I was a huge reader at school. Mind you, there were fewer competing forms of entertainment. No Xbox, ipad, texting, Facebook, internet, Ebay, Twitter, GOOD LORD HOW DID WE SURVIVE SUCH HARDSHIPS????
So we read a lot, yes. But the reading you did in your down time (remember Sweet Valley High?) was different to the books you had to read for English. I loved English at school but I didn’t always like the books we had to read.
Lucy Brook has prepared a list of 8 books we were forced to read at school…some great some not so……
Published in 1960, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most beloved American novels of all time and a literary staple for high schoolers. Lee’s only book, Mockingbird explores racism, injustice and forgiveness as lawyer Atticus Finch defends a black man charged with the rape of a white girl in the Deep South of the 1930s. Atticus – a moral touchstone for lawyers and just about everyone else – teaches his children Scout and Jem compassion and acceptance while they get up to all sorts of mischief, including spying on their reclusive neighbour Boo Radley and sneaking into the docks to watch the trial.
Antihero Holden Caulfield’s escapades in The Catcher in the Rye, published in 1951 to much tut-tutting thanks to the narrator’s frequent swearing and blasphemy, have been dissected in English class for decades, albeit with a few hiccups – between 1961 and 1982, the book was the most censored in high schools and libraries in the United States. Holden – a pin-up boy for teenage angst – hails from a wealthy New York family and, upon getting the boot from another prestigious boarding school, traipses around New York for a few days, drinking, swearing, liaising with the underworld and lamenting the death of his brother.
Aldous Huxley was certainly ahead of his time – his 1932 science fiction novel Brave New World is set in London in AD 2540 and sought to provide a frightening vision of the future. World Controllers have taken over and created the ideal society through genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs, so the main characters set about restoring order.
The Kardashians, Hiltons and Montags of the world could learn a thing or two from The Great Gatsby, a portrait of a hollow society obsessed with wealth and status. Narrator Nick Carraway lives next door to Jay Gatsby, a rich, handsome bachelor who throws a lot of swanky parties but can’t have what he really wants (hint: it’s a girl). The staggering wealth and glittering soirees ultimately give way to emptiness, and high school students are still penning essays about the unraveling of Gatsby’s American dream (no doubt with a little help from Robert Redford, Mia Farrow and co.).
If you didn’t read Macbeth or Hamlet, chances are you were wrapping your head around your thees and thous with Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s infamous tale of love, hate, revenge and mutiny. The curriculum got a whole lot more interesting in 1996 when Baz Luhrmann released his heady film version, complete with a rocking soundtrack and a dreamy Leo.
Emily Bronte would probably be a tad befuddled to learn Wuthering Heights, her gothic classic published under pseudonym in 1847, is back on the teen hip-list thanks to another book – Twilight. The story of a complex, all-consuming love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw is mentioned somewhere in the Twilight saga, and last year HarperCollins re-released Wuthering Heights with a Twilight-esque cover and the tag line: ‘Bella and Edward’s Favourite Book’. Hey, at least the kids are reading it.
The original romantic comedy by the original feminist author, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice gave us Colin Firth Mr Darcy, a haughty aristocrat who refuses to dance with the beguiling Elizabeth Bennett. She instantly despises him, but as she navigates manners, morality and marriage in early 19th Century England, she learns there could be more to Mr Darcy than meets the eye.
Recently popularized in teen-flick Easy A, The Scarlet Letter explores repentance, morality and forgiveness. Set in Puritan Boston, main character Hester Prynne faces trial for adultery. Her refusal to name her baby’s father upsets the masses, and, as an outcast, she’s forced to wear a red A on her chest.
What were you forced to read in high school? Which books SHOULD high school students have to read?
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Top Comments
I have only recently finished high school and not too long ago completed 2 HSC English exams - so very vividly remember my high school english texts!!!
In Year 7 we studied Midsummer Night's Dream and Playing Beattie Bow (both were fantastic reads!!)
In Year 8, Macbeth (possibly my all-time favourite play by Shakespeare) and Jane Eyre (which I hated reading then but love to death now)
In Year 9, Romeo and Juliet (meh! Thought the movie was more interesting), Looking for Alibrandi and Saving Francesca (love, love, love Melina Marchetta's writing), To kill a mockingbird (an absolute gem), Strictly Ballroom (Okay...would not watch it again)
In Year 10, Away by Michael Gow (which was beautifully written), Tales of Edgar Allan Poe (scary?? I don't think so), Ice Station (yes the one written by Matthew Reilly and which put me off him forever - a complete stinker of a book)
In Year 11, I became very sick at the start of the year and was largely absent from school. But every so often when I did not feel so terrible I had a read of some of the school texts, such as Arcadia by Tom Stoppard (a gorgeous, elegant, funny play - instantly in my top 10) and Brave New World ( which took my breath away, it is magnificent!!)
In Year 12, we studied Arthur Miller's Crucible, Pride and Prejudice, Hamlet and Ted Hughes' poetry. I found "The Crucible" and Austen's text both deeply enjoyable. As for Hamlet and the poems, would rather forget about them!!
The Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby were read on my own time and am happy to count them both in my favourites list.
Am I the only one to have been entertained by 18th century witchcraft reading 'The Crucible' - "A fart on Thomas Putnam". Think I vaguely recall almost enjoying this play... Or maybe the years have blurred my memory :)