Night

This book is one of those ones that as you read, you can't help but be sucked in, forced to keep reading, even if it makes you cry. Elie Wiesel has written a beautiful novel, and though it is a fictional story, it also serves a memoir. Everything that happens Eliezer, the main character, with a few details changed, are what happened to Wiesel.

I was in high school the first time I read this book. We spent a whole unit really trying to dive into what Wiesel went through, even watching an interview between him and Oprah Winfrey. It is hard to read about all the hardships, physical abuse and death that Wiesel's character is forced to face. For a high schooler, and even most people to day, it is difficult to imagine that people had to go through this, that people could hurt their fellow man in such horrifying ways.

The only other book that students will probably be familiar with that deals with the Holocaust at this point is "The Diary of Anne Frank." I think that this offers a great comparison, but also believe that "Night" gives a different viewpoint to the war. Anne Frank is a autobiography, an actual dairy. However,  "Night," though fictional, gives more insight into the actual death camps.

I absolutely love this book. It is gut-wrentching, but important to history.

Romeo and Juliet

Every high school freshman, and I do mean every, is required to read Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." It is probably one of his well known, and in some ways, most over done plays.

Personally, I enjoy "Romeo and Juliet," however I can see why people would think that it is cliché. It is about a 13 and 16 year old who fall in love, though their family's are feuding, thus causing multiple tragedies. If you look at the time period, 13 and 16 are about the ages that people would be getting married. However, looking at it now, when many don't marry until well into there 30s, people thing it is an over romanticized story of children who were too young to really be in love who end up committing suicide. Bleak right?

But yet, in never high school this is still taught. I think a lot of that has to do with language, it providing a challenge for it's readers. But it also has to do with the fact that the students are roughly the same ages as the charters, allowing for more in-depth reading, and allows for them to really get into the mind of the characters, feeling what they feel.

Whether or not we should still teach "Romeo and Juliet" in the classroom is not a debate for me. I will always choose to teach it, especially when you look at the alternatives. I think "Othello," "Hamlet," and "King Henry VIII" are too heavy and difficult for 14 to 15 year olds. Plus the content allows for many different topics to be brought up, such as young love, suicide, warring families, etc. That's the best part about literature, providing opportunities for discussions.

Things Fall Apart

Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is quite an interesting book. I definitely have been told for a while now that I need to read this book, especially if I want to be an English teacher. I love too that even though this book is fictional, it plays on a lot of real events or concepts in his own life, religion and cultural difference being some of them.

            This book really shows a different side of native Africans than many other books of the time period. Those were all a one sided view of the colonial oppressors’ side. This really shows the culture, language and heritage that was already in Africa before they were colonized and forced to change their heritage, such as their religion.

            This theme of fighting against change is a huge part of the book. Whether it be Okonkwo’s fear of changing himself, seeing as he wants to show absolutely no kindness or love, the struggle against change in societal rank, or the obvious fight between white colonial men trying to change the cultural of the natives they meet, this struggle is a basic underlying principle of the book. Though theire are other important themes, I believe that this one, and Achebe’s overall goal to change how society saw native African’s at the time this book was written, is the most important.

            This book is a great book for students, I believe, to get a different viewpoint then, say, Heart of Darkness. Though there are some violent aspects, I think that it over all is a great novel for them.