Webb Chapter 7

This chapter of Allen Webb's book discusses several previously untouched literary theory practices. The first of these that I want to talk about is Poststructuralism. This theory draws upon the Reader Response theory in the sense that there are no "fixed meanings" of a particular text, but it differs from RR in that there it sees readers and writers as not being altogether unique in their experience with a given text. Poststructuralism looks for patterns that are inherent within the text in order to render them as familiar in relation to other texts that have been written. Webb describes this theory best on pages 134 and 135 when he says that while using this theory, "no one has an isolated, complete, or 'unified' consciousness separate from the language and culture in which we all live. Individuals are cultural beings, and language, texts, institutions, and social practices script the way we think and act. In this view, rather than being universal, human nature is particular and depends on culture, social codes, and the historical moment." I tend to like this literary theory for the simple fact that it assumes that language creates reality. The only truths that could possibly be found in literature texts are the ones that we, as humans, have created, thus we must interpret and analyze literature according to its individual and collective relationship to all other literature texts. Another literary theory that I'd like to explore is that of Postmodernism. I like this theory because of its inherently subjective qualities. Indeed Webb even says, "postmodernism means different things to different people," (page 143). Postmodernism attempts to refuse any distinct difference between the "individual" and the "society," and instead views literature as a "collage" of every possible experience and interaction. Almost as a metaphor for our diverse student populations within each classroom community, Webb says that, "[i]n its best version, postmodernist teaching means respect for difference; recognition of compositeness, mixture, blending; and examination of the restrictions that prevent people from creative participation in the making and hybridizing of culture," (page 143). One final theory from this chapter which deserves mentioning is the Post-Marxism theory. Like Marxism theory, this approach to literature strives to realize the "power of the people." Putting on the lens of this theoretical approach would have you emphasizing the voices of the "marginal" or "oppressed" groups of people while exposing the threat of the "dominant" voices. Like the traditional Marxists who "believe that the way people think and believe, their 'ideology,' is not something that they freely choose," Webb says on page 150 that, "many post-Marxist scholars continue to draw insight and inspiration from socialist thought while rejecting its oppressive aspects." An interesting analogy that Webb uses while discussing this literary theory explores how this "approach to teaching might treat schools themselves as texts and ask students to explore the structure of curriculum and learning," (page 151). In light of the No Child Left Behind Act, and specifically its use of "Adequate Yearly Progress" to determine federal funding, this literary theory could be used to explain why failing schools (the oppressed minority voices) continue to fail, while passing schools (the predominant majority voice) continue to succeed.

Webb Chapter 4

The youth violence "crisis," as it is termed in this chapter of Literature and Lives is an issue that is prevalent in the public school system (especially urban districts) today. I like that Webb uses his selected texts, like Native Son, to facilitate discussion of this difficult topic. Using violence as a common thread among students, I feel, can actually have a positive influence on an English classroom, rather than a negative one (if used correctly, of course). In Jonathan Kozol's Shame of the Nation, he too uses personal experiences concerning violence and texts that involve violence to build a common understanding between students that would, under normal circumstances, not be able to easily find common ground. Since violence is such a universal theme in our world, more importantly in the world of our students, using it to promote discussion about controversial topics and to build relationships between your students seems like an effective strategy. This could also work to build the relationship between you (the teacher) and your students who might not assume that you share a common bond. On page 59 Webb writes that, "[m]ulticultural studies, like women's studies, has recovered lost literary voices, helped connect literature to cultural and social movements, and helped establish a theoretical base for understanding minority - and majority - cultural traditions." Adding to the English classroom's literature "canon," multicultural texts can include "rediscovered" and new authors that wouldn't have become so influential through the use of other literary theories. As important or significant as other theories may be, I think it is interesting to note that the author says, "[a] primary issue for all of the multicultural textbooks is that their incorporation of multicultural literature often becomes an assimilation of new texts to old literary approaches," (page 60). Looking at a multicultural literary texts through the lens of a New Critic, for example, would only "isolate the literary work from its author and culture," (page 60). Similarly, "reader response approaches [would] fail to assist students to bridge social, cultural, and historical distances in works outside their own cultural experience," (page 60). Another important idea addressed in this chapter is the idea of Media Studies. We live today in a global society that finds it easier than ever to influence ideas and understandings on a world wide scale. Ignoring the impact that mass communication and mediated communication has on our students (and ourselves) is a detrimental mistake. Rather than ignoring this phenomenon, why don't the English teachers try to embrace it? Like Webb states himself on page 67 when he says, "perhaps the most effective way to address media studies is to integrate media study into literature and cultural study. Understanding film, popular culture, or the mass media is serious intellectual work; combining media and literary studies allows a wide range of creative and critical possibilities."

Appleman Chapter 8

In the concluding chapter of Critical Encounters, Deborah Appleman does a decently successful job of reiterating all of her previous points and reemphasizing the ones that she feels are most important to her teaching pedagogy. The activity that she describes in the beginning of this chapter has students encountering and interacting with every theory that they've learned about during their year in the teacher's classroom. The "Theory Relay" allows students the opportunity to critically encounter the literature, the world, and each other by looking at literature texts through the lens of various literary theories, no matter how "messy" or "unpredictable" those encounters may be (page 138). "High school English teachers are under pressure to teach their students to read literature in ways that lead to more flexible formulations of meaning, in ways that are more relevant to their contemporary lives," (page 139). Doesn't this sound a lot like the progressive education techniques our ED teachers seem to embrace so dearly? I admit that through my reading of this book, I have come to accept the idea that teaching literary theory in an English classroom can go a long way in helping students develop their own personal strategies for interacting with texts. The passage on page 139 goes on to say that, "New forms of literary theory have useful applications in high school English classrooms and they support effective teaching practices in three different ways... [1] literary theory has implications for how people read... [2] literary theory has implications for what is read... [3] literary theory simulates the production of ideas and discourages reductive thinking." Knowing and understanding these three useful applications of literary theory can help me, as a future English teacher, to encourage my students to use and apply these practices in their everyday encounters with literature texts. Emphasizing the importance of using multiple perspectives when searching for meaning in a text can help the students become more informed learners and, as a result, also help eliminate biases and stereotypes that still exist in our society today. Encouraging our students to interact with, and affect change within, the world around them should be one of the most important goals that we have as teachers. We know that students subconsciously use literary theories as they encounter texts, but "letting them in on the secret" can be a seriously effective way to teach literature. As one of the last students in this book is quoted on page 146, "[y]es, we can use [literary theories] in the world, and I think that's why we are taught that we've used these lenses all along. We actually have a name for it now."

Appleman Chapter 7

"We may claim to scorn theory, but the moment we begin teaching, we enact our understanding - our theories - of what language and communication are all about and what kinds of reading, writing, and talking deserve student effort. Theory is there, although it may be either explicit or submerged, sensible or chaotic." This quote by Bruce Pirie on page 117 is precisely how I would describe my personal feelings on literary theory in the classroom. Whether or not you, as a teacher, are even aware of what you are doing, you are using some sort of literary theory when you teach. If this is truly the case, as I think it is, then the author's idea about letting the students "see behind the curtain" should be embraced and applied in our secondary English classrooms. Students who engage with literature texts at any level are going to be, either consciously or not, using literary theory when they try to determine a text's meaning. Why should we keep them uninformed like we're hiding some amazing secret? By letting them know what theories are out there, and how to apply those theories to every piece of literature that they read, we will create better informed and better prepared learners. The extended vignette about Martha's teaching career in this chapter demonstrates how a teacher grows throughout their career just like the students do. Just like we've been learning in all of our ED classes here at Western, the ones that push for progressive education at least, we must consider ourselves "more experienced learners" rather than simply "the ones with all the knowledge." It is interesting to see how Martha grew in her own learning with the help of her students, even as she was helping the students to grow in theirs. I, of course, never even considered this idea during my secondary education. I was too worried about regurgitating the information that they had thrown at me on the weekly quiz. It is interesting for me to see this teacher student relationship from the other side of the looking glass (as Appleman likes to describe it), and consider how I can better approach my own teaching strategies in order to more effectively impact my students. I was never really aware of my personal teaching "goals" until very recently. I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher and affect young minds, but I suppose I never really considered exactly why?... The quote I want to share from the end of the chapter, on page 136, I think best describes why teacher insight, as a more experienced learner, and the application of literary theory, by both students and teachers, are important tools in any secondary English classroom: "By introducing her students to several literary theories and approaches to literary interpretation, she encourages them to think about multiple meanings for the varied literary texts they read together. This multiplicity leads Martha and her students to unpredictable possibilities and challenges in their study of literature. The excitement is evident in the enthusiastic and wide-ranging nature of the classroom talk. Martha's classroom is filled with the energy that comes only when students genuinely invest in their own learning." Isn't that what every teacher should strive for in their classroom?... Unpredictable possibilities and challenges that are discovered when students genuinely invest in their own learning.

Appleman Chapter 6

I found chapter 6 of Critical Encounters to be less exciting than many of the other chapters. First off, I felt that Appleman's example of an MTV music video - comparing it to a deconstructionist theory - to be a little bit of a stretch. I understand what she was going for, but I just don't think that it really worked as an analogy. Another thing that I didn't particularly like about this chapter was that the author reverted back to her chapter 1 style of letting other authors do the talking for her. There were too many lengthy quotations and not enough explanation. I understand that DT is a complicated one, and hard to define, but some of the definitions that she chose to include were contradictory, or, at the very least, uncomplimentary of one another. She admits this fact on page 106 when she says, "[p]erhaps, as with this chapter, the most difficult part of teaching deconstruction to adolescents is the attempt to define it." Indeed, even her definition on page 103 seems slightly ironic in that she says, "[e]ven those who are firmly convinced of the usefulness of other kinds of literary theory readily dismiss deconstruction as both frivolous and difficult." It seems to me that practitioners of other literary theories may admit to deconstructions difficulty, but would they really claim it to be "frivolous?" Is it even possible for something such as this theory to be both "difficult" and "frivolous" at the same time? Her examples and definitions of this literary theory are weak at best but there was one definition that she included in the chapter that worked a little better for me. Leggo's definition on page 101 says that "[a]ccording to deconstruction, a text is not a window a reader can look through in order to see either the author's intention or an essential truth, nor is the text a mirror that turns back a vivid image of the reader's experiences, emotions, and insights. Instead, deconstruction is a practice of reading that aims to make meaning from a text by focusing on how the text works rhetorically, and how a text is connected to other texts as well as the historical, cultural, social, and political contexts in which texts are written, read, published, reviewed, rewarded, and distributed." The very idea of deconstruction theory seems ironic to me. If deconstruction says that language is unstable and ambiguous, then can't we also say that the conclusions we come to by using this theory in practice are equally unstable and ambiguous?

Webb Chapter 3

The first thing that I liked about this chapter concerning feminist theory and gender studies was the author's personal example of his inexperience within a classroom focused on feminist theory. He admits that prior to that class he had very little exposure to either FT or female authors for that matter. His example helps to make readers, like myself, who are unfamiliar with such material feel slightly more at ease. As a personal example of my own, about a year ago I was asked by a random person on campus if I would be willing to answer a few survey questions regarding feminism. I agreed, of course, and he asked me right off the bat whether or not I considered myself a feminist. I answered no, and his follow up question was something like, "so you don't believe in equal rights for women?" I was appalled! Just because I didn't consider myself a feminist surely didn't mean that I thought women in this world deserve less than a man does... I was unaware at the time that a "feminist," by definition, is someone who believes in equal rights for women. The negative connotations that our society associates with the term "feminism" conjours up images of crotchety old lesbians who do nothing but "man-bash," and I think it is important, as future educators of America, to dispel with these myths. I proudly consider myself a feminist now that I am more aware and knowledgeable about the issue, and I feel as though Webb would agree. The importance of FT and Gender Studies is obvious when we take into account the culture that our students are faced with every day. "[T]eenagers and young adults are immersed in a world where gender roles are supercharged. Unfortunately, young people typically have few opportunities to carefully examine gender codes, roles, and expectations. The work of women's studies and gender studies thus becomes particularly relevant to English teachers and forms one of the most important approaches under the cultural studies umbrella," (page 38). The author goes on to say, on page 47, "[l]ike feminist and multicultural studies, gay and lesbian studies is also tied to broader social movements and events." Using these types of studies in your secondary classroom is another way to explore controversial topics and the "broader social movements" that create such transformations in cultural ideologies.

Appleman Chapter 5

Chapter 5 of Critical Encounters deals with Feminist Theory and is very similar in many ways to Chapter 4 on Marxist Theory. The point of FT, as I perceive it, is a lot like MT because it strives to interpret literature texts by examining the treatment and perceptions of typical oppressed groups. FT allows readers to witness an expansion of literary canon beyond "dead white guys," to include works from previously unread and under utilized authors. The author suggests, on page 77, that there are "at least four dimensions in which using feminist theory can transform students' reading... [1] how students view female characters and [2] appraise the author's stance towards those characters... [3] how students evaluate the significance of the gender of the author in terms of its influence on a particular work... [4] how students read the gendered patterns in the world." An example of the application of this theory in the classroom is given concerning the work, The Yellow Wallpaper. Students are able to view this story from two complete separate perspectives. One interpretation shows the husband as sympathetic to his wife's needs, trying to do everything he can to help her "illness." Another reading of the story demonstrates the female character's insignificance compared to her male counterpart. Using an ambiguous text such as this can easily help students realize the importance and significance of such literary theories. One thing about this chapter that bothered me was the amount of student comments supporting the author's argument. Even despite the shear number of included comments, some of the comments themselves seemed to be sort of contrived like this one concerning Mount Rushmore on page 89, "[t]here are no females; are females just not good enough to be on national monuments?" I'm not suggesting that the argument isn't a valid one, but my reading of the comments suggests that some of the students were just looking for the "right" answer to appease their teacher. I'm sure, however, that this would probably happen regardless of the theory being used.