Harper Lee and To Kill A Mockingbird
So like most people in this class, I have read To Kill A Mockingbird in high school during my American Literature course. I have always been a fan of the book but this time I concentrated a lot harder on the themes then I did in high school. I still think the book is a fun read; however, now I see that there are a lot of things that could be up for discussion. First of all, I think gender roles are present in this story that I never saw in high school. For the first couple of pages I thought Scout was a boy (Lee 3-8). She tended to do a lot of stereotypical boy things and hung out with her older brother and neighbor boy (Lee 8). Also, Scout is not really a name for a boy or girl. I don't know if Harper Lee planned it out that way but it struck me when I read this again. Scout is kind of fearless and she is a little rough around the edges. Is this a bad thing? I don't think so but it definitely breaks away from social norms. Also, there is of course a lot of racial issues. We are talking about the deep south during a time when racism was in your face. I think this book does a good job at addressing the issues of racism and I think it teaches students a lot about judging and about standing your ground on issues, or more importantly, doing what is right in regards to Atticus. The thing that I most enjoy about this book is that it combines a lot of lessons in to a nicely binded story. I mean you see the importance of family, how judging is wrong, racial issues, and it kind of depicts an accurate picture of the south during that time. I definitely think this is a book that I will read to my classes if I get the chance to. I know that this book is so stereotypical and overused but I can't help but love the book. I think a lot of students like the book because the narrator is a kid and is someone that can explain the story in simple terms. So there you have it, a good book with good lessons that kids really enjoy. I think this would be great if it were to be combined with The American Born Chinese....which it is for the group teach. They both take serious issues and turn them in to enjoyable books. Besides, you can't help but love the characters in both books. The characters in To Kill A Mockingbird are so developed and are just interesting to the reader which is important when reading a story. To Kill A Mockingbird gets two thumbs up in my book and I liked reading it again.
The Video "A Class Divided"The first thing that I would like to point out is that the link would not work when I clicked on it so I had to find it elsewhere, so I hope I watched the right one. Anyway, I think that the experiment was awesome and scary at the same time. I think the best way to get someone to understand something is for them to become it or relate to it. Jane Elliot is obviously very intelligent and it is amazing how the adults took a lesson that they learned in third grade and applied to their life when they got older. I think the class really felt the pain and the ridicule and were really bothered by it. Yet, like I said, it is scary at the same time. I mean you give a group of people a little power and all of the sudden they become monsters. Is this how white Americans act? Do we feel like we have power? It is crazy that these kids turned on each other and how chaotic the classroom got. However, the students still learned from it and I think people in and outside of a classroom should get a taste of what it is like to be treated as though they were inferior. The first thing that came to my mind though was that teachers could never get away with that now. Kids would go home crying and angry and parents would be calling and an even bigger mess would stir up. Therefore, is it too late to teach kids lessons like that because the parents weren't taught those lessons? I mean sure, we all say we know racism is wrong but do people still show signs of it regardless? I think it is safe to say that in Franklin and Cumberland county there is a lot of ignorance in people and a lot of them are set in their ways and there is no way to change them. I do think it was great that Jane Elliot took it to an even bigger scale at the jail. I thought perhaps that adults would behave differently but in turned out they reacted the same. It is awful how influences people can be and how ignorant they are until they are put in a situation. I think this lesson works really well and leaves a huge impact on people. I know I was surprised when I saw the video and found what it had to offer as very valuable.
"Reading Multiculturally" by Daniel HadeI am going to be honest, out of all the assignments this week I felt that I was least impressed by this one. I think he had a lot of good things to say but I felt like he was getting repetitive and was saying things I think we already know. He kept bringing up different authors and books and talking about them in regards to issues involving multiculturalism, which I think is important. However, he was going in a lot of directions and I felt sort of lost. I think as teachers we do need to shed the light on novels and use world literature as a backbone in teaching but I don't think every book we read needs to have it. I do like the part when Hade talks about how students react when they read certain culturally diverse books (Hade 4). I know I still get uncomfortable reading some material that is unusual or may seem inappropriate. However, I do not know how we can change that. I mean exposure to these books may help, but I think it would take every American to get rid of those stigmas and make the way we read muticultural books comfortable. I do think that we can make students feel a little better and comfortable when reading but it will always feel sort of awkward to us and our students. Another thing I particularly enjoyed was his Lion King analogy (Hade 1-2). It really drew me in and emphasized a good point at first. I also never really thought about the movie the way he had because I just always watched it for pleasure. I personally think that it is important to expose kids to all sorts of literature and themes so they are aware and not ignorant of the matters, but this article got a little too over the top and made me feel like I was reading the same things over and over.
I like your ideas about the Mrs. Elliot clip. I thought it was amazing that this experiment is still able to function on grown adults. My question or thought about it is then does this mean that racism or discrimination is an unconscious act? If adults can still get offended when they are considered the lower class then how can they have learned that discrimination is wrong? I think this may be because even though students read "To Kill a Mockingbird" in school they still have somewhat of a barrier to understanding how it connects with their lives.
ReplyDeleteHow can we make people aware of discrimination issues that occur everyday without having to separate them into "the brown eyed" and "the blue eyed people?"
Travis,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed (and completely identified with) you comments on gender roles in To Kill a Mockingbird. When I read this book in high school, we never discussed this aspect, we really only ever talked about racism with this novel. You mention that the novel is stereotypical and overused; do you think you'll teach it in your classes?
I enjoyed your comments about To Kill a Mockingbird. I also did not read into the book as much in high school as I do now, seeing aspects such as the gender roles that you mentioned. I did enjoyed the book in high school too, and I agree with you that it could be a great book to keep in the schools. What other books could you pair it up with in the classroom to show the importance of racial issues or gender roles?
ReplyDeleteI also like your interpretation of The Class Divided experiment. I had not thought of the word "scary" when I watched it, but that is so true. It is scary. Although this experiment taught the kids about eye colors, they learned that it was also true about race in the world. The older adults understood afterwards what had happened to them and why. You questioned, "Is this how white Americans act?" But it extends so much more than that. Yes, white Americans may act this way, but there is more discrimination in the world than just race and class. People are discriminated against every day for reasons like sexual orientation and may times women in the job market.
It may not work in the classroom anymore because of parents getting upset with the schools. But it is a lesson that people do still need to be taught.
In high school, my teacher that taught To Kill a Mockingbird was really good at doing it. She would do literature circles with us. We would have groups and we would play a role each time we read a couple chapters. We would discuss with our small groups about big concepts in the chapter and then come as a whole and discuss meaning of certain things. I think it was a good way to get through the story and get a lot of meaning from it.
ReplyDeletePeople will always be discriminated against, and that is why I think that doing to experiment that was in "The Class Divided" could be beneficial because then everyone would see what it would be like to be discriminated against.
Travis,
ReplyDeleteI have considered the gender aspect of To Kill a Mockingbird before and agree that this is definitely one other approach that could be taken with the book other than racial. What about agism? Consider how Jem and Scout are treated throughout the story. What about considering looking at social class and how much money people have (i.e. the Ewells and the Cunninghams?) Another common way to read the book is to look at the 'outcasts' in the novel - Boo Radley, for one example.
I think that if/when I teach this book I probably won't constrain my students or lead them one way or another. I want them to consider as many of these ideas as possible and it's even better if they are able to come up with them on their own.
I agree with you when you mentioned that Jane Elliot's video would cause tons of controversy in today's society. Parents would be calling like crazy and flipping out. But in all reality, that lesson Elliot taught about multiculturalism did impact the students in a great way. I also agree when you said the article was too repetitive. The points Hade mentioned were important and creative though. I agree with you when you say that you get uncomfortable when this topic is taught, but it is important to get out of our comfort zones in order to learn and teach multiculturalism.
ReplyDeleteTravis, I totally agree with you on the Hade article. Like you said, though the points he made were solid, a lot of the meat of the article turned me away from it. Even from the beginning, the analysis of the Lion King was ruining the Disney classic for me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I never would have even thought of the gender implications of "To Kill a Mockingbird" if you hadn't mentioned them. The focus is usually so strong on the racial statement made by the book that undertones like this can be forgotten. Not only are the characters likeable in TKAM and "American Born Chinese" but you sympathize with them, which I think is an even stronger emotion and shows the power of the books.