I will be the fitst person to tell you how much I hated Beowulf when I read it in 9th grade Honors Lit with Ms. Scott. In fact, I remember loathing everything I was forced to read that year, except for one of my summer reading books (The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver), which I adored...until someone stole my copy :( . Over the past 3 years, I have had to go back and re-read some of these books, such as Farenheit-451 (which I hated when I first read in 7th grade, again when I read it in 9th grade, and still when I read excerpts from it in 11th grade). But now that we have started reading Beowulf again, I find myself enjoying the stories a bit more than before. They do have a breathtaking quality to them, one that I was to young to enjoy before.This discovery has lead me to wonder why schools teach some books so early. Just because we are in advanced classes in middle school, doesn't necessarily mean that our teachers should be introducing Honors and AP level books to us! A perfect example of this can be seen in my 7th grade honors Lit class, where the first required reading book was The Good Earth. UGGH. If you were to ask me today what that book is about, all I can tell you is that there’s an Asian guy who is poor in the beginning and he marries this ugly girl, but then he becomes really rich and has lots of whores as wives. The End. Oh and there was something to do with Opium in there, but nobody really pays attention to illicit drugs anymore. Never have I read a book that was harder to read into or understand.
This is similar to how I used to feel about Beowulf. But not anymore! Now I see him as more of a olden James Bond, scouring the Danish and Geatish (is that even correct?) lands to rid them of mythical creatures and the offspring of Cain. Pride becomes and issue sometimes, but this agent has no fear. He is abandoned by his team every now and then again, left for dead, but he comes out alive when they least expect him to. He improvises well, using whatever he comes upon to defeat his enemy, and can always be called on to help. I bet his driving was horrendous, too.
I never saw any of this when I read Beowulf in my freshman year of high school. If I had, I might have actually wanted to read the end of the book (stupid dragon) and ask questions about why everything was happening the way it was. But instead, I read what I was told (skimmed would probably be a better word), did my assignments, and handed the book back in as soon as I was allowed to be rid of it. I never saw Beowulf’s death as fate, or the monsters symbolic of his fears/ emotions. (503 words right there :] ) I actually feel happy that we reviewed Beowulf before reading Grendel, and remorseful that I didn’t give it more of a chance in 9th grade. Can we try The Good Earth next?
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Although I have never read The Good Earth or The Bean Trees, I can kind of both agree and disagree with what you said in this blog. For the most part, I’ve felt that the books assigned to me throughout middle school and high school (yes, I was in advanced classes as well) were at a reading level that I was ready for. For instance, Night, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Old Man and The Sea, Animal Farm, Things Fall Apart, and the book I read in 9th grade about this nun who’s kind of insane and believes she’s the next Virgin Mary (can’t remember the name but recommend it) were not that hard for me to get through, analyze, and enjoy. There’s only been a few books that I strongly disliked reading (i.e. The Odyssey, Julius Caesar, and Romeo & Juliet), but I don’t think that this is not because I was ready for them. I think it was due to the fact that my teacher didn’t like Shakespeare and failed to help me see how these novels relate to present day.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the true problem behind your frustration about some of the novels you were assigned to read at a younger age was how the teacher taught the novel. If she was like “Here’s a book, read it, answer a bazillion questions on it, and get it done ASAP”, I don’t think it would be possible to truly enjoy the novel. Even more so if she didn’t provide you with help while you were reading the novel or allowed for class discussion. Due to the inexperience in literature that comes with being a typical pre-teen, middle school teachers and freshmen teachers should be able to extrapolate on the novels they assign and be able to explain such things as symbolism and significance in a sufficient manner. My teachers did so for the most part. Maybe yours didn’t?
P.S.I read Farenheit-451last weekend and it wasn’t that bad. I thought it was a quick easy read with a good moral. I especially loved the girl who was different from everyone else and found most of the characters to be interesting. What didn’t you like about it? I’ll ask you in class Monday. Yay Grendel!
P.S. Numero Dos. All the novels should be underlined, but it won't let me. Computers = frustrating.