Anecdote Time

All this talk of critical literacy and who or what is missing from a text reminds of a book discussion group I was in back in college. Our assigned text was "The Scarlet Letter", and the demographics of our group were four women and one man. 

We all got together one afternoon to have deep, edifying discussion about the book but soon found ourselves at loggerheads about the simplest of questions: Who is the protagonist? The women in the group all rolled our eyes and let out a collective, "Duh, Hester Prynne." 

"No, she's not," the lone man in our group opined. "It's Dimmesdale. He's the main character. The book's all about him."

We went back and forth for a good hour or so, both sides arguing how its character was so OBVIOUSLY the protagonist, and neither side willing to budge an inch. We called him a misogynist. He told us we were simplistic. It was one of the most frustrating conversations I've ever been in. 

Looking at it now, I see that, though I still INSIST that book's about Hester, taking a moment to consider his arguments for Dimmesdale as protagonist could have added to my understanding of the book. 

I had always looked at the Rev. Dimmesdale as a plot device - just someone needed to get Hester pregnant and set the story in motion. I hadn't really looked at the arc of his story or considered his motivations and the effects the events of the novel had on him. His is a compelling story, as is Hester's; making room to consider BOTH of them would broaden, not diminish, my understanding of the text. 

I guess the thing to remember is that, just as the author writes the text as him or herself, we read as ourselves. Our prejudices and perspectives influence where we chose to focus our attention. We benefit from another set of eyes to challenge us to look in the nooks and crannies of the text that we may tend to skim over.

Well, look who's on the cover ...

Critical Literacy and The Diary of Anne Frank

Chapter 1 states that, according to the Principles of Critical Literacy, part of the purpose of viewing literature through a critical lens is "disrupting a common situation...to gain perspective" (pg. 17).

Taking this philosophy into the context of The Diary of Anne Frank, one would have to consider MORE than just the perspective of Anne and teenagers. We've thought of doing lit. circles with excerpts of books or articles to explore the other points of view that existed/exist.

The survivor's perspective (perhaps an excerpt from Wiesel's Night?) will most definitely be incorporated, but what others do you think would be important to include? Groups off the top of my head are children, rescuers, Christians, and followers of the Nazi party.

Thoughts?

Book Clubs

I'm getting ready to ask my students to think about the books that they're reading for their book clubs from a different perspective. I was thinking that I would just type up the list of all of the switches on pgs 47-48 in the text and asking them to apply one of the switches to their book. I'm wondering if this is a good idea because I haven't directly taught critical literacy to my classes yet. Do you think this is jumping in too quickly? Maybe I should take a day and teach the lesson outlined in the book using "The Giving Tree." Thoughts?