Top five Assigned Books

In this article, Averie ranks the top five assigned reading books to which GPHS has subjected students.

Top five Assigned Reading Books at GPHS

By Averie Black

Warning: This article contains spoilers for books you may read at GPHS.

The GPHS education system has selected a few lucky books to be read by entire generations of children, but are all of them deserving of this honor? The list has changed throughout the years to incorporate more modern books featuring POC and LGBT+ authors and characters. However, many of the core classics have remained the same. Not all of the books are dreary and boring, some of them are actually quite fun.

#5: Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 follows the firefighter Guy Montag as he discovers the perils of his world. It all starts when he meets a young woman named Clarisse, who is just not like other girls. She likes books and talking to her family. As a firefighter, Montag’s job is to find people who own books and burn their houses down-- obviously. Montag continues to think up revolutionary ideas like, hey, maybe it is bad that people cannot remember how they met their partners or anything about their childhood. Maybe it is slightly concerning that the only hobby people are allowed to have is watching TV and rotting in bed. Ray Bradbury knows how to write a strong message, but the extended metaphors are a little too much. A junior at GPHS, Daisie Crist, stated, "Fahrenheit 451 is hard to understand and so... just blah... It felt really pretentious." It was one of those books that never let the reader forget they were reading. Due to the extended metaphors, it can be really hard to tell the difference between what is actually happening and Montag’s delusions. For example, when Montag was floating down the river, he was talking about living in a barn and eating apples, but then the scene violently thrashes back to him floating down the river. It reads like he is irrationally teleporting around and it makes it hard to trust what the book is saying. The characters were fine but they seemed more like they were mediums for the plot to move forward, rather than individual people. It was somewhat similar to The Alchemist in that sense. However, a major character complaint is about Clarisse, who is a horribly-written woman. Her only purpose is to be the manic pixie dream girl to Montag’s sad boy archetype, and, as soon as she fulfills her duty of enlightening the male character she gets mowed down by a speeding car. Fahrenheit 451 was a fine book and some assigned reading books are worse-- shout out to The Bean Trees-- but it was a ‘meh’ book among literary classics.

Image of Man Reading a Burning Newspaper by Ahmed Akeri on Flickr

#4: The Crucible

The Crucible’s ranking is not a testament to the weaknesses of this book but to the strengths of the others. It was a great read, but there were just other, better books. There was just so much drama and everybody sucked except Elizabeth and Rebecca Nurse. They were the only ones the class was rooting for. Abigail Williams was such a good villain because of her theatrics. Abigail stabbing herself with a needle showed so much commitment to the bit. That being said, Abigail’s character would be much improved with a change of motives. She wants to kill Elizabeth so John Proctor is back on the market for her to snatch up, but killing hundreds of innocent people and enjoying doing so seems like she should maybe have a better motive than being obsessed with a man twice her age. Girl, you were groomed. After the first few deaths, The Crucible started to feel a little repetitive. Every time, it was just someone trying to stop Abigail, Abigail making stuff up to avoid being caught, and the person being executed by the court. It got predictable. One could say the critiques of Christianity were done well, but Miller was not so much commenting on Christianity as he was commenting on Puritans, which pretty much everyone can agree were nutjobs. John Proctor was put in too much of a hero’s light for someone who groomed a child, and the fact Elizabeth forgave him was wild. Not that she had much choice in the matter because she was a woman with no rights, but the ending scene of them together continued to keep a sweet undertone, which did not jive well with his gross character. Rebecca Nurse did the same thing as Proctor with much more dignity but, for some reason, he gets all of the praise. Not cool. The Crucible started strong and finished a little weak, but the middle part was enjoyable enough to ignore its flaws.

#3: The House on Mango Street

Image of an Orange House by Erik Mclean on Flickr

The House on Mango Street is one of the newer books added to the required reading list. It is a nice change of pace from the usual required reading classics, as much as they are adored. The poetry style of writing was refreshing and especially impactful with the themes of the books. Growing up as a woman, in poverty, and as a Latinx person are relevant themes in the modern world. Sandra Cisneros writes beautifully, and the "Monkey Garden" chapter is permanently burned into many freshmen’s brains. Not only was the book a striking piece of literature, but the author’s note in the back was also wonderful. Cisneros writes about how she would be a broke author writing in her kitchen because it was the only warm place in her house. Knowing the little character of Esperanza was based on Cisneros and how the author really did get off of Mango Street adds a cute twinge to a book that is often uncomfortable to read. There were silly chapters talking about people's feet, but right after those kinds of chapters would be one about a child stumbling off of a rooftop because his mother was too depressed to keep track of her many children. Any book that can smoothly and respectfully pull off that kind of tone switch deserves to be high up on the list. The House on Mango Street is also one of the shortest, if not the shortest, of the required reading books. That makes it a great starting book for freshmen unprepared to follow reading schedules and leaves the reader wanting more. This book is wonderful and is worth a reread.

#2: Frankenstein

Out of all the assigned reading books, the discussions surrounding Frankenstein were the most enjoyable to have in class. Mary Shelley had an especially interesting background before writing Frankenstein, as if creating one of the most well-known horror novels of all time was just a side quest in her insane life. Her husband’s heart literally refused to burn after he drowned in a ship sinking accident and she kept his hardened heart in a box wrapped in his poetry. That is insane, yet it makes total sense that this was the woman who wrote Frankenstein. Back to the book: the characters were the driving force within Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein’s obsession with his creation until it actually came to life is both tragic and relatable. It was understandable why he was so scared because The Creature was groaning, huge, and could not really control his limbs, but a little accountability would have been nice Mr. Frankenstein. Unfortunately, The Creature did not have a step-father that stepped up either, or else everyone would have survived and had a nice time. There were interesting parallels between Frankenstein and The Creature, as well, that were fun to explore during in-class discussions. The many real-life implications between nature vs. nurture, as well as the effect love can have on someone's life, were themes that intrigued many students. Frankenstein also has a strange appeal to queer people that is not quite explainable but, clearly, other people feel the same since The Rocky Horror Picture Show exists. The implications of that fact are unclear, but it is something everyone has to live with. This book was just a good time and was able to express intellectual themes with easy-to-understand language, at least in terms of a classic. Saul Christensen, a junior at GPHS, shared his thoughts about the writing of Frankenstein: "I especially liked when view could see the monster's thoughts and when he was telling his story... [it] forced Victor to confront the humanness of the monster." Frankenstein was a fun character to read. Although he made poor decisions and was very dramatic, it was done well enough to be excusable. The Creature was also a really enjoyable character when it got to his POV. The morally grey characters sold the book and overall created a great reading experience.

#1: Romeo and Juliet

Everyone can cry “basic” all they want, but that does not change the fact Romeo and Juliet stays on top. It has everything anyone could ever want. Good characters? Insanely dramatic Romeo and naive Juliet paired with their flamboyant friends and feuding parents. It is extremely quotable and just a jolly old time. Even though everyone knows Romeo and Juliet are going to die by the end, readers cannot help but fall in love with their romance and companions. Shakespeare knew what he was doing by creating their romance as a satire. Some people still do not understand that Romeo and Juliet were written as dumb kids making dumb decisions and read it as an over-dramatic cheesy romance. It is, to an extent, but it is also much more than that. Romeo is 16 and Juliet is 13. Ew. But the point is that they are still kids. They are stupid and have an underdeveloped sense of their family's feud, but it is their innocence that ultimately ends the dispute. After the passing of so many Capulets and Montagues, it no longer seemed worth it to continue fighting. It seemed disrespectful to their kids' deaths to keep up the childish bickering. Truly, what other book has a satirical romance, fun parties, a genuinely sad ending, and cool sword fights? Not to mention the technical writing of Romeo and Juliet, which is extremely impressive. The whole thing is in iambic pentameter and contains many sonnets, too. In the end, Romeo and Juliet is just pure entertainment. Besides the Shakespearean language, it may not be as intellectual as other assigned readings, but it was fun, nonetheless. Although clearly not intentional, it also birthed the Leonardo DiCaprio Romeo + Juliet movie, which is a gem in itself.

Image of a Man and Woman Kissing by PICRYL

Assigned reading might not always be fun, but it is important to savor each theme presented. Where social media sucks out all critical thinking skills, books are here to fill in the gaps. Students would do well to at least try to have more fun with the required books, even if that means reducing talking about them to acting like you are spilling hot goss, but hey, there is probably a good reason for all of it.

Sources:

Interview with Daisie Crist
Interview with Saul Christensen

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