Multicultural Literature

One of the most interesting quotes from Dong's article states, "The deeply rooted liberal-humanist ideology stressing that 'we are all the same' has added barriers to acknowledging and exploring issues of diversity." I feel that what Dong is saying is complete true; when we state "we are all the same" and preach the everyone is equal mantra over and over again, it is almost as if we are ignoring and disrespecting those minorities who have clearly not been treated with equality or as the same as everyone else throughout history. In the classroom, I think that an incredibly important aspect of teaching multicultural literature is immersing students in the history surrounding the actual events that may be depicted fictionally. For example, in my tenth grade English class we read the novel Night by Eli Wiesel. Before we even opened the novel, my teacher spent a few days exploring the realities and atrocities of the Holocaust and the persecution that people who were deemed unworthy went through. In relation to Esperanza Rising, I feel that the author does a good job of incorporating historical events into the novel in such a way that there is a natural open of sorts for the teacher to introduce historical events that can show students how truly real these situations and events in these fictional novels were.

I also found what Dong says about teacher empathy towards the events and realities they are teaching to be very interesting. As an education major, this seems on the surface to go against a lot of what we have been taught. Obviously no future teacher has ever been taught not to have sympathy or to try to understand or respect what minorities have gone through but we are encouraged to emotionally separate ourselves from our students and their experiences. The way that Dong describes teacher understanding and empathy seems to encourage a very emotional connection with the students; however, I think that perhaps Dong's intentions are simply misread and he is truly trying to get teachers to take a personal look at the literature they are teaching so that they can attempt to relate or convey the seriousness of these situations. Overall, I find Dong's message to be very understandable and accurate. In order to teach multicultural literature in a meaningful manner, we must look past the conventions of our past that encourage sugar-coating equality and teach the actual events and realities.

Is It Worth Teaching?

The article for this week presented some interesting questions about what books are chosen for literature classes as well as why they are chosen. The idea that we are assigned one or two books to represent the entire history of one particular minority is very interesting and true. I think that what is most interesting about this article is that the author does not really give an answer to this question. He give some advice and suggestions for resolving the ADD ON or ADD ONE but kind of laments that a solution to this problem is not easily found.

In relation to the books we have read thus far in this course, I feel that the most important question to ask as a future teacher is "why would I teach this in my class?" In response to Copper Sun, I would say that teaching this book gives students a well rounded glimpse of slavery through the eyes of an actual slave. Though some of the responses and emotions of the main character may be somewhat understated and may sometimes seem a little too sugar coated, I think that overall, the novel presents an idea of what life was like from capture to auction and enslavement in a manner that gives the reader an idea of the horror and brutality in which these people were subjected to live while maintaining some sort of hope and spirit, which is appropriate for the age of the children reading this novel.

In terms of Harry Potter, I would teach this novel because of the message of cooperation, understanding, and acceptance that is promoted and portrayed throughout the series. Rowling's depiction of children of varying backgrounds coming together and embracing what makes them different from "normal" people can convey the same message to children, that appearance, ability, and background are not necessarily important nor a factor in how your life turns out or what you chose to do with your life.

I have a different opinion of Twilight. Personally, I would probably never teach this in my classroom, though I would put it on my shelf and encourage any of my students to read it if they were interested. I feel that the portrayal of the obsession Bella has for Edward does not relay that kind of message that is worth taking the time in my class to teach. As the article stated, it is hard enough to fit in the classics, things we are expected to teach, and novels representative of minority development or history, to have to take time teaching things we really do not like or with which we have little faith.

Copper Sun

Sharon Draper's Copper Sun offered a very interesting view of slavery from different perspectives. I found certain parts of the novel very effective in showing the brutality and cruelty of life for slaves, such as the scene where Tidbit is used as bait as well as the images Draper creates of the journey through the Middle Passage. From a stylist point of view, the novel may in some areas neglect to show some of the realities of slavery and some of the things that happen to Amari, as well as her perspective on her situation, seem sugar-coated. However, I think that when one considers the adolescent audience Draper is attempting to reach, the overly optimistic outlook Amari takes is useful and appropriate. What I found very interesting in our discussions was more of an observation of collegiate thinking than a comment on the actual book itself. I found it very interesting that the primary arguments were between the style of the book, from college students who are used to picking apart every detail of style and purpose, and the appropriateness of the book for adolescents, from many education majors. I think it is important to look at the novel from both perspectives and realize that each argument has merit; as adults we have a different perspective in reading this novel and thus, may see Copper Sun as somewhat idealized and maybe even overly hopeful, yet for adolescents, the novel combines a great deal of historical reality with incredible images of slavery and still manages to give students some ray of hope.

When reading the Louie article, I found mention many of the elements included in the course of our classes, such as including writing and discussion elements into the class to allow students the opportunity to express their ideas and opinions. Allowing students to work through their feelings about what they are reading helps them understand and cope with the reality of the history they are studying about the treatment of actual human beings.

Reading this book near a holiday such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day does force you to reflect on the history of human rights in our country. Exposing high school students to the vast array of human rights difficulties, from slavery to women's rights to segregation, can give them a greater understanding of those realities. For me, this book offered images of slavery that I had never thought of or would not like to think about due to the harshness of those realities. It is for these reasons that teens should also read this novel and explore some of the darkest times in the history of our country.