Ann Lew
Instructor, International Studies Academy
It happened again this year. An eleventh grader in a pair of baggy blue jeans held up his copy of The Scarlet Letter and asked, "Why do we have to read this? This is so boring!" Last year another student complained about The Great Gatsby. On the surface, these comments sound like the whinings of self-indulgent youths. But each time I pursue their questions with questions of my own--"What about the novel do you find boring?" "What would you rather read?" -- I discover that, underneath their with for an MTV version of the literature, my students are concerned with the same complex questions that are being posed among the cultural power brokers in colleges and universities across the nation: why do The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby remain staples of the American literary canon for students? And who has made this decision?
Despite my fondness for these two books, and despite the fact that my curriculum does include women and nonwhite authors, I understand my students' questions and answer them by stating my two major goals in teaching literature: first, the literature must prepare my students for their futures of careers, colleges, and universities. If familiarity with works of Hawthorne or Fitzgerald will prepare them for college English, then it is my responsibility to introduce them to these works. I would be remiss in withholding such knowledge from my students, especially if they new occupy the margins of society by virtue of their race, culture, language or socio-economic status, as many of them do.
The second goal that I have for my literature instruction is that the literature must speak to students in meaningful ways. After the initial complaints of The Scarlet Letter and Gatsby being "boring," most student settle down to examine themes and characters and engage in lively, often heated, discussions about morality and the corrupting influence of money. Good literature, if handled properly, will speak to students in meaningful ways across cultures and generations, provoking through and dialogue.
Students agree with my goals. They realize that they need to know what kids in rural Iowa and suburban Connecticut know, and they want to do well in college. Still, they ask, aren't there books that are written by and about people who look and talk more like them -- nonwhite and/or female -- that contain the same important ideas and that will speak to them as powerfully as the traditional white guys? Couldn't these books also be considered important parts of American literature? My answer to both questions is "Yes!"
In listening to conversations over the past few years, I have learned that what constitutes the literary canon at any given time is determined not only by aesthetic considerations but by political forces as well. So, with the increasing participation of women and nonwhites in the American body politic, it is imperative that this participation be reflected in the literature that we teach. It is not enough that I prepare my students to fit the status quo; the status quo must be challenged and adjusted in light of changing realities. Colleges and universities that set the agenda and drive the high school curricula must take the lead in this effort, as is being done in this program. The canon must embrace the literary works of women and nonwhites so that their voices become part of the mainstream. The question is not one of substituting one kind of literature for another, but for expansion and inclusion of that which represents all of us well. How to bring this about is a more difficult question, however, for at the heart of this debate is the question of power -- whose voices will be heard in the classroom? And who will decide?
Revamping the literary canon will not guarantee that my students will not be "bored." But opening it up and adding the voices of Cisneros and Hong Kingston to those of Hawthorne and Fitzgerald would give affirmation to the experiences of all Americans and signify their full citizenship in the mainstream culture. Such inclusion would not only have a positive impact on the students' view of themselves but would greatly enhance the equalizing impact of public education and lead to a flowering of a collective American culture.
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