Out of the string of articles and media pieces I analyzed this week, one was strangely aggressive, it’s name: “I Know Why the Caged Bird Can’t Read” by Francine Prose. In a nutshell, the author took a very strong stance against the novels that are currently taught in American high schools; famous works such as “Huckleberry Finn” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” were brutally criticized for their faults.
While I do not agree with the majority of her opinions towards the chosen works of literature in our American education system, there was one particular aspect of her work that struck me as intriguing. In the middle of her writing, Prose states “ The question is no longer what the writer has written but rather who the writer is- specifically what ethnic group or gender identity the author represents.” From my own personal interpretation, she is claiming that our curriculum teaches inferior books - due to the fact that they are written by an author that is from a different culture/social group- as opposed to decent/groundbreaking works.
Prose may have a point. One of the main objectives in teaching high school students literature is with the purpose of opening their minds to the workings of the world. Simply favoring a work of literature for its author is no better than judging a book by its cover; it would be an ultimately inefficient method of enlightening the youth of America, having a culturally diverse range of authors does not guarantee that they will be effective in spreading cultural understanding or social acceptance.
However, I also believe that it is arrogant of Prose to assume that stories such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” were placed into our curriculum carelessly. It is only natural that we would seek out people of different ethnicities and beliefs to spread understanding of different cultures and beliefs. While it may be true that some of the stories in the American education system were chosen due to the origin of the author, I do not believe they are incompetent works.
While Prose’s essay was a strange change in tone to analyze, I had a lot of fun doing so. Hopefully, we’ll see more aggressive works in the upcoming week.
I agree that some of our books are selected due to what the author represents. Although it is very beneficial for students to learn diverse viewpoints, quality of work is still more important than origin of the author.
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