Response to Caitlin’s research blog

My lovely classmate and friend Caitlin chose to do a research blog on the canon, where she will compare the arguments of those in favor of using only the canon in the classroom, those who are opposed to its use, and those who are in the middle. I’d like to offer my personal opinion on the matter.

I tend to find myself in the middle, which is generally a good place to set up camp. I see the value in the canon–I would never have known how good Huck Finn, The Scarlet Letter, A Raisin in the Sun, Great Expectations, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Doll’s House, The Great Gatsby, A Rose for Emily, 1984, and Jane Eyre were if my various teachers hadn’t assigned them. I think they are so good everyone should read them, and I look forward to teaching them to my future students.

With that being said, the entire Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games series, The Glass Castle, The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, The Smell of Apples, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Cal, The Golden Compass, The Road, and The Bloody Chamber were just as life-changing for me. I know many of these authors would say they are inspired by Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Cather, Twain, and the Brontes, but there is a whole new crop of writers coming up who would say they are also inspired by Rowling, Donoghue, Alexie, and McCarthy.

The main argument I have against using only the canon is that literature, like technology, has transformed a lot in the past 50 years. Writing styles have changed, themes have changed (and yet stayed the same); these things will keep changing. We’re doing our students a disservice by ignoring these changes and staying behind the times.

In addition, if we want students to enjoy reading and become lifelong readers, we need to give them interesting material. While I think (most) of the canon is interesting, it doesn’t appeal to many students. We need to include all of these students and be cognizant of their likes and dislikes. I know many people say “Oh, I just don’t read” but I think you would be hard-pressed to find a student that has never enjoyed a YA novel. These books were written specifically for adolescents to relate to; as entertaining as Huck Finn is, most students can’t relate to a boy running away with his slave. Huck Finn is great as a history lesson, but relate-able (relative?) it is not. Of course, many students can’t relate to the fact that Harry is a wizard and goes to a wizarding school, but they still see themselves in  his character…Probably more so than they do in Huck.