s choice of friends. If Steve lived in a ritzy part of the suburbs, would he have gotten into this situation in the first place? Maybe. I am reading Mark Twain’s novel Puddn’head Wilson for another class. In this book, two boys are switched as babies. One is a slave (though he is only 1/32 Black) and the other is 100% White. No one except for the woman who switched these children knows that the “Black” child is the one who becomes educated and stands to inherit quite a fortune. But then, no one knows that the other child, who is uneducated and whose language is identical to the other slaves, is actually White. In this way, Twain breaks down the barriers of stereotypes that insisted that African Americans were slaves because they were stupid or incapable of learning. It becomes obvious that the environment played a key role in how far an African American slave could go. Now, I’m not suggesting that just because Steve is from a rough area and grew up seeing gangs and surrounded by people who were violent that he should be exempt from the laws that govern our country. Nor am I suggesting that the prosecution is targeting Steve because he is Black. What I am saying is that we must consider how environment affects who we become. There will always be those who are able to go beyond what everyone expects of them. Being from a rough area doesn’t guarantee that you will never get out or make something of yourself, but it will always be a part of how you become who you become.

Thoughts on: David Latham's "Melinda's Closet"

I really enjoyed reading Latham's article on "Speak." I think that in the back of my mind I made a mental note on the fact that Melinda hid in a closet both at home and at school, but I never went back to think more on it. The idea of being in "the closet" is such a huge marker in today's society and even though this story was written 10 years ago, I'm not sure that Anderson could have written about Melinda's "closet experience" without at least somewhat referencing its connotation in her own mind. The closet (in the literal sense) actually makes sense to me as a place for Melinda to choose to hide. She is still in the school or at home but she is still separated from everyone, and she is the only one who knows about it. For the first time since she was raped, she gets to make the decisions. She gets to decorate the closet, she can invite or exclude both company and objects. It is small and it is in her absolute control, and she needs to feel that way about something in order to begin to heal.

Where I think Latham really excells in creating a convincing argument is in his use of psychology to prove his points. That Melinda exhibits the main features of PTSD is obvious from the text, but Latham is able to use this to link Melinda's recovery process to that of everyone--especially homosexuals, but not exclusively--who are trying to work through the same process to escape from their own closet as well.

At first I was kind of sceptical to the idea of linking rape with homosexuality, but I think Latham makes some very good points. He doesn't diminish Melinda's experience--as I feared he would--but instead, he looks at the psychological and emotional recovery process, and I think that it is a very interesting connection.

Thoughts on: Laurie Halse Anderson's "Speak"

“Speak” is an incredibly well-written novel about a girl who is unable to say the very thing that she needs to say to be free from the pain of what has happened to her. Melinda Sordino’s rape changes everything in her life from her ability to relate to others to her view on the world in general. Although I found it frustrating to some extent—it is obviously not a smoothly flowing teenage novel like “Forever”—it is still very powerful and effective.

I really appreciate the Laurie Halse Anderson’s style of writing with this novel because it becomes a way to understand Melinda’s world to an even deeper extent. The paragraphs are broken and feel quick and desperate as though she cannot stand to think about any one subject for very long, and it is more than just the constantly active mind of a teenage girl. Through Anderson’s style we are better able to see that Melinda carries the experience at the forefront of her mind and she cannot decide what to do with it, so all other thought becomes a way to distract herself from the reality of what has happened to her. The way that Anderson structures the dialogue and thoughts are also very relevant to Melinda’s psychological state. There seems to be a very blurry line between thought and speech—especially for Melinda—and the novel feels like a play at times when Anderson gives direction as to who is speaking. Melinda’s experience has made her so aware of how she feels most of the time that she senses the truth about other things as well. She sees how the world is almost putting on a play—and that either nobody is truthful with themselves, or they don’t want to admit the truth that they see. Melinda sees everything as 2-dimensional.

As I started this book, I kept thinking,” I’ve heard this story before”. It took a few pages to realize that I have seen the movie, and I hated it at first! Like the novel, the movie feels very inconsistent and awkward. I was eventually able to get into the movie, but I don’t think that I ever figured out—until I read the book—that this discontinuity was deliberate. I enjoyed the novel much more than the movie, but then, that is probably because I already knew what had happened to Melinda and it was easy to understand why the author would use such fragmented text.

I would definitely consider teaching this book to an adolescent class. It deals with a very real issue in a very real way. I think that students can relate to the setting, and while I hope that none of the students would ever be able to personally relate to Melinda’s rape, there is a possibility that some may have had a similar experience. Like “Forever”, it may be hard for some boys to relate to a novel written from the perspective of a teenage girl’s mind, but it is such a unique perspective, and the issues that it deals with—rape, family problems, problems with friends—are very real to most students.

Thoughts on: Levithan's "Boy meets Boy"

In “Boy Meets Boy,” David Levithan describes a high school—and even an entire town—that is so completely different from our expected reality that it becomes almost other-worldly. He seems to throw every possible stereotype out the window when describing this world. I will admit that I was rather confused by Levithan’s strategy in creating such a setting until I read Pattee article. I didn’t realize that the creation of a fictional utopia was a literary strategy—especially one that has the express intent of making society aware of the need for social change. It makes sense to use something like this. It is an eye-catching strategy and it compels the reader to compare this fictional setting to reality. I also have to mention that I got a kick out of seeing Pattee quote the ever interesting Trites!

Levithan’s use of a utopian setting became very clear once I became aware of its existence! To be perfectly honest, I felt both overwhelmed and entertained by Levithan’s fast moving narration. My biggest weakness in reading is that when I cannot relate to any of the characters, I give up reading altogether. I was afraid that I would find this novel hard to relate too, but Levithan pulled me in the moment I began to read, and held my attention until I found a character that I could find commonality in. Once I realized that the setting was deliberate, things began to fall into place. However, I find myself torn as to whether I like the use of utopia or not.

I think that Levithan uses this Utopian technique to serve his purposes well. Like Pattee says in her Trites quote, “Boy meets Boy becomes a tool for making sexuality visible” (169)—and it does. The reader cannot help but to suddenly stop think about how very different our world is compared to Levithan’s utopia. However, my next thought is not, “how can I make my world like this?” It tends to be, “this situation is so unrealistic that I cannot imagine it ever happening.” If Levithan wanted to actually change how society works, I think he would be better served by creating a story within a traditional setting—but this is only my opinion. Pattee mentions the problem with using traditional conventions to try and assert a new reality when she quotes Trites as saying that such novels tend to “undermine that alleged liberation” (169).

I’m not sure if I would want to teach this novel to a high school English class. I feel that it plays with concepts that are extremely important for high school students to grasp. First of all, Levithan emphasizes tolerance. I think that too many high school students are intolerant because they are afraid that tolerance means that you have to go against what you believe—I often find myself caught up in that fear. (And of course, many students are intolerant simply because they do not understand other people). Tolerance is about showing genuine respect to every individual regardless of how different they are from you. What I didn’t like about this novel is that the entire middle section is nothing but drama! I guess it fits with the age group that Levithan is writing for, but I wouldn’t use any other book that was so filled with pointless drama. I chalked it up to trying to bring the familiar into a situation that is so completely different from ours, but it seems to undermine Levithan’s initial push as a utopian setting. I understand why he does it; it just doesn’t work for me.

I typed in "what does tolerance mean" on google and found a website for something called the "Museum of Tolerance." The first page talks about what tolerance means, and then it goes on to discuss why it is so important. The museum focuses a lot on anti-semitism, but it also has all kinds of exhibits on the Civil Rights Movement, and even the idea of "personal responsibility." The museums are in CA and NY, but I think the website itself has some great information. www.museumoftolerance.com

Thoughts on: Judy Blume's "Forever"

Judy Blume’s novel “Forever” is the story about one young woman’s sexual awakening. Katherine must face the choices that every young person must make in dealing with her relationship with Michael. Like most teenagers today, Katherine and Michael must define “forever” and “love” for themselves. While I suppose that I wish that “Forever” would have ended in that typical sappy way—cliché as it might be—I am also glad that it didn’t. The typical teen movie ends with the young woman and her hunky love interest finally getting together, but it usually stops there. Most of us like to assume that it was a “happily ever after” kind of thing, but we are never told. Blume refuses to fall into the trap of the teen love story formula by not ending the story with our two favorite characters truly finding forever. Still, what I love most about “Forever” is that our heroine is able to learn and grow through her experiences. Katherine becomes a woman in the pages of this novel. Her emotional maturation lends credence to the feminist ideals.

While I found Trites discussion on how sex and power relate in young adult novels fascinating—“sexual potency is a common metaphor for empowerment in adolescent literature” (84)—I feel that she is much too harsh on Blume’s “Forever.” I consider myself a feminist, and in doing so I tend to agree with a great deal of feminist criticism. But, Trites has nothing good to say about teen novels that deal with sex—even those like “Forever” that were intended to change how female sexuality is portrayed.

Trites declares of Judy Blume’s novel, “[t]he text tries to liberate teen sexuality by communicating that curiosity about sex is natural, but then it undercuts this message with a series of messages framed by institutional discourses that imply teenagers should not have sex or else should feel guilty if they do” (88). In defending her position, Trites recalls the conversations that Katherine has with her mother and grandmother. Katherine’s grandmother warns her to be sure that she should “mak[e] wise choices with her sexuality” (Trites 89), and her mother asks her to make sure that whether or not she chooses to have sex with Michael, that she be responsible in her decisions. Trites asserts that Katherine’s mother’s and grandmother’s discourses “construct intercourse in terms of something that requires emotional and physical protection, implying Katherine’s vulnerability” (90). I agree that their words of warning represent sex as something that “requires emotional and physical protection” (90) but I disagree with her belief that this is a bad thing. Katherine’s “matriarchal support-system” (89) are not forbidding her to have a sexual relationship with Michael. What they are doing is making sure that she is prepared for it. Is that so wrong? Most parents who try to raise there children to have morals or to be cautious do not do so with the intent of restricting their children, but rather to empower them by allowing them to make choices based on as many of the facts as possible! Trites would like to brush sex off as a big deal only because we have a wrong perception of sexuality, and not because it is something that should be treated as a big deal. In my opinion, this isn’t what feminism is about. Feminism is about empowering women, now pretending that our actions don’t have consequences. As Katherine’s grandmother makes clear, there are decisions that must be made once someone decides to have sex. What kind of birth control to use. The problems involved with contracting sexually transmitted diseases. What to do if pregnancy occurs—birth control is not a guarantee. If someone is mature enough to make the decision to have sex, then they must also be able to handle the decisions of the “what ifs” that go along with it. Katherine’s mother and grandmother would be wrong not to discuss the responsibilities she will have as a sexually active woman. Katherine’s own discourse reveals that she believes that having sex is a big decision that she must be ready for. It was a decision that she had to make for herself. Had Katherine’s mother and grandmother given her the wrong impression of sex—if they had presented it as something that isn’t as important as she seems to think—they would have taken away some of Katherine’s power to choose for herself. She likely would have not thought so seriously about how she wanted her relationship with Michael to progress and instead of making sure that it was what she wanted, had sex with him just because she perceives it as nothing of importance.

Wow. I don’t think I would want to teach this novel to a high school English class. It deals with so many controversial things—most of which will be based on the many moral standings and view points of individual students and parents. It would be easy to assume that every high school student is like Katherine and Michael, and that in this day in age, every parent would be as “progressive” as Katherine’s parents, but this simply isn’t true. Trites would obviously disagree with me, but I don’t think sex is something that should be taken lightly. And while I do think that students should be exposed to various views on controversial subject matter, not every student thinks the same way, and we can’t assume that every student is mature enough to deal with some of this stuff. That being said, I do think that it is important for students to understand sexuality. Where I am uncertain is whether or not that should be my job as their high school English teacher.

If I were to teach this novel, I would probably have the students compare Katherine and Michael’s view of “love” and “forever” to other couples—either in another novel or perhaps in a movie.


Some Essential Questions:

1. What is the relationship between “love” and “sex” as defined by they story of Katherine and Micheal?
2. What does “forever” mean to Katherine? How does it affect her actions, and does her perception of “forever” change as the novel progresses?

Thoughts On: Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War"

If Adolescent Literature is marked by a shift in focus toward learning how to “navigate” (Trites 3) the various forces and power at work within the world, then Robert Cormier’s "The Chocolate War" is a perfect example. It doesn’t require reading very far into Cormier’s novel to realize some of the key themes of the novel; the most prevalent of these themes being a look at power—who has it, the importance of submitting to it.
In "Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature", Roberta Seelinger Trites explains that there are various definitions of power. Max Weber, describes power as “the ability to impose one’s will upon the behavior of other persons” (Trites 4). Trites also gives Foucault’s definition of power—“that which represses” (4). At the simplest level—without fully researching how these two men explain the development of power to create exerting forces over the world—these two definitions seem to have much in common, and to Robert Cormier’s text which works in accordance to both of these definitions.
Max Weber’s definition deals with power on a personal level. Although he may explain that social forces, and not just people, can control other’s behavior, the definition indicates the human side of power. Take, for instance, Cormier’s characters Archie and Brother Leon. Both characters use the power on a personal level to get what they want out of others. This power is normally based, for both of these characters, on the ideas of manipulation and instilling fear in others with the threat of violence. Archie is able to assume an incredible amount of clout and power with not only the kids at his school, but the faculty as well. No one, except the hero of the story, can say no to Archie’s assignments. Each person “accept[s] the assignment like a sentence of doom, the way all the others did, knowing there was no way out, no reprieve, no appeal…” (Cormier 36). The manipulation that Archie is known for may seem superficial—convincing kids to do menial tasks such as unscrewing everything in a classroom to upset the teacher and disturb the class—however, the fact that he can still force other students to do them shows the extent of his power.
Brother Leon also has power over students and teachers alike. Although he requests Archie and the Vigil’s help in ensuring that the chocolate sale will go through, his request is somewhat of a farce. While Brother Leon seems to be giving power to Archie, he is really manipulating the boy and making sure that if he needs it, he will have plenty of say over the Vigils. When the chocolate sale continues to go poorly, Leon tells Archie “I don’t care about fun and game. I don’t care whether its Renault or your precious organization or the state of the economy…” (Cormier 156). Leon has played to Archie’s ego, and once the boy accepts the challenge given at the beginning of the novel, he becomes the scapegoat for the failure of the chocolate sale. Archie has very little choice except to give in to this man that he is actually afraid of.
Cormier’s novel is also a very good example of Foucault’s definition of power—“that which represses” (Trites 4). Trites spends time explaining how power does not have to come from a single person, but also from social forces at play within our world—Foucault’s ambiguous “that”(4). If we further question how Archie and Brother Leon came by and maintained their power, we would find that both rely on the same social forces that directed the world long before their time. For Archie, this power is found within the Vigils. Alone, he could probably do very little, and although Archie reinforces his own fearsome state using the power of the Vigils, he cannot remove himself from its influence over him. Archie’s own statement that Jerry will fight simply because of the peer pressure he will experience once he is on the stage, is the same knowledge that Carter and Obie use against him. When Carter asks why Obie is convinced that Archie will reach in the black box for the marbles, Obie replies “[b]ecause there are four hundred kids out there yelling for blood. And they don’t care whose blood it is anymore. Everybody in the school knows about the black box—how can Archie back down” (233). Obie is correct, the social pressure in standing before the entire student body is enough to “repress”(Trites 4) Archie’s own will.
Similarly, Brother Leon relies on social forces, and not just fear, in his control over the student body. He is their teacher and eventually their headmaster. Although he has a talent for making the students fear his violent temper, he also wields the power of the grades! It doesn’t take much to convince David Caroni to reveal Jerry Renault’s original reason for refusing to sell chocolates. When Brother Leon brings Caroni in for a discussion about an “F” that he has received, Caroni quickly realizes that it is a ploy to get him to talk about Renault. Caroni wonders, “[w]ere teachers like everyone else, then? Were teachers as corrupt as the villains you read about in books or saw in movies or television?” (Cormier 107) There is no repercussion, however. As a teacher, Brother Leon has full say over the grades that his students received. This power is given to him by the same social forces and expectations that require all students to submit to authority.
Cormier’s novel is no doubt a study of power, but the question that remains is: what is the purpose? As Trites mentions, there are quite a few similarities between Cormier’s novel and William Golding’s "The Lord of the Flies" (24). Still, Cormier must have had an express intent in writing "The Chocolate War" beyond creating a similar story to Golding. Although Foucault would interpret the story to be a warning of what happens when someone does not submit to the ever-present dominating forces, even Trites cannot fully agree with this explanation (4-5). Perhaps Cormier’s intent was to show the affects of power in a real world setting—it would be easy enough to brush off the horrible actions of the boys in "The Lord of the Flies" as something that would only happen under extreme circumstances. There is something about Cormier’s novel that most of us can relate to. Although the repression that most of us have experienced at both the personal and social levels are not nearly as extreme as in "The Chocolate War", there is little doubt that it does exists.



Work Cited

Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2004.

Trites, Roberta Seelinger. Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature. New York: U of Iowa P, 2004.