BY BRANDON SLOANE
We’ve all been there, 9 P.M. on the Sunday night before the school year begins, cooped up in your room frantically trying to finish the required book you were assigned to read over summer vacation. While procrastination and outright laziness have long been reasons for not reading these novels, there is also an equally valid one: students just don’t enjoy them.
Required reading has long been a part of the American school system, where each year students read a select group of books that have some sort of historical significance or cultural impact. However as years pass, more students are having a hard time reading these books. So we have to ask ourselves: are these “classic” novels really all they’re cracked up to be?
Most teachers believe novels such as Catcher in the Rye, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Animal Farm will touch the hearts of everyone who reads them. What they fail to realize is just because the book has had a great reputation, doesn’t mean that it will go over well with students in the present day.
One reason for the lack of student desire to read these books is the fact that they can’t relate to them. For example, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is the story of George and Lenny, two friends who struggle to get the life they’ve always wanted during the harsh times of the great depression. While generally regarded as a timeless tale, many students now don’t appreciate the book as much as previous generations did. This is because the action takes place 70 years before they were even born. Today’s students have an easier time getting interested in a book if it has some personal relevance to them. One way for teachers to combat this problem would be to tie what is happening in the novel to current events and present day situations. This way, the reader is better able to empathize with the characters and analyze the themes conveyed in the book.
The archaic vernacular of classic novels is another characteristic that makes them difficult for current students to read. Language is constantly changing and evolving and certain words and phrases reflect specific time periods. So when students read novels whose dialect is from the 1600’s, they have trouble fully grasping what they are reading. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a prime example of this. This eternal story follows the growth and development of an orphan named Pip and his life experiences. Unfortunately for us, the book uses Old English, which is antiquated for today’s readers. Therefore, the story is not completely understood and appreciated. While it is a classic tale, the language barrier makes it hard to comprehend and students end up resorting to using sparknotes to analyze the book.
The required reading list is in desperate need of a face-lift. Fortunately, many English teachers at our school are already taking steps to implement more current books to their reading lists. The Story of B, The Hunger Games, and Ghetto Nation are just a few examples of modern books being used in classrooms to analyze literature. These books not only exemplify great writing, but they have the cultural impact today that books like Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird had in the past.
Although most of the list is not going to change anytime soon, one thing our teachers need to realize is just because a book is a classic, doesn’t always mean it is a good read.
