“This is a conversation I still have with my mother. She feels like ‘Death of a Salesman’ is cruel to teach to kids, but I think it is one of the most profound plays,” says English teacher Rob Thurtle of the dark Broadway play that grapples with the ideas of failure, despair, and familial acceptance. The genre of tragedy, introduced most prominently by Shakespeare and highly influential in many modern classics, is well represented in Aragon High School’s literature curriculum. Aside from Shakespearean works like “Macbeth,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Othello,” the school teaches novels similarly dark in nature and broad in theme. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee deals with racial prejudice and the critical loss of innocence in a child, a theme revisited in “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger. Other books like “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey deal with harsh realities through grim narratives. The question is especially relevant as it is not unheard for books to become banned from English classes in some schools around the country, including many books that are a part of Aragon’s English curriculum.
The prevalence of dark novels may have to do with a correlation between the sadness of a book and its profoundness in meaning. Thurtle says, “When talking about literary merit, it is based somewhat upon having that profound effect on emotions.” Depressing or not, the books studied in English classes at Aragon come from a Western canon of novels, or a broad collection of novels which have generally become accepted as influential. Many of these novels come from certain periods of history when strife and discontent defined the atmosphere of the time, while others are in fact comedies. However, the curriculum includes relatively few books that are uplifting in nature. Thurtle comments, “Certain periods of time are more conducive to comedy.” However, he continues, “It’s a little bit harder to get at the ‘so-what of a comedy.’”
Johnson adds, “I try to focus on language and meaning and how it all leads to the purpose.”
However, is lack of variety a problem? Junior Kevin Bai says, “There is definitely too little variety. However, the depressingness doesn’t detract from what you learn.”
It would be interesting to see how students would react to a different type of novel. English teacher Vicky Daniel taught “Pride and Prejudice” to a class of seniors at one point. She says, “Many of them felt like it was a big deal about nothing. They felt like it was trivial.” She goes on to explain that the students actually formed a Jane Austen fan club, saying, “It was sort of to mock the book. I think if a book isn’t depressing, that can lead some students to think it isn’t meaningful.” Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” dealing with complex relationships and love affairs, is less dark in comparison to the other books Aragon teaches that have love and relationships as major themes. Daniel says, “‘Pride and Prejudice,’ sort of like ‘Gatsby,’ deals with relationships, which can be seen as sort of trivial. The only difference is Gatsby is sad.” Other books like “Beloved” and “The Scarlet Letter” also focus on love affairs but are also about darker things like adultery and infanticide.
There might not be much the English department can do about the selection of books. While a parent group meeting was held in the past to reform the curriculum, as Johnson explains, “There isn’t a lot of choice because most of the books were purchased in the past. It’s very hard to get new books.”
Thurtle elaborates, “It’s very expensive and risky; there are a lot of random books sitting on the shelf that didn’t catch on.”
Ultimately, the English department is limited by its ability to choose literary works, but the essential take-away is the same with every book, as teachers encourage students to explore and prove their own ideas and interpretations through writing.
