LITR 4232 American Renaissance 2012 final exam—Answers to Question B4 "Classic, Popular, & Representative Literature" final exam assignment

Tracie Estrada

An Equal Blend of Classic, Popular, and Representative Literature is the Key to Unlocking Student’s learning.

          Most of what is read today outside the world of literature academia is considered popular literature. The only place where categorization takes place is within the confines of the literature classroom, be it college level or high school. Most students find classic literature hard to swallow and teaching it becomes a challenge. However, the best approach is to mix up the themes with each getting a fair amount of play especially when dealing with high school students; consequently, it might be best for an educator of high school students to stick with the classical literature that crosses the popular boundary in addition to introduce more representative literature.

          Classic literature is what comes to mind when someone mentions the Great Canon. These works are the pillars in which literature is weighed and measured. However, the issue with these incredible works of art is that only the literary buffs get excited about them because they can be intense to read. The web review in our class is very helpful in deciphering which literature belongs in which theme and that they can cross and intermingle. One of the elements of classical literature is that the mention of religion is light, not heavy laden. For example, classic author Washington Irving has almost no mention of anything spiritual in either “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” or “Rip Van Winkle.”  Also, there are classical authors who have attained a level of reverence such as, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emily Dickenson, and Walt Whitman. The main concept from these authors, with some exception, is that there is a truth or lesson to be learned from the pieces. In fact, the classical author urges their reader to a higher thinking and beckons them to new enlightenment. However, another issue with this theme is that they are predominately white, dead, males with European ancestry so that many students do not understand what a dead white “dude” can teach them. But the great thing about classical theme literature is that you can reread it and find different items each time it is read, compared to popular literature which can be easier to understand although the reader will not come to any more truths after rereading. 

          In addition, authors are not bound to these themes; in fact, many of them are border crossers. The most common popular and classic authors are Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Washington Irving. There are other authors to consider outside of American Literature such as, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, and Homer.  These authors along with some of their works are timeless but they differ from popular theme because they still require dedication to understand, some of their truths are a lifelong pursuit. Nathanial Hawthorne blurs the lines with The Scarlet Letter, usual with classical literature spirituality is hinted at but within this piece and several other of his Puritan gothic stories spirituality and sin are a main theme. Likewise, women authors are able to cross barriers and bring elements of popular theme such as sentiments of love and family. However, in my opinion when a student attends a college literature course the authors they will encounter will either be classic or a mix of popular and representative with classic because there are few, if any, courses dedicated to the study of today’s popular literature.

Sincerely, popular literature differs from classical because there is no major academic pursuit to analyze their meaning. The Hunger Games is a wonderful book that I have enjoyed but the end is cut and dry, it was not a head scratcher. The Harry Potter series is also another popular theme and has done remarkably well but will academic students be studying these book one hundred years from now? These authors and books have a wonderful appeal because they are easy to read and entertaining. In addition, the author has not risen to the revered status that the classical authors have although many have become household names such as Steven King; however, with popular literature an author can be on the New York Times bestseller list today and gone tomorrow. Moreover, popular literature does have something in common with representative literature because it gives the opportunity for cultures to cross the lines from representative to popular or classic literature.

          Similarly, representative literature does not require intense academic study to comprehend. This theme of literature stems from a certain group such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton pertaining to the women’s rights movement or Frederick Douglass’ slave narrative. These works offer a snapshot into American history and gives its readers the point of view and a voice to those who have not been heard throughout history. Still, the main issue with representative is that they can be dated and limited to a circumstance so their effectiveness can be restricted; yet, there are those writers from representative literature who have crossed and have become classic or popular such as Frederick Douglass and Ann Frank. Both of these writers come from a specific gender and culture group and are now able to let their voices be heard through literature. I believe that representative and popular literature can open the door for younger scholars and prep them for reading classic literature.

          Lastly, as a future educator I think of what is the best way to get students excited about reading and engaged in learning. As mentioned before, the biggest argument students have with reading the classics aside from its difficulty to read is that they are authored by dead people; so, students think they have nothing to gain from studying a writer who has been dead for hundreds of years. Certainly, popular and representative literature can be the sugar that lets the medicine go down. In fact, representative literature can be particularly helpful when trying to engage minority students by picking representative literature from their cultural background it allows their voiced to be heard; to illustrate, when presenting classical literature from the civil war like Uncle Tom’s Cabin or The Red Badge of Courage why not follow up with Frederick Douglass. Additionally, a teacher could have students read Homer’s the Odyssey then reinforce it with Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters; also, during Halloween students can read ghost stories then continue with Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” The possibilities are endless and it is something I am passionate about because I truly believe the key to unlocking students livelong pursuit of reading literature is presenting a mixture of all reading has to offer by evenly mingling classical, popular, and representative literature.