The Classics

My wonderful English teacher Mrs. Grehoski, A.K.A Hester Prynne’s biggest fan, likes to say, “literature resonates with us because the human condition never changes.” I think Mrs. Grehoski’s words sum up pretty perfectly why I, and many other people, love to read. It’s because these made up stories with made up people, places, and different time periods, can seem distant from our reality, but nevertheless remind us of similar experiences and feelings that connect humans to a greater purpose. 

Recently, I was sitting at my desk pondering what to write about for this edition. My eyes wandered around my room, perhaps, trying to find answers from the posters on my walls or the nick-nacks on my desk. Finally, my eyes came back to the crimson colored book that laid in front of me: The Scarlet Letter. Staring at this book, I began to think about how many other middle and high-school students have had this book in their possession and have read the same pages and words as I have. Most adolescents share the experience of being handed a classic piece of literature in English class and being told to read it. And with so many classic books read over the course of our middle school and high school years, we are bound to like some of them more than others. 

For me, my favorite classic book I’ve read in school has recently become The Awakening. This turn of the century piece written by Kate Chopin, beautifully encapsulates the tragic fate of a young woman named Edna who longs for freedom outside of her domestic life, but feels trapped and pressured by the societal expectations of women. While my experiences as a female are of course not exactly comparable to that of a woman in the early 1900s, I still found myself understanding and relating to Edna in certain ways that made me drawn to her character. But beyond just the gender specific aspect of this book, I found the feeling of wanting your dreams and aspirations to become a reality, but feeling discouraged by external factors to be deeply relatable and a feeling that many of us experience. But what I really loved about this book was that the message was ahead of its time; When Chopin published this book in 1899, most people weren’t ready to accept the idea that women were entitled to the same rights and autonomy as men. And even though the story has a tragic ending, I think Chopin’s critiques on the patriarchy gave a positive outlook for the future of the world that many people didn’t see at the time; A world where anyone regardless of the body or circumstances a person is born into, they can take control of their life and the person they become. 

After thinking about my favorite books I’ve read in school, I began to wonder if there were patterns or trends among students. After talking with some students and friends, from what I gathered, the most popular answer by far for their favorite classic book was The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. For one student, whose favorite classic book was The Great Gatsby, she explained, “to me, ‘Gatsby’ is about the American dream and the romanticized version of life that is unattainable.” She also added, “It shows how we as humans create these false realities and perceptions and how life doesn’t always work out the way it should.” Additionally, another student commented on the significance of the time period, explaining, “I feel like even though The Great Gatsby is in such a different time period, it's still really connected to the world today in terms of the old money and new money” Once again, even in these books where the setting, time period, and perhaps, the characters seems far from our lives and the world we know today, nonetheless it is these overarching similarities in human behavior and experiences that connect us to the text and often leave a profound, memorable impression on the reader

In fact, I think that is one of the reasons why middle and high school students are assigned to read these books: Adolescence is a formative and impressionable time in a person’s life. Many of the things people experience or learn in their childhood and adolescence stay with us forever and so, what better time to expose people to these universal truths than adolescence? So whether we realize it or not, these books we read in our youth that may seem insignificant at the time, contain messages that speak to the human condition and inevitably make a valuable and lasting imprint on us.