As I read Noll's article (Ripple Effect), I found myself getting slightly more and more frustrated. When I'm teaching, I don't want to live in fear of literature, and I don't want my students to either. By schools censoring books, that's exactly what we're doing. I feel like administrators are afraid of these books because they do exactly what they should do: make students question and learn and think. If they're going to frown upon learning, then maybe they should just close down their school?
I guess I'm just a little perturbed right now. Obviously with any job, there are going to be restrictions. However, in this case we aren't restricting ourselves as "workers"; we are restricting the students as learners and that completely defeats the purpose of our jobs. I read The Catcher in the Rye in high school and I cannot tell you one student who reacted negatively just because we read that book in 9th grade. So young, so vulnerable, how dare they learn about people from all walks of life? That's just silly! The more we restrict what kids can read, odds are that they'll find a way to read it anyway if they really want to. And that's perfectly fine with me. I want to them to branch out and discover new worlds through literature.
On another note, Feed. I lost my driver's license over break and started reading this while waiting for an hour and a half at the DMV. It took me a while to understand what was going on. On the very first page, Titus begins telling the story and says, "Link Arwaker was like, 'I'm so null,' and Marty was all, 'I'm null too, unit,' but I mean we were all pretty null, because for the last like hour we'd been playing with three uninsulated wires that were coming out of the wall" (3). I read over this sentence probably about 5 times. I didn't understand why they were saying "like." I obviously use this in conversation more than I should and it was completely strange seeing it like that in a novel. Also, some of the words they use to describe things just made me laugh. Especially "meg," which I'm assuming is for mega. I actually think I let this slip out in conversation the other day. Ut oh! Seriously, though, pretty interesting novel. Its conventions are atypical of a "novel," but I think that's what makes it work so well.
I also noticed how often Feed used the word "like" in dialogues. I think that Anderson was reflecting on how young adults/teenagers talk to each other. The only thing that I had a hard time understanding was "unit" which I think of as "dude" or "man." I thought it was a great novel and I would love to use it in a classroom one day.
ReplyDelete"I didn't understand why they were saying 'like.'"
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this novel, I realized how much I overuse some words that don't help the comprehension of my diction. Like when "Unit" would often say something and then attach "or some shit" afterwards, I realize I say this sometimes and it really doesn't help me sound concise or intelligent by doing so; it's slang talk. So a lot of the dialogue in the novel really made me self-conscious when I'm talking to someone so as to not use the attachment "or some shit" or use the word "like" unnessicarely.
"I feel like administrators are afraid of these books because they do exactly what they should do: make students question and learn and think."
ReplyDeleteI LOVE what you had to say right here. This is so true. These books that are being censored are the books that make students do what they should be doing (THINKING). It is most often the parents or the administrators not wanting these books. The students have no problem reading them which is what should matter.