<p>Pedantic issue: “The Invisible Man” is a science fiction classic by H.G. Wells. Ellison’s book is “Invisible Man”. </p>
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<p>There’s a wonderful documentary called “The Hobart Shakespeareans” about a stellar 5th grade teacher in Los Angeles. One of the most moving scenes in the film:</p>
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<p>The student body at Hobart is heavily immigrant. Though it’s not explicitly mentioned in the film, some of the students at the school are undocumented, or have undocumented parents, siblings, or friends. Is Huck’s dilemma something that would really bother the students? Undoubtedly. Is it worth discussing the book, given the context and the obvious pain it’s causing to the students? I’d argue yes, while conceding that it’s maybe not a fair question given the exceptional nature of both the teacher and the students.</p>
<p>sseamom, the situation of African-American women seems to me to be a very marginal issue in the book, so far. I could make some case for it based on Trueblood’s wife Kate, but it seems fairly weak to me, relative to the more central issues in the book.</p>
<p>Sorry, SlitheyTove, I have the book right in front of me and should not be making that error about its title. I am sure it is far from my last error!</p>
<p>Re #216 and #218: Long-term veteran teacher, who had taught the class many times. It is possible that each new wave of students differed enough to bring their own challenges, though.</p>
<p>There are many kinds of tears. The type of pain that they indicate differs. I certainly don’t object to everything that causes students to cry.</p>
<p>It’s interesting that Huckleberry Finn has come up several times. I understand why it is such an important book, but I found it to be one of the most boring novels I have ever had to read. The Duke and King section was so slapsticky and seemed interminable. My children (who are avid readers) felt like they were slogging through it as well and complained frequently while they read it. There’s a balance between assigning “good for you” books just because they’re classics that everyone should read, assigning books that will provoke interesting discussions about important and sometimes edgy topics, and assigning books that students can actually enjoy reading. It’s great when a book can fit all three of these criteria.</p>
<p>For high school students, I vote for The Hunger Games – a riveting read, probably on its way to being a classic, and an excellent book for discussions on consumerism, the gap between haves and have nots, reality TV, dystopian societies, and more. It is quite disturbing and I wouldn’t assign it to children younger than 15 or 16, although many have read the series at younger ages. It also is one of the most frequently challenged books.</p>
<p>There’s no accounting for tastes. I wish I could unread the last of the Hunger Games books. I thought it was dreadful. Although I agree that the books could produce some good discussions.</p>
<p>". If a student responds to factual descriptions in a history class, viscerally and with deep emotion, as well as repugnance on an intellectual level, does the student also need to be compelled to re-encounter the events in literature?"</p>
<p>That’s exactly what my kid’s 7th and 8th grade classes did. When they studied the Holocaust, they also read literature of the same topic (Night). When they studied society and chaos (Holocaust, slavery, etc.) they read Lord of the Flies. I can’t remember the 9th grade theme, but I’m sure the history-the development of early people up through the Black Plague, will tie in somehow.</p>
<p>QuantMech – I was not careful enough in saying the sex was “apparently initiated” by the daughter. I was basing that on the “facts” that in the story, before Trueblood fell asleep, she was reaching out to him in her sleep, and then in his dream he was grabbed by a woman, and he wasn’t aware of having sex inside his dream. I didn’t think it was inconsistent with her unhappiness once he woke up, because in the story neither of them thought the situation was acceptable while awake. There is the whole, long, grotesque comedic explanation of how they wound up having sex anyway, because he was trying not to move and she was trying to move.</p>
<p>In my reading, it really doesn’t matter who initiated sex in Trueblood’s story, although it does matter somewhat that it wasn’t fully voluntary for either of them. In any event, it’s not as though Trueblood is a reliable narrator, or his story is presented as true within the book’s larger context. Trueblood is a huckster/entertainer, peddling a smutty comedy monologue about shiftless, hapless Negros and their near-animality. I don’t think it’s supposed to be a document of authentic African-American family life; I think it’s supposed to be an extreme parody (and allegory) of how African-Americans would get sucked into earning their meager livelihoods by inhabiting the stereotypes whites had about them.</p>
<p>You are absolutely right that it’s difficult to find any evidence that Ellison thought one way or the other about the situation of African-American women qua women. Or of any women qua women. Women do not seem to have an important place in his world other than as sex-objects (and not so much of that). I think there is a lively debate about whether Ellison was homosexual. Among the points cited are the unmistakable eroticism of the “battle royal” scene, completely missing from the Trueblood story and the encounter with Sybil, and the fact that the one obviously gay character in the book, Emerson, has a name that resonates awfully strongly with that of the author, Ralph Waldo Ellison.</p>
<p>That list of 100 banned/challenged books is pretty interesting. It includes some timeless classics, and some pornish drek. Also a lot of pretty silly kids’ books. I find it interesting that the Harry Potter books are No. 1, while Pullman’s “His Dark Materials”–which was essentially designed to be offensive to religious people–is much farther down.</p>
<p>It may be that some books which may be seen by more people as more offensive are not as commonly used in schools, so they are less likely to be noticed by people who see them as offensive.</p>
<p>Two explanations for the difference between Harry Potter and His Dark Materials:</p>
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<li><p>Approximately a zillion more people are familiar with Harry Potter than with His Dark Materials. Even if you saw the movie of The Golden Compass, you would have no idea how “offensive” the books are, because that was pretty well bleached out of the movie, and doesn’t really show up until the second and third books of the trilogy anyway.</p></li>
<li><p>The really enthusiastic book-banners are evangelical Christians, and many of them do not have a significantly more favorable view of the Catholic Church than Philip Pullman does. (That surely wouldn’t keep them from objecting to The Amber Spyglass, in which God appears as a sick, demented figure who is killed by Jesuit assassins, and the universe is saved from imminent destruction by two 14-year-olds having sex and then being forced to live apart for the rest of their lives. But who reads that far without really liking the series?)</p></li>
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<p>^me, but only because one of my sons kept handing them to me as soon as he was done because he wanted to discuss and couldn’t talk anyone else he knew into reading them.</p>
<p>My sons probably only learned to read because of the Goose Bumps series. I refused to read them out loud. I love Goose Bumps :)</p>
<p>‘A Wisconsin survey revealed in 1963 that the John Birch Society had challenged the novel’s use; it objected to the words “masses will revolt.” In 1968, the New York State English Council’s Committee on Defense Against Censorship conducted a comparable study in New York State English classrooms. Its findings identified the novel on its list of “problem books”; the reason cited was that “Orwell was a communist.”’</p>
<p>‘Suppressed from being displayed at the 1977 Moscow, Russia International Book Fair."’</p>
<p>‘Banned from schools in the United Arab Emirates, along with 125 others in 2002. The Ministry of Education banned it on the grounds that it contains written or illustrated material that contradicts Islamic and Arab valuesin this text, pictures of alcoholic drinks, pigs, and other “indecent images.”’</p>
<p>sseamom, I appreciate your viewpoint on this, and it is expanding my considerations, particularly the comments about what is or is not covered by the national media. </p>
<p>There was only one African-American woman in the same lit class with QMP (she is a friend of QMP’s), but she did not contribute to the discussion of the book in that class–for reasons that I think must be fairly obvious.</p>
<p>I think it is interesting to correlate topics in literature with those being covered in history. I think there are certainly some students who don’t see the full horror of some events from the relatively “dry,” factual approach that history courses usually take. But if a student is already traumatized by the dry facts–and there are plenty of events in human history that can cause that reaction–I don’t think the student needs to be assigned distressing literature on the same topic, in order to “get it.” I am not meaning to argue with you, just trying to clarify my viewpoint.</p>
<p>JHS #228: Well, I definitely didn’t view the Trueblood family as realistically representative of anything! I can even see that there is an element that could be viewed as comedic, although I am not able to see the comedy myself (if that makes sense).</p>
<p>I will still be reading for several more days.</p>
<p>JHS #228: Of course, the person to whom Matty Lou was reaching out (in her sleep) was actually her boyfriend, in terms of the intent within her own dream. And I have to say that who initiated intercourse does matter to me, in this case.</p>
<p>QM, I am running late as is but wanted to clarify. I think in D’s case, the literature is assigned to relate to the distressing history because the school aims to reach each student in a variety of ways so that they ALL learn the most possible. A dry history loving kid would enjoy the straight history. A hands-on kid will benefit from the project-based assignment, and a reader will be able connect with the literature side of things. I’ve seen in work that way in their exhibitions. </p>
<p>When D was the only black kid in her class, she HATED being asked for the “black perspective” on any topic. Now in a majority-minority school, that no longer happens. Sometimes she and some of the other black kids will team up on a project, though, for a unique viewpoint.</p>
<p>The school board unbanned the book, so it is back in the library. I don’t think it will be taught in the classroom, but I am not sure. Mr Google will have the whole story for you.</p>
