The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a relatively common read in high school classrooms due to its projection of societal issues regarding racism, prejudice, and among others. Author Francine Prose published an essay, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read,” in which she criticized the complexity of the novels in American English literature curriculum. High school students presently harbor an apathetic attitude toward literature seemingly due to the “easier to interpret” novels such as the classic like To Kill A Mockingbird. Regarding Lee’s novel, she claimed it to be only a self fulfilling read for readers who do not fully understanding the beauty of the text. Rather than being taught to appreciate craftsmanship, students are
…show more content…
The oversimplification of the “good” and “bad” characters in To Kill A Mockingbird is not ideal to Prose because it is teaching the students a more or less refined version of the text rather than focusing on the complexity of its stylistic devices or background. She reiterates it by stating, “We (the readers) are Scout, her childhood is our childhood, and Atticus Finch is our brave, infinitely patient American Daddy. And that creepy big guy living alone in the scary house turns out to have been watching over us with protective benevolent attention.” The use of diction here clearly outlines the characters’ general traits; by characterizing them by their traits, Prose is attempting to demonstrate the simplicity in which English literature today has nourished. The majority of the novels presented in English classrooms, she asserts, fail to project her vision in developing a student’s understanding and appreciation of the distinguished stylistic nature of the …show more content…
Her lack of empathy with them limits her understanding of the fact that they are not able to comprehend the text as well as she does. Prose states, “And how puzzling that I should so often find myself teaching bright, eager college undergraduate and graduate students, would-be writers handicapped not merely by how little literature they have read but by their utter inability to read it…” The students’ inability to closely analyze the text serves as Prose’s main argument, however, this stance fails to demonstrate how the ability to analyze a text equates to valuing it as it can be also appreciated by the lessons it has taught the students. When addressing Harper Lee’s renowned novel, she maintained an overall passive outlook due to this idea. Another point that Prose emphasizes on is the concept presented by Lee’s novel. By reading a classic novel, it presents “...a chance to consider thorny issues of race and prejudice from a safe distance and with the comfortable certainty that the reader would never harbor the racist attitudes espoused by the lowlifes in the novel.” As the readers, this should be an established concept to understand that the racist attitudes harbored by the townspeople in the novel are unacceptable. Nonetheless, it should be a reinforced one; racism is always present whether now or then. And by addressing this directly, it forces students
The oversimplification of the “good” and “bad” characters in To Kill A Mockingbird is not ideal to Prose because it is teaching the students a more or less refined version of the text rather than focusing on the complexity of its stylistic devices or background. She reiterates it by stating, “We (the readers) are Scout, her childhood is our childhood, and Atticus Finch is our brave, infinitely patient American Daddy. And that creepy big guy living alone in the scary house turns out to have been watching over us with protective benevolent attention.” The use of diction here clearly outlines the characters’ general traits; by characterizing them by their traits, Prose is attempting to demonstrate the simplicity in which English literature today has nourished. The majority of the novels presented in English classrooms, she asserts, fail to project her vision in developing a student’s understanding and appreciation of the distinguished stylistic nature of the …show more content…
Her lack of empathy with them limits her understanding of the fact that they are not able to comprehend the text as well as she does. Prose states, “And how puzzling that I should so often find myself teaching bright, eager college undergraduate and graduate students, would-be writers handicapped not merely by how little literature they have read but by their utter inability to read it…” The students’ inability to closely analyze the text serves as Prose’s main argument, however, this stance fails to demonstrate how the ability to analyze a text equates to valuing it as it can be also appreciated by the lessons it has taught the students. When addressing Harper Lee’s renowned novel, she maintained an overall passive outlook due to this idea. Another point that Prose emphasizes on is the concept presented by Lee’s novel. By reading a classic novel, it presents “...a chance to consider thorny issues of race and prejudice from a safe distance and with the comfortable certainty that the reader would never harbor the racist attitudes espoused by the lowlifes in the novel.” As the readers, this should be an established concept to understand that the racist attitudes harbored by the townspeople in the novel are unacceptable. Nonetheless, it should be a reinforced one; racism is always present whether now or then. And by addressing this directly, it forces students