1 - What have you learned about yourself as a teacher (or future teacher) of adolescent literature (or English) in this class?

First of all, I learned that as much as I love the “classics,” I can absolutely see the value in teaching students books that they find more interesting. I still think the classics have something to offer, and I still want to teach them, but now I can see how pairing them with other literature that children enjoy might make for a more valuable experience all around. I also remember a time in class with Dr. M said something that really resonated with me: “You are the expert in your field.” I know it is simple, but seeing as I don’t teach yet, hearing this really made me think seriously about my role as an authority figure and educator, and that the sky really is the limit if I just put some work into justifying my decisions in my classroom. I don’t want to take the easy way out – I want to make a difference.

2 - What strategies will you take from this class to apply in either the Methods course next semester or your own English classrooms?

Quite honestly, I don’t know what the methods course entails yet, but I do like the “ticket out” idea a lot as a way of assessing the class at the end of the day/lesson. I also like literature roles, Socratic method, and the idea of teaching reading strategies to students. I feel like each teaching strategy has its advantages and disadvantages, but each can be used effectively depending on the lesson.

3 - What books resonated the most with you? The least? Why? Which selections do you think should be kept/removed from the class?

I guess I would say that the books that made the most impression on me in the way that they made me think about why we would teach them would be Boy Meets Boy, Forever, The Book Thief, and Persepolis. The first two because of the wonderful discussions that they produced (both on why they should and should not be taught, and also on what my classmates and future students and their parents might think if they were brought into the classroom), the third because I think it was a WONDERFUL book and a great perspective to offer to students who have read Anne Frank one too many times, and the last one because it was a graphic novel and it really helped me to see “the other” side of this argument – I always considered graphic novels just longer comic books, but I had no idea how much they had to offer until this class.
I guess if I were to say there were any that did not resonate with me, it would be Harry Potter and Twilight. I actually did like both books myself, but they didn’t really produce as much discussion as was possible simply because the class was divided over who liked them and who didn’t, so that swayed the discussion a bit. It was harder to get to the issues surrounding the books since some people didn’t think they should be taught simply because they didn’t like them.
I can’t really say that I think any of the books should have been removed. I think they were all worthy text. I really liked “Disturbing the Universe” as well – it provided a lot of insights into the adolescent literature that I would not have thought of right away, and served to get me into the groove of thinking of those and more issues surrounding the use of adolescent literature in the classroom.

4 - Would it have been more helpful for you to read "classic" or traditional texts alongside the adolescent novel? For example, would reading To Kill A Mockingbird (a frequently taught text in the secondary schools) alongside Monster have yielded more realistic approaches for using adolescent literature in the classroom?

I would have to say no on this one. Number one, it was already a lot of texts to read, and it was hard to keep up at times. Number two, probably having been English majors (at least some of us) but also high school students, most of us in the class have already read the classics, and it would have just been bogging everyone down. I felt that without pairing them, it exercised our brains to the point where we had to think of what we would pair with the nontraditional text provided, and I liked the different ideas that people came up with when thinking openly about it.

5 - What are your perceived strengths as a teacher of literature at this point? What remaining weaknesses or anxieties do you have regarding teaching literature (or teaching students!)? How might this class have better helped you to address these concerns?

I would say that my biggest strength is my true love of literature, my real desire to be a good teacher, and my willingness and openness to learn new things to better myself in my field. At this point, I don’t know what it will be like, but I hope that these things will at least serve me well, if not push me throughout my career.
As for my anxieties, I am scared to death to be an authority figure to kids. I am afraid that I will end being a push over or something. I’m hoping that becoming a parent in the near future will ease my concerns here, but I guess we’ll see. I think my problem is disconnecting myself from that age that I still remember all too well, and I’m also hoping that when I get to the point of teaching, it will come naturally to me. Again, we’ll see.
I think the Group Teach project actually helped me with my fear of speaking in front of people. Actually, in general as is probably obvious with my participation in class, I don’t have a problem speaking in front of my peers as much as to younger kids (with ultimately blank faces), but still, being up there and presenting an entire lesson made me feel that I might be more comfortable than I give myself credit for.

6 – Was the group-teach a valuable experience for you? What was beneficial? What was frustrating? What did you learn about yourself in this experience? Should this experience be included in future classes?

Well, back to my previous answer, it was really beneficial for me. I watched myself go from completely freaked out, to overwhelmed, to feeling a little more comfortable, to being really excited for it all to come together. The hardest part or the most frustrating was simply trying to coordinate the schedules of three other very busy people with my schedule. Group projects are always like that, and it is frustrating trying to work it out, but either way, I still thought the project overall was really beneficial. I don’t know if I could say the same for those in my class who already teach, but at least for me, not teaching yet, it solidified my decision to go back to school to become a teacher. It took me 5 years to decide to go back to school for this, and I must admit, I was worried I might have been wrong about it (aka: could I really do this? Is this really what I want???). But after finishing the Group Teach and being excited to be in front of the class presenting it just made me realize that I’m doing the right thing and that this is what I’m supposed to do with my life. I would definitely recommend keeping it for your future classes.

7 - Skim through the blogs you wrote this semester. Was creating your own blog and responding to the literature in this blog each week a valuable activity for you? Why/why not? Would you consider using a blog with your own students?

Hmm…yes and no about the blogs. I think blogging helped me get my thoughts in order before class, which made me feel more at ease in class discussions. And reading other people’s blogs was nice, too, because they often had interesting ideas or thoughts as well. On the other hand, I think what we put in our blogs almost always came up in class, and I’m not 100% sure that these ideas wouldn’t have come up anyway whether we blogged or not, so at times, it seemed like an extraneous activity that I would rather not have done.
Having said that, I do think it is valuable enough to use with my students. As a teacher, I think having students blog on the reading would be a great quick/easy way to see if the students read the material, and also to see what they got out of it (if anything). So, I think while at times it seemed like a lot to ask, it is still a worthy activity, and a great way to incorporate technology into the daily lessons.

8 - What recommendations or suggestions do you have for the content of this course. Was anything missing that you felt would have better prepared you? What was valuable to you overall? Feel free to address any other areas that may not have been raised here as well.

The only thing I would have liked to have seen, and this very well could just be me, was how to create lesson plans. When the group teach was introduced, I very nearly panicked because I had never created a lesson plan. Never. So I had no idea, and luckily I had a current teacher in my group who was able to help, or I might have completely lost it. So, it might have been helpful to have one class prior to the first group teach (aka my group) to show us different styles of lesson plans. In the beginning, we did a lot more on the novels themselves (which isn’t a bad thing) and not as much on different teaching strategies. One thing I thought that was really helpful was the list of different things we could use in our classroom to get our students thinking: KWL charts, story maps, free-writing, etc. etc. Really helpful. I’d like to see more of that, since it was a class on “teaching” adolescent literature, and not just on adolescent literature itself. I think it got better after the fourth or fifth class, but for the first few classes, it felt just like any other English class, except with younger, sometimes easier-to-read novels.
On another note, I think you did an incredible job catering this class to the many (and I mean many) different students you had in this class. I was so impressed with the way you were able to differentiate your instruction and adjust what was probably your plan for the class as soon as you found out how different we were. Your flexibility was amazing and notable. It really gave me a true understanding of how you can’t enter the class with a firm plan in mind; you have to be willing to adjust when needed, and I was really impressed with how you were able to do it so…seamlessly. Given another class that I have with a similar variety of students (Josh, you know what class I mean) where the teacher made no effort whatsoever to adjust her teaching or lessons to account for the variety, I was truly impressed. So, thank you so much. Having seen both sides, I really think you should know how much I do appreciate your flexibility and adjustments.

Harry on the way home with the Dursleys

Harry followed Uncle Vernon out of the train station and saw Aunt Petunia and Dudley waiting in the car. At the sight of Dudley, Harry immediately wished he could go back to Hogwarts. But he followed silently behind a grumpy Uncle Vernon and climbed into the car next to Dudley.

“No funny stuff, Potter,” Dudley said, eyeing Harry suspiciously, and Harry noticed his cousin’s voice had dropped an octave. With the loss of an octave he had gained at least fifty pounds to his already hefty exterior. In his mouth hung a large chocolate bar, which reminded Harry of the chocolate frog he bought on the train ride back to London.

He cautiously slipped it out of his pocket to keep it from melting, trying desperately to keep Dudley from seeing it. But Aunt Petunia said suddenly, “What have you got, you wicked boy?”

Before Harry could say anything or shove it back in his pocket, Dudley snatched it out of his hand. With his mouth still full of his chocolate bar, he opened the wrapper and noticed immediately the card inside. “What’s this?” he asked, slowly pulling it out.

Harry panicked. He knew that Dudley would react wildly if he noticed the face moving in the card, and Aunt Petunia would surely search all his things. But he also knew he wasn’t allowed to use magic while away from Hogwarts.

“It’s a chocolate bar,” he said quickly and tried to pry it from Dudley’s hands.

“Mom! Harry’s got a chocolate bar!” he shouted, struggling to keep it.

Quickly, Harry slipped the card out of the candy bar and said, “Just keep it, Dudley,” before Aunt Petunia had time to react.

Dudley shoved it into his mouth and forgot all about the card inside. Harry, on the other hand, noticed that it was the card that Ron needed and he smiled when he thought of his friend.

Perhaps now was as good a time as any to request permission to see Ron and the Weasleys over the summer.

“Uncle Vernon?” Harry began, and Uncle Vernon grunted. “I met a friend at school, and his mother invited me to stay with them for a few weeks. Would that be all right?”

“Absolutely not!” Aunt Petunia interjected. “While you are here with us, you will not interact with anyone from that school, is that understood?”

Harry’s face was hot. It was all he had to look forward to and just like that he was shot down.

“Now wait a minute, Petunia,” Uncle Vernon began in his gruff voice. “It may work out for us to be rid of him for a few weeks this summer.”

“Yes, yes!” Dudley interjected, the chocolate melted to his lips and face. “Let’s get rid of Harry for the whole summer! Let him stay with those freaks all summer long!”

“Yes…you’re right. Less time with us means less time for him to cause us trouble. Okay, Harry. Tell us when, and we’ll drop you here and your friend’s family can pick you up.”

Harry smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” he said quietly, and Aunt Petunia murmured something under her breath, which was drowned out by Uncle Vernon’s grunt.

Twilight and Intertexuality

I am embarrassed to admit that, despite my preconceptions, I did enjoy Twilight, and have even moved on and finished New Moon. The reason I am embarrassed is because I typically enjoy really well written books because I admire good writing and the challenge that it imposes on the reader, and this book is not exactly well written. I've been trying to come to terms with what exactly about it, then, I enjoy enough to make me want to read the rest of the series. The article actually brought to light the reason that I liked it (I think). It's not really well written, but the characterization is well done. "Readers are drawn into this story becasue the characters are intriguing and develop complex relationship as the story progresses" (Bull 113). I think this sums up what I liked abou the book. I fell for Bella and Edward and their tensions and struggles and the complexity of their relationships. It's funny, but the idea of forbidden and difficult love, though a really over-done idea, is still very intriguing and interesting to me.

The article had some interesting ideas for how to teach Twilight in a classroom, since it is a text that would have to be justified to an administration as to it's educational value. I like the idea of digging into the idea of characterization, since it is helpful in learning fiction writing skills. We've talked about intertexuality on several occasions, especially the pairing of modern texts with more "classic" literature. I think since the book alludes to Romeo and Juliet, and Romeo and Juliet is taught in early high school, the use of a venn diagram to talk about similarities and differences between the two could be helpful. I even enjoyed the idea of multimedia and comparing and contrasting the book and the movie, though I'm not sure how much educational value this has. The think alouds would be helpful in making deeper connections.

After checking out the sites on fanfiction, I was a little disappointed. I wouldn't really want to read fan fiction regularly. I'd rather stick with the author and their ideas, since authors know their characters so well. Having said that, I can certainly see the value of fan fiction. The fact that students are so inspired to write extensions or to take the characters and put them in other situations is really encouraging. I think it could really be a useful tool to set students off and running with fan fiction or fan art (is that what it's called?) after reading a story. It would really force them to dig deep into the character and consider the character's motivations when putting them in certain situations.

The article did start out strong, but I found that by the end, I hadn't really discovered a way to justify the teaching of this novel, despite the large fan base among adolescents. I think the only real reason we'd teach it is because students would read it, but I don't really know if there is enough to teach in this novel to students. It really makes me think about the texts we DO teach and why we teach them. I can't justify teaching a novel that I don't think is well written. But I'm curious to hear what everyone else has to say about how this could be taught (or if it should be taught or just left for outside reading). I think it would be valuable to come up with ways to teach it, since kids are enjoying it and reading it (so that they aren't reading it instead of books they are assigned, but rather for class). But after reading the article, I don't think Bull really gave me anything more to work with except for the pairing of this book with a classic.

Teacher Inquiry Project

Teacher Inquiry Project Topic: Teaching Student to Enjoy Reading
Essential Questions:
1 - What makes a "good reader"?
2 - Why do some students dislike reading, while others enjoy it?
3 - What role does the students' gender, family, or socio-economic background play in determining whether they enjoy reading?
4 - How important is student choice of text in helping a student enjoy reading?
5 - Can a resistant reader, no matter why they are resistant, be taught to enjoy reading? If so, how? If not, why not?

So far, I have found a ton of resources for this topic. I have several books that I plan on pulling some information from, including: I Read It, But I Don't Get It, Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning, Mosaic of Thought, What Really Matters for Struggling Readers. As for the journal articles, I found several regarding the role of gender, family, and socio-economic background, as well as a few that talk about the importance of student choice.

It's really interesting to me to see the different articles that discuss some reasons why boys in general enjoy reading less than girls, and the importance of reading in the home. There is a lot of evidence that actually ties in all three (family, student choice, and socio-economic background) as the cause for boys reading less for pleasure than girls. I'm really glad that Jen (I think it was Jen) mentioned something about the role of gender when we did the activity last week. I might not have thought of it, and it has opened up a lot of information for my topic.

I don't really have any questions yet. So far, I have just read the articles to make sure they are relevant, and I plan to read them again and highlight what I'm using. I've done a preliminary works cited as well, just so that I have something to work from. I'm starting on an outline to help me organize my ideas and decide exactly how I want to work out the paper.

Persepolis & the Use of Graphic Novels in Schools

As I think I mentioned when we read American Born Chinese, I have been pleasantly surprised with the graphic novels we've read. I wasn't a proponent of the genre (I thought of them as comic books, and never as novels) until I read our first book, and now after Persepolis, I'm starting to swing. I don't think I'll read anymore on my own, as much as I've enjoyed these. It's still not my favorite, but I can now really see how there is something of value to offer to students, especially to those who don't want to or like to read for school.

Persepolis, the story of the young girl in Iran during war time, was very poignant. The fact that it is an autobiography of sorts is also really interesting to me. There is something to be said for the fact that this is the author's way of dealing with what she saw and went through at home. I like that it was from the perspective of a girl from Iran because it draws me in and causes me to feel more sympathy for her and her family. I couldn't believe she had to leave her family at the end, and I couldn't stop thinking about it after I had finished the book.

As for use in schools, I think this genre appeals to young readers for a reason. We are looking at a generation of kids who spend a large percentage of their time on the computer or in front of the TV. They are a visual generation! It's certainly not to say all kids are this way, but there are a lot of kids who need to see a story to understand it. I was thinking about the book I read for my book review which deals with struggling readers and the strategies they need to employ to understand a book. That's when it hit me. The reason a lot of kids don't enjoy reading is that they don't see a picture in their heads when they read! Seems simple enough, but it was something that never occurred to me until now. I have ALWAYS seen a picture when I read, which is why I love books - it's a movie in my head! So, it's what I've always known, and to realize now that not all kids have this same experience when they read really opens up some ideas for me of what I would need to do as a teacher to try and make sure the students get the most out of my class. I think the use of good, quality graphic novels makes a lot of sense.

Something I didn't think about, though, until I read the article, is how helpful graphic novels can be for the writing skills of English Language Learners. Using the graphic novel not only as a way to open them up to reading, but to help them write is genius! No matter what thier background, kids can look at a picture (with or without words) and figure out what it is about. It only makes sense to use this knowledge as a way to increase their writing skills! I was really impressed with the results. Practice makes perfect, and the more kids are writing (with the help of pictures) the better writers they will become. I think that using graphic novels to help kids learn to write should be used on all students, not just those with langauge barriers.

The Book Thief and "A Class Divided"

Well, first off, I LOVED The Book Thief. I started out struggling with it - the constant interruptions by our narrator were a bit distracting at first, but I got used to it quickly. It took me a while to get really into it, but I balled my eyes out the last 75 or so pages!

I kept thinking about teaching The Book Thief. I think it would be a refreshing perspective (rather than reading Night or Anne Frank, though both are good books) to see the Holocaust through the eyes of a young German girl, rather than from the perspective of a Jew in hiding or in a concentration camp (or maybe in addition to one of the other books). The main problem I see is that with kids, first impressions are everything. They would take one look at how thick the book is and groan. I'd be lucky if a handful read it all through. And then there is the struggle of giving them enough time to read it without taking away from something else. I think there is a lot to talk about in the novel, but it would take a really long time to get through it with a group of adolescents, if I could get them to get past the length in the first place.

After watching "A Class Divided," I must say, I was stunned. Stunned that a teacher had the guts (and the OK from administration?) to try such an experiment. I could certainly see how something like this would create a lasting effect on kids who go through it. It really is an effective way (if you can pull it off, as she could) to teach about discrimination, and let them see what it is like for a short time to be on the receiving end of prejudices. I kept thinking, how is she able to convince them (and then the adults, too! I couldn't believe they were able to be duped by the experiment) that their eye color is reason for discrimination? But I guess if I were a kid (or adult) who hadn't heard of this experiment before, I could be made to believe that eye color mattered. Especially since she was so convincing and serious about it. I felt squirmy and uncomfortable, especially watching the adults during the experiment, because at times she was so convincingly prejudiced. It was a lot to watch the reactions and how upset people got.

After watching that video, I read the article on teaching Holocaust literature. I like the idea of encouraging students to think about discrimination and to empathize with people who are different (in whatever way), rather than throwing them right into the literature. So many kids shrug off the things they read about that have to do with racism or prejudice, simply because they don't know what it's like (or think they don't). But if they are made to talk about the differenes, or the many times they probably were discrimated against (like the kid on page 30, who was wrongfully accused of using some drugs, simply because he fit the look of a kid who would do it), they might then be able to bring more to their reading of the literature, and feel some sympathy toward those who suffered during these terrible events in history.

American Born Chinese & John Gaughan's "Constructing a Teaching Life"

I must admit my first feelings when I opened this book were both hesitation and a little dismay. I don’t particularly like comic books – at least, I never read them as a kid or thought much of them growing up. I like the movies that come out of them (Batman is one of my favorite heroes, and I loved the Spiderman movies, however they might differ from the comics, so I hear). But I don’t particularly like to read them. There’s something about reading thought bubbles for an entire book that turned me off. I love dialogue, but I also love the descriptions that go along with them. I like to visualize in my head and not be forced to see what the author sees. Reading a graphic novel reminded me of watching a movie in another language with subtitles. It goes by quickly, but you don’t get as much out of it.

So, while I opened this book with some attitude, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I still have the same complaints (I still missed visualizing it on my own and the descriptions that come with a “classic” novel), but the subject matter was so artfully told in this poignant way. “Know Thyself” is a line in Shakespeare’s Hamlet that is still quoted today. This book had the same theme – be yourself, be proud of who you are, don’t try to be something you’re not, etc. – but was told in a way that students could understand. I’m not saying we shouldn’t teach Shakespeare, because I really believe we should. But I’m beginning to like the idea of pairing classics with modern novels that students can appreciate and maybe even enjoy. Exposure to Shakespeare may be important, but it’s useless if the students only dread, hate, and learn nothing from it.

I thought the article placed a lot of emphasis on this idea of knowing students, and teaching to their personalities. It really hooked me right away in the beginning by talking about three separate teaching styles of Huck Finn, another classic. I thought of Josh and his complete distaste for the classics and how sad it is to me, because as far as I’m concerned they have so much to offer! But I completely understand that it was likely he did not have a teacher that taught them to him in a way that made him love these novels! As I think someone said in class the other day, it is completely all about how we teach novels that can either make or break whether a student loves or hates it.

The ideas in this article played right into what we’ve been discussing in class for weeks now: What is our goal as teachers of adolescent literature – to foster a love of reading, or to foster a skill of critical reading and thinking and writing, or simply to inundate them with vocabulary and literary terms? Why do we need to teach the classics? How can we teach the classics in a way that is meaningful and enjoyable to our students, if we teach them at all? We’ve been discussing this for weeks and I love the discussion that comes out of it. Everyone has so many views, which is what makes us great up-and-coming teachers! There will be so many techniques and ideas and pedagogical styles among us, and all the while we will be trying to come up with ways to improve and be better teachers. It is an “evolutionary process” (6) as John Gaughan says in this article. We have the power to make our classrooms ones that students will never forget – we just have to learn how to use that power and work around the many issues that we will face with administrators and parents as well as students.

Monster & Multiculturalism

“You’re young, you’re Black, and you’re on trial. What else do they need to know?” (Myers 79)

Unfortunately, this statement holds too much truth, even today. The stereotypes that engulf this country and our culture are staggering and devastating. But when I read Monster, I found myself torn. Of course, I didn’t think he should go to jail for life at age 16, simply for walking into a convenience store, especially given the lack of evidence against him. On the other hand, though, he was a party to the robbery that took place (at lease I got the impression he was – he doesn’t deny being a part of it, though his lawyer convinces the jury he was not) that ultimately killed a man. I think this book does a really good job of making us question what’s right and what’s wrong, and the fine line that exists between the two. Teaching this book would be a challenge, but I don’t think it is quite as controversial as some of the other books we’ve read may have been perceived to be.

The article by Hade was really helpful to me in addressing the concerns that anyone has when it comes to teaching literature. His point that we should “expose” students to diverse pieces of literature without “imposing” our own views on them is a valid point. He mentions that students “read the social context in which they interpret literature and produce readings according to what they believe their teacher wants in that particular situation” (238). This statement goes along almost directly with something we discussed in class a few weeks ago about how students don’t know how to read critically anymore. They read and try to figure out what the teacher is going to ask them, and they know that if they don’t get it, they can count on the teacher to explain it to them. This creates a vicious cycle in which, as adults, people cannot think for themselves or interpret literature. Particularly with poetry, I always felt this way: I could read it, and if I couldn’t figure out what it meant, I knew my teacher would tell me. This way of thinking led me to where I am today as far as poetry – I have no idea how to read and interpret it.

He also mentions the importance of comparing works of literature to get a point across. I liked his example about The Giving Tree and Piggybook. I haven’t read either of these books, but I am sure if I were given them separately, I would react similarly to the students, and not get the point until I read them together. We talk a lot in class about the importance of pairing literature, especially the more controversial literature, with traditional texts. Comparing works can work to a teacher’s advantage, because not only are you talking about major themes of the works, but by pairing it with something traditional, the teacher has one more thing on her side to use when parents or administrators throw up a fit over a book.

Teaching Speak

Speak is a strong novel, written in an odd way, that details the struggles of a teen who was raped prior to high school, and is shunned by her friends and peers alike for calling the cops at a party after her rape (no one knows why she called the cops). I thought the writing in this book was especially well done. All short stints of paragraph that seem to coincide with Melinda's inability to speak - she can relate small instances, but can't focus long enough to write in narrative form (paragraphs forming pages forming chapters). I'm not sure if Anderson did this on purpose, but I thought the writing complemented the subject matter beautifully!

While I know the subject matter is difficult (no one wants to read about rape, especially of a teenager/child!), I feel as though it is incredibly important to teach it in schools. It sends some very important messages to students about the importance of speaking up in order to heal themselves, since Melinda's ability to stand up for herself in the end saves her and starts her on the road to recovery. I also think the message that one can heal through art or writing (the tree in art class follows her through her stages of recovery, and the writing on the bathroom wall about Andy creates a community that makes her feel more empowered) is so important to kids who have trouble talking to adults about their issues (whether teachers or parents).

Going back to our discussion last week about the literary significance of this book, I think it is another instance where there is not much to teach as far as literary devices, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth teaching or doesn't belong in the classroom. This book may be easier to teach alongside something more traditional than Boy Meets Boy, and I think parents would have less of a problem with a teacher sending them home with this book. Rape is a controversial subject, to be sure, but there are, I would hope, few parents who would find this too controversial to be taught, unlike (unfortunately) the overall feeling toward homosexual novels like Boy Meets Boy, which is sad but true.

Boy Meets Boy and its Queer Utopia

While reading Boy Meets Boy, it slowly made sense to me that it was a utopian society, as I thought to myself for the 10th time, “Where do they live????” because, sadly, it is certainly uncharacteristic of any place here in the United States that I know of! Paul’s kindergarten teacher writes on his report card, “Paul is definitely gay” (Levithan 8), which started me wondering where this place was. But the moment Infinite Darlene showed up at homecoming with her big dress and football jersey, I realized it must be utopia, or “no place” (Pattee 161), because it is unlikely that she would be so widely accepted anywhere here, at least in this time period.
What struck me in Pattee’s article was her relation of gay YA literature and gay pornography. I’m still not sure I understand how she is connecting the two, or why. But I did like her comparison of this novel to the “traditional” romance novel, in which the love of two heterosexual people is depicted. Boy Meets Boy reminded me of one of these novels, without the sex. I loved how love was portrayed between these two gay kids, Paul and Noah, and sex was really never entered into the equation. It was just love between two people, and it was sweet. I think about all of the hype about gay marriages and how it is such a hot button issue for people for whatever reasons (some religious, some political). But reading a gay novel where two people fall in love and fight to keep that love alive, I almost forgot I was reading a gay novel. It makes me sad to think that people can’t accept gay love as the same kind of love as heterosexual. Love is love. It shouldn’t be held to different standards based on sexuality. But I do not want to start a rant here!
The other night I was talking to a 6th grade and 5th grade teacher in the area. When I mentioned that I was reading such books as Forever and Boy Meets Boy (to which one of the teachers cocked his head in confusion at the title as if wondering if I meant to say Boy Meets BOY.) Upon mentioning the themes in these books, the immediate response was “that book would be banned. You wouldn’t be allowed to teach it, although you could have it in your library.” It didn’t matter that Boy Meets Boy was not sexually explicit in any way. It was just the fact that it was about gay teenage boys. This bothered me tremendously because I can’t imagine how we will every become a society accepting of gay people if we aren’t sharing books like Boy Meets Boy with young people, a book that depicts gay love as normal. Young people, who are impressionable and the future of our society, should be exposed to such literature so that they can start to see that it is okay to be different, and that even though they have different sexual orientation, homosexuals love just like heterosexuals. I would like to teach this book (quite possibly only in a utopian school district would I be allowed to!).

Forever and the Power of Sex and Language in a YA Novel

Upon reading Trites’ chapter on Sex & Power, I thought about her idea that the authors of YA novels are adults, and that they can’t help but exert some of their own “power” over the novels’ basic ideas of sexuality in teens. In other words, adults feel they have a responsibility not only to examine sexuality in teens, but also to “warn” them about the consequences of having sex. In Judy Blume’s novel Forever, for example, Katherine is allowed the freedom of having sex with her boyfriend as a teenager (her parents and grandparents assume she will have sex and don’t forbid it in any way), but not without the warnings of pregnancy, diseases, and the need to be responsible. This novel, along with others, seems to focus more on the negative consequences of having sex as a teenager, rather than on the pleasures they feel in having sex. And, according to Foucault, a teenager’s power with regard to sexuality is a result of the “pleasure and knowledge of that pleasure” (Trites 97).

This idea that the genre warning teenagers of the consequences of sex is a bad thing made me wonder. While I think teenagers deserve to know about the pleasures of sex, I also think they need to know about the consequences of their actions as well. Forever does try to be true to teenagers and their sexuality, showing both the pleasures (especially for Katherine and Michael) and consequences (Sybil gets pregnant). Teenage novels that only explicitly talk about the pleasure of sex are not telling the whole truth or at least the possibilities that things won’t necessarily work out the way you plan in the end, as it didn’t for Katherine & Michael. Teenagers often think they are in love, and don’t end up together forever (there are exceptions of course, but it is rare to find that long lasting love in high school), once they get out into the world after school, and see that there is more to offer. So, I don’t agree with Trites, who implies that it is a bad thing to warn teenagers about the responsibility that sex carries. I guess the ideal situation would be to inform without really taking a side either way, allowing the choice to be solely theirs. And teenagers do wonder about sex and deserve to see both sides – the pleasure and the consequences. Trites gives some examples of novels that tend toward depicting sex honestly and without a “moral” or “lesson.” I think it would be difficult to teach such novels, though.

Homosexuality is also mentioned in Trites’ chapter, and I thought immediately of Artie and Erica. In Forever, Artie’s inability to come to terms with his own sexual orientation leads him to attempted suicide. His inability to come out of the closet, and therefore empower himself, is devastating to him, and he ends up in an institution because of it. Trites discusses the importance of language throughout this chapter, and I think it is very apparent that Artie’s powerlessness is a direct result of his lack of speech in coming out of the closet. If he could admit to himself and come to terms with it, he has a chance to live a full life. But that he cannot outwardly admit that he is gay (or even inwardly, really) causes him to try and take his own life, because it eats him up inside.

I thought that Katherine’s empowerment was also stifled. She had sex, after much deliberation, and yet she won’t admit it to her parents. She wonders if they can tell, but she doesn’t come out and tell them. Even though her parents were open with her and to the whole idea, she still cannot admit it to them, perhaps out of fear that they will change their mind, or just because she feels she shouldn’t be having sex, despite how she feels. Either way, it seems to hold her back from adulthood and real growth by the end of the novel.

Overall, I would try and teach Forever in my class because I think that the subject matter in general is important. I think it would be beneficial for students, who are inevitably going to think about and maybe have sex at a young age, to read about it and talk about it, if for no other reason than to feel empowered on the subject. It seems clear to me that not talking about sex is often what leads to the consequences discussed (pregnancy, disease, etc.), simply because teens are not informed. Their ignorance can then cause them to make unwise choices when it comes to sex. So I think giving the students a novel about something they want to discuss (but might be afraid to), and a novel that discusses sex in terms of love, and the consequences of having sex as a teenager (being ready, being protected, and the possibilities of pregnancy and disease), is a good idea in the classroom.

Power, Institution, and Disturbing the Universe in The Chocolate War

Trites argues in the first two chapters and preface of Disturbing the Universe that power and powerlessness are the keys to defining adolescent literature. In The Chocolate War, the many instances of power and powerlessness are certainly driving forces in the novel. Brother Leon exerts his power over all of the students. One example of this power he holds over them is when he is threatening Caroni, a top student, with an F on a paper. He all but comes out and tells him that his grade depends on the information he possesses and shares about Jerry’s reasoning behind the initial refusal to sell the chocolates (which turns out to be the Vigils). Obie is powerless against Archie, and must follow his order despite his own feelings that Archie is a “bastard” (Cormier, 9). Archie and Leon constantly struggle for power, and ultimately are “two sides of the same coin” (Trites, 37) as they join forces by the end. Goober is powerful when he runs, but powerless against the Vigils, the school, and powerless to help his friend Jerry, despite his efforts. Jerry talks about his mother’s death and how he hated how powerless he was to stop her from deteriorating and dying, when he says, “He was angry at his inability to do anything about saving her” (Cormier, 57). He is powerless against the Vigils and accepts their assignment as if there was no other choice. Yet he is empowered when he says No to the chocolate sale, to Leon, and to the Vigils, even after the completion of his assignment. His empowerment is short-lived, however, because it ultimately destroys him. Trites argues in Chapter 2, “if rebellion goes uncontained, it becomes problematic” (Trites, 36). This statement is proven true in both Jerry’s and Archie’s case. Jerry continued to rebel even against his own judgment and that of his best friend, Goober, and in the end he is “murdered” for it. And Archie’s rebellion against the school and against Jerry Renault, ends in chaos and, as Brother Jacques states, Archie “could have had a riot on [his] hands” (Cormier, 249). Trites mentions in several places in her first two chapters the idea of the adolescent maturing at the end and conforming to society or the societal institutions. That maturity often means that the child learns that he or she cannot go on rebelling against authority forever, and must conform to the roles in which society places him or her. Jerry has a poster that says “Do I dare disturb the universe” and early in the novel he says he doesn’t understand its meaning, “But it had moved him mysteriously” (Cormier, 123). Later in the novel he sees that the reason the poster depicts a man alone on the beach is because one is alone when one disturbs the universe. Most will conform, and he has to stand tall and on his own if he wants to be an individual and disturb his universe. By the end of the novel, he realizes that it is futile to protest or to disturb the universe, no matter what anyone says about individuality and standing up for yourself or your beliefs. It is critical to conform to what ‘they’ want you to be. And 'they' would be the institution. In the case of The Chocolate War, they is the school system or the politics within the school system.
Along these lines, I also noticed several times that the students, including Jerry, see adulthood as boring, “square,” and even unbearable. In the beginning, Jerry is confronted by a man near his bus, who came from a group that Jerry always stares at. The man says, “Square boy. Middle aged at fourteen, fifteen. Already caught in a routine. Wow” (Cormier, 20). This profoundly affects Jerry and may be part of what leads him to say no to the chocolate sale after his assignment is over. Several other students, when selling chocolate, also mention how they don't understand how adults can stand their lives. One student says that he "felt sorry for older people, stuck in their homes and tenements with kids to take care of and housework to do. He thought of his own parents and their useless lives" (92). Later, Jerry says regarding his father’s life:
"Was this all there was to life, after all? You finished school, found an occupation, got married, became a father, watched your wife die, and then lived through days and nights that seemed to have no sunrises, no dawns, no dusks, nothing but a gray drabness” (61).
He is, of course, powerless to stop his inevitable fate of being like all the rest, but he tries to at least be somebody with his defiant no. By the end, Jerry has learned the harsh lesson that adults live these meaningless, almost pathetic lives because they were forced, like he and his peers will all be forced, to be what society expects them to be. All of them are being molded into adults, whether they like it or not, and disturbing the univesre can be seen as a wasted effort. But it is not a wasted effort. And they should disturb the universe, if only to be true to themselves.

As Trites puts it, “when adolescents achieve total control, they become totally corrupt” (24). Archie and the Vigils took control of the school. They had a strong hold on it, but there was still some balance of power. But with the chocolate sale and their success in defeating Jerry and selling the chocolates, they became the main source of power, as evident by the end, where Leon steps in and protects Archie from Brother Jacques. It is clear that the few people who are not corrupt (including Goober, who sees the Vigils as “evil” (Cormier, 151)) don’t stand a chance against them, and, as Archie puts it so eloquently, “Leon and The Vigils and Archie. What a great year it was going to be” (250). After seeing Jerry's defeat, it is unlikely that any others in the school will disturb their universe. But they should.