Kelley's Lens Excerpt

I realize that when I read, I interpret and react to the text in a certain way because of my own personality, experience, and place in society. These are the "lenses" through which I read literature, as well as see the world. I feel that it is important for me to explore these lenses so that I can better understand my thoughts and feelings about the world that I live in and the things that I read. My students will all have their own lenses as well, and I should be able to acknowledge that fact, first by examining my own.

The main lens that I use in viewing the world and literature is that of my own personal experiences. I consider myself to be traditional, sheltered, and from a religious family where ideals and morals play an important role. I enjoy jovial books with stories that warm the heart and do not enjoy books of violent nature. I think this lens allowed me to enjoy the book Oddballs so much. Although this family was far from traditional, the ideals and morals seemed to be so far fetched it was humorous to me. William Sleator shares strange and wacky stories about growing up with his mother, father, his brothers, Danny and Tycho, and his sister Vicky. For example, William’s family never took care of their front yard because they only used their backyard, so they never mowed or planted anything in it. This was humorous to me because my father is a landscaper and I could not imagine what he would do if our family had this mentality about our lawn. This story was wholesome and did not have any vulgar language, abusive scenes, and was not offensive to me as the reader. I found this book to be very entertaining and a nice change from my life of normalcy. Violent stories are difficult for me to encounter due to a negative experience involving a gun in my teens. I feel that this is one of the reasons that I did not enjoy the end of Where the Red Fern Grows for its ending is gruesome. The violence that fills the end of the book incorporates a lot of fighting and death. Not only did the mountain lion die during the battle, but also the dogs whose entire life the reader has followed, from when they were pups until their death. I think that this book was extremely difficult for me to read because the animals death was aggressive and heart-breaking.

I do enjoy reading about strong women characters, although I do not consider myself to be a feminist. I consider myself to be an independent and self-sufficient woman and many times become frustrated with stories that make women appear weak and helpless. For example, although I do remember enjoying the movie Little Women, I was frustrated with the book when I had to read it for my Children's Literature class. The girls in the book were striving the whole time for the attention and affection of men, and I found the whole message exasperating. Also, I was irritated by the fact that, in the novel, Jo March starts out as a very strong, interesting character, and throughout the book is chopped down to a meeker, milder, more "feminine" version of herself, and this is considered an improvement. I much prefer novels that feature strong, self-sufficient characters, without demeaning any group of people. I feel that I am far from this classification and stereotype, and do not wish to be grouped in this characterization.

I appreciate novels that express strong opinions, because I am a very opinionated person. But the best novels in my mind manage to express those opinions while respecting those of the reader, and possibly even causing the reader to reevaluate their views on the topic. Reading should be a profound experience, which enables you to become a more educated and well-rounded person. From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun, in my opinion, is one such novel. The author narrates a fairly controversial issue without really taking sides on it, but instead presenting the situation and allowing the reader to make his or her own judgment based on that information.

I feel that, even just by writing this paper, I have made a step toward becoming a more successful teacher. I must recognize, identify, and understand my own thoughts and feelings before I can begin to do the same for my students. As I look at what I have written here, I now understand why I did or did not like certain books, and even why I choose the types of books that I do for my own reading. Now that I have acknowledged these traits in myself, I feel that I will be able to accept them more readily in my students.

Responses:

• Re: Kelley's Lens Excerpt shannon (4/17/03 4:10 PM)
• Re: Kelley's Lens Excerpt Elizabeth (4/23/03 12:56 PM)
• Re: Kelley's Lens Excerpt TracyD (4/23/03 6:45 PM)