Kristen GwenThere is a movement among educators to teach literature from a post-modern perspective. One aspect of this perspective is to view literature through the lens of power struggles. It asks who has the power, which groups are represented, and who benefits from that power. However, when plots are universally categorized as victimization and characters are all victims or oppressors, negativity and hatred are the inevitable results. There are no winners.
What happened to looking for beauty and truth and love in our stories? Most were written to explore and celebrate what it’s like to be human, to walk upon this earth with others, and to know ourselves and our place in God’s plan. When we search only for power struggles, we see only the ugliness, deceit, and hatred they produce. There are no answers and our kids are left with a sense that there is nothing good in this world. Ultimately, this leads to a confusion of purpose, an absence of value, and a hopelessness with nowhere to go for answers.
Educational philosophies promoting this view also undermine the natural human ability to imagine ourselves as someone else. We are accused of appropriating someone else’s story or culture. Yet, for all of human history, this is how we have learned. We listened to stories and imagined being the hero or heroine. We learned from their mistakes or sought to emulate them and embrace their ideals. When we remove the opportunity to identify with others, we take away the chance to learn from other’s blunders and avoid their mistakes. Exploring the world, learning about different cultures, and experiencing life as another person are the essence of empathy toward our fellow human beings. Without imagining another’s life, with no empathy, we are left isolated at best, narcissistic at worst. Empathy, the skill of “appropriating” and stepping into another person’s shoes, is under attack. This cultural isolation is breaking down our communities, fueling narcissism, and taking away our chance to understand our world.
The answer isn’t to fight postmodernism, but to love beauty and truth.
Share the books you love with your children. Encourage their imaginations so they might learn about others and themselves. Share with them why you love these stories and ask your kids to share why they love the books they do. Look for the humanity of the characters. Do your kids aspire to being like them or not? What adventures do they find? What would it be like to travel with the people in the story?
Your children will learn to love stories and find beauty when they see how you love them and find goodness and hope as you read your favorite books together. We have a profound opportunity as parents to teach our children as we identify with characters and imagine the stories we read. Teach your kids to love both old and new books and talk about the deeper lessons to be learned about being human. In this way, we can combat the hopelessness and futility that seem to be growing in our society, especially among our children. Let us seek to add to the beautiful things of this world by teaching our kids to search for hope and truth in all that they read.
If you’re interested in listening to a conversation on this topic, I encourage you to check out this round-table discussion between Sir Roger Scruton and Dr. Jordan Peterson. Personalities aside, the search for beauty, truth, and goodness in literature is worth the effort for anyone who wants to experience our common humanity.
Carol Eaton
Julia N. White
This post sums it up beautifully. I’m a retired Reading teacher, and I stopped teaching just before this type of misinterpretation took over. But there were undercurrents already there. My prayer is that we all return to some common sense when teaching literature or just reading for pleasure. For my part, I learned a lot about other cultures when I was growing up by reading about them and imagining what it would be like to be the main character in that story. I learned empathy, respect for others, and how to recognize beauty and truth when I read it. Thanks for this post!
Thank you, Elizabeth! We’ve seen the results of this philosophy with several kids in our youth group, and they are depressed and hopeless. It’s all very alarming. Joining with you in your prayers! Thanks!