Literature, Identity and Choice

Carl Leggo, a professor on faculty at UBC, is a writer and teacher educator.  He writes marvelous autobiographical poetry and speaks his poetry in presentation as if it were a song with cadences, inflection, dynamics and articulation as one might expect of an instrument.  After hearing Carl speak at a recent conference, I asked him to send me a copy of an article in progress on among other things, the Western Canon and how we chose literature to present in our classrooms.

Leggo is partial to the reader response approach, as delineated by Rosenblatt,  and the cultural criticism orientation, as put forward by MarnieO’Neill.  Reading is a dynamic interaction between reader and text.  Not only that but the reader interacts with the text within a particular context in the same way that a writer writes the text from a particular context.  It is this interaction of reader, text, author, text and contexts that provides not a single reading or correct interpretation of a text but multiple readings dependent on the contexts of reader and writer.

Leggo introduced me to the ideas of de Castell who posits that reader response approaches in the classroom can actually serve to silence the very persons whom we are intending to give a opportunity for voice.  De Castell is concerned that literary experiences are active, engaged and private.  For de Castell, literary experiences in the classroom ought to remain grounded in objective discourse and critical analysis to prevent this silencing.  The difficulty I have with de Castell is with ‘objective discourse’.  Whose criteria are used to create ‘objective discourse’.  It is as if de Castell assumes that the instructor and student can leave their ‘selves’ at the door and work independently of their identities.  I don’t believe that this sectionning of self is possible.  People work within contexts and use their identity/identities as filters for their experiences.  I can not leave my ‘self’ at the door and become an objective self.  This is simply choosing one identity over the others.  A scientific objective identity over an emotional subjective identity.  Yin over Yang.

A few years ago, I took a workshop which talked about introducing students to six different hats or perspectives.  Each had a colour and set of characteristics associated with it.  Each hat would allow the students to approach the material in a different way.  Each was valuable.  Perhaps these hats would be useful in looking at literature.  The objective hat would be just one of the possibilities allowing for textual interpretation.  There would be room for other hats.  Maybe even more than six.

Leggo recommends teachers opening up the canon and allowing students to choose materials to read – sometimes from selected titles, perhaps sometimes from their own libraries. Multiple texts, multiple readers and a conversation about those texts and readers and their world.  I am thinking through how this might look in my classroom next year.  I know I want to explore student choice, extended reading and writing times, broadening the response possibilities and opening the conversation.  Stay tuned.

Literary Theories and Pleasure??

I have been attempting to read a chapter on literary analysis as it pertains to children’s literature.  YAWN!  I know for certain I never would have made it as a scholar in literature.  I find the Freudian interpretations ludicrous whether looking at Bettelheim’s more conventional interpretation or Lacan’s more linguistic interpretation.  I just don’t look at my word in terms of phalluses or phalli or however one puts that.  I’m not interested in Jung’s archetypes or Propp’s functions.  It seems pointless and does not add to my enjoyment at all.

I think there are people for whom literary analysis adds pleasure to the reading but not  for me.  I can enjoy a book and not look for deep layers of meaning.  If the theme is transparent but not a hammer, I can enjoy that.  If the plot and characters have some complexity, I can enjoy that.  If I learn something new about a particular place or time and see something through someone else’s eyes, I enjoy that.  But I don’t need to read Charlotte’s Web and look for an Oedipal complex.  Not my cup of tea thanks.

On the other hand, I do like to look at books and imagine how I might interpret it as a person from a minority group, as a woman, as a person of colour, as a person with same sex parents.  I don’t know that I need a particular theory to do that kind of interpretation. Do I?  Honestly I find the text on this so boring I can’t even go there.

Censorship? Part Two

Through Indian Eyes is a book which attempts to stem the tide of racism against North American aboriginal peoples.  It contains books, poetry and book reviews on children’s literature.  As I read it, I am caught between my wish to build a collection which is supportive and positive about North American aboriginal peoples and my wish to maintain a varied wide-ranging collection.  These need not be mutually exclusive goals but they do run into each other.  I thought about this some yesterday.  I can’t seem to pull from the shelves the Little House books or Outsiders for that matter.  I wouldn’t recommend them as read alouds for any classroom – at least not as a whole.  I find the threshing pieces useful when studying settler life but I would not read the sections about Indian savages.  But should I read those parts and then talk about them.  How do I talk about them in a way which invites discussion and openness rather than fear, silliness, anger?  If I can’t think about ways to trouble the images, should I keep the book?  I’m not sure.  I find it easier to make the case with non-fiction.  If the material is wrong, racist, misleading, hateful, then it is removed in favour of material that is correct, accepting, accurate, peace-building.

Part of me wants to say but that’s the way it was, no one talks like that now, no ones believes that now.  But I know it’s not true.  Racism against aboriginal peoples in North America is alive and well.  I am thankful for the opportunity to read books which counter the stereotype.  I am happy to remove books like “White Feather” or “Danny and the Dinosaur” from the collection.

I wonder about removing books by Byrd Baylor despite the inaccuracies, I think the images and ideas are positive about the Hopi people.  Respectful even if they aren’t perfect.  Yes I want more books by aboriginal authors, respectfully drawn and accurate depictions of aboriginal peoples.  Yes I will look for them deliberately and share them with both white and aboriginal students.  But I don’t want to be building a bland collection or eliminating books which will make for thoughtful discussion.

The Lottery – Beth Goobie

The Lottery is a gripping story of Sal Hansen, the current  ‘dud of the year’ in her  high school.  The leading group in her school the Celts is  front for the Shadow Council.  The Shadow Council terrorize members of the school community to maintain its status as the most influential group in the school community.  Teachers and administrative staff are oblivious to the activities of the Shadow Council.  The Council picks one student each year to do their bidding.  The rest of the school is required to shun the lottery winner – the dud of the year.  Anyone who does not comply is hurt or humiliated as the Council sees fit.

The most difficult part of the process for Sal is the loss of her closest friends.  She is supported by her brother and his best friend as she tries to navigate her way through the oppression.  The president of the Shadow Council is also troubled by his role in the whole process and quietly befriends Sal.

The complex and haunting nature of the story draws in the reader and propels the story forward.  I was struck by the location of the story, in my own home town.  The imaginary high school was shaped in my imagination into my own high school.  The ideas in this novel can lead into wonderful discussion about social dynamics, the nature of bullying, tough choices, isolation.  Each of the characters surrounding Sal have issues which would open windows or provide mirrors for students – the high functioning student with autism, the wheelchair bound student with double leg amputation, the student struggling with obesity, the student with mental illness.

I enjoyed this story.  It is somehow both realistic and exaggerated to an extreme.  The story is both hopeful and dreadful.  It is a book that I found much easier to take than Boy O’Boy, yet hits some similar tragic issues.  Beth Goobie infuses her protagonist with strength and must believe in the power of the individual to change their community.  This hope for change is what rings through in an otherwise bleak story.

Children’s literature as a genre

What’s a genre?  A category of literature distinct from other types by its distinctive characteristics.   Is children’s literature a genre?  Nodelman and Reimer look for the characteristics that might be considered common to most children’s literature to answer this question.  They find the following traits:

1)    a basic pattern – home/away/home  A character is unhappy with life at home, seeks another way and returns home with new wisdom.  This pattern and variations on it are common within children’s literature.

2)    concretizable description – the scenes and characters in children’s literature are describe through picture or words to form complete pictures in the readers’ mind of the scene and characters (I think all good literature does this but Nodelman and Perry indicate that this is done more deliberately in children’s lit).

3)     Characters – children and child-like characters are the protagonists  For years, I have used the age of the protagonist as a rough guide for the reading level of the story.  This is not a surprising trait.

4)    Opposites – children’s literature is in many ways didactic and stories are set up to highlight the opposing views and encourage the ‘better way’.

5)    Style and structure – Children’s literature is action oriented, the plots tend to be straightforward.  Language tends to be simplified for the reader, hopefully retaining some naturalness!  Repetition of events or phrases or words is common.

6)    Focalization – children’s literature is told from a child’s point of view.

7)    Optimism – children’s literature tends to be utopian.

I found it interesting to consider the prevalence of the home/away/home scenario in literature.  I hadn’t particularly thought about stories having this pattern.  Yet with variation, it fits many novels and stories.  My first thoughts were what a helpful thing to know as a writer and why didn’t anyone ever mention this to me before?

As I think about my plans for the coming school year – as a grade fourish teacher, I think that some of the ideas in “Pleasures of Children’s Literature” will be helpful to me.  I want to awaken students to the pattern and choices made in good stories.  I think knowledge of these patterns will improve their understanding of future stories, past stories and help them to become more interesting writers.  The question as always is which parts do I teach and when  and to whom, in what manner.  Knowing what I want to do and making it  real are two different things.

I want to be more like my son’s kindergarten teacher.  She sets up the classroom, teaches them the routine and then lets them go to it.  It is a wonder to behold – five year olds who just get to their work, no nagging, no instruction, just purposeful activity.  Very cool.

Censorship?

After a delightful conversation with MaryLynn Gagne, one of the immensely helpful and knowledgeable librarians from the Education branch of the University of Saskatchewan library, and Debbie Pushor, my advisor and partner in this exploration of literature and issues, I took the opportunity to explore some challenged literature for children and young adults. Three books, Giant or Waiting for the Thursday Boat by Robert Munsch, A Coyote Columbus Story by Thomas King and The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron.

Each of these books is a good read with interesting characters, suspenseful plot and colourful language.  All three books have captivating illustrations which enhance the story.  Each is written by an acclaimed author.  The objections to them range from vocabulary choice for Lucky to depiction of God for Giant.  In each case, I see no compelling reason not to have one of these books in my library.  Teachers and teacher librarians should have the tools in place to defend these books.   But do they have the time and energy to do it?

In our discussion we talked about soft censorship, choosing not to buy a book for a library based on its content and not its quality.  I thought I’d take a little peak around the catalogues of my division and see if any of these books were in them.  Very non-scientific search.  The catalogues do show that we have copies of Harry Potter, also a challenged series, some Giant, no Lucky (although this is a very new book and may not be there yet), no Coyote Columbus (although I’m not sure with Columbus in the title if TLs and teachers would realize its relevance to Canada, even with Cartier on the final page). I did also look for “And Tango makes Three” and “Heather has two Mommies” which were not available. By this time, I was somewhat relieved to see that we do have copies of “Stitches”.

So unscientifically, is soft censorship at work?  Too hard to say.  We have such limited funding and the choices that TLs make are limited by funds and curriculum demands.  But it is worth asking the question, why don’t we have “And Tango makes Three” or “A Coyote Columbus Story” or “the Higher Power of Lucky”? Would I put them in my library with the competing demands on funding?  I don’t know.

I am taking on the role of librarian at my church library.  I am faced with a collection which is intended to meet the needs of a particular community.  How do I approach the building and weeding of the collection?  The woman who has been at the helm of the library collection development has done a terrific job.  She has chosen excellent fiction for young adults and children.  We are faced with limited space and budget, some aging items, dated items, politically-incorrect and culturally insensitive items.  Which do we keep?  Which do we weed?  How does freedom to read impact on a collection which has such a specific audience and purpose?

I decided to weed a book called “The White Feather”.  It was an older piece of historical fiction set in the American mid-west.  The portrayal of aboriginal peoples was less than accurate and certainly reflected the time period of the author.  If I had endless space and funds, I might keep it as a reminder of how far we have come and what we need to prevent but shelf space and a limited number of other titles to counter the portrayal and I  deemed it not acceptable.  Censorship? Maybe.

I decided to keep the “Little House” series.  It is also a portrayal of settling the American mid-west.  It also has negative and stereotyped depictions of aboriginal North Americans.  Why keep it?  It is well-written and engaging.  I will need to counter it with some good literature with more positive depictions.  Cultural insensitivity?  Maybe.

No easy task to manage a library collection.  We need to be careful to be culturally sensitive and to keep as diverse a collection as possible.  So here is my question – I know I have the odd reader from my home community – have you read these books?  Would you add them to your collection?  Why or Why not?  Feel free to leave a comment.

Excellent small steps

Good news on the homefront.  Through the combined efforts of our administration and teacher librarians, there is now a link on every schools home page to an e-library page.  Not only that the teacher librarians are going to be a part of developing a new look for the e-library page.  Very cool.  I am so proud of our teacher librarian team.  I know there has been some behind the scenes work before this change was announced.  I can’t wait to see the new look of the page.  I remember reading some work by Doug Johnson on successful school webpages.  Might be helpful for the people doing the work. It is hard to sit on the outside and just watch when you want to be in there and getting your hands dirty.  C’est la vie.  For now I’m with the farmers, maybe next year. I wonder if I’ll be able to work on my school’s site.  Hmm, I can tell my brain is ready to work on next year.

White Jade Tiger – Julie Lawson

Jasmine Steele is a headstrong teenager living north of Victoria, B.C. with her mother and father when her life is changed completely by the death of her mother.  As she deals with her grief, she is swept up in the mystery of the white jade tiger.  A compelling dream and some magical clothing send her back in time to solve the mystery and remove the curse on her family.

 Julie Lawson weaves together the story of Chinese immigration in B.C., the building of the railroad and the story of this teenaged girl into a spell-binding adventure.  Thematic links – history of Canada, Chinese-Canadians, building of the railroad, racism, adventure, change, friendship.

Forget-Me-Not – Barbara Haworth-Attard

Roberta Harrison is navigating the shoals of teenage life in 1945. Her family has been touched by WWII in a variety of ways. Roberta is confused by the mixed feelings she has about German and Japanese people – her hatred for the evils of Hitler’s regime but her sympathy for a German POW, her stance against the Japanese but her feelings of remorse for the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The story written as a diary moves between the mundane and ordinariness of a young girl’s life and the extraordinary events in world history of 1945.

Thematic ties – family, WWII, change, coming of age, friendship

Haworth-Attard captures the sensibility of the era. It reminds me of the way my grandmother used to talk about her own young adult life. Like Roberta, my grandmother was the youngest in a large family. My grandmother would be slightly older than the protagonist but snap shots from her photo album and the inscriptions on the back speak to similar cares and worries.

Men of Stone – Gayle Friesen

Ben is the youngest child in a family of women.  His father has died leaving the whole in the family living simultaneous but unconnected lives.  That is until Great-aunt Frieda comes to visit.  The story of Ben in Men of Stone weaves together some history of the Russian Mennonites who emigrated to Canada and a contemporary story of a boy’s coming of age.  Gayle Friesen’s writing is descriptive and the characters are complex and interesting.  Some of the the teenaged slang feels forced at first but it either gets better or as one gets enthralled with the story it ceases to matter.  The ending is slightly Hollywood but is tinged with some uncertainty.  An enjoyable read.

Thematically fits with  immigration,  new Canadians,  coming of age,  being different, friendship, family, history, Mennonites.

Men of Stone.