Sydney Poole
AP Language Arts
Jameson
24 January 2016
Prose Essay
In the article, I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Sing by Francine Prose, she feels uncertain about the process of teaching through selected books. Prose gives a few examples from To Kill a Mockingbird to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as well as various textbook short stories. Prose is questions the effectiveness of using literary works to teach values through different traits that certain characters exude. She writes, “The narrator of Caged Bird is good, her rapist is bad; Scout and Atticus Finch are good, their bigoted neighbors are bad.” This is a two­dimensional way of looking at the characters and their development. Another point found in this article is that teachers plant their own interpretation of a work in their students heads. Prose adds “ … this moving, funny novel (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) is being taught not as a work of art but as a piece of damning evidence against that bigot, Mark Twain.”
Which changes Prose’s initial excitement upon finding that work on the list. Overall, on this topic
Prose conveys that she does not believe that values can be taught through literature in a school setting. However, I believe that novels can teach a lesson.

Prose writes about how lessons are taught to high school readers as if they cannot draw

their own conclusions about what they read. Some may be unable to think for themselves, but it is from the point of view of an avid reader that I draw my conclusions. Teachers teach the novels the same everywhere, following given curriculum, but Prose continuously has the reader believe that it is her opinion that 15­18 year olds cannot create a constructive and decisive opinion or thought for themselves.

I agree with the author when she states that a character is not completely good or completely bad, as it is usually portrayed in a classroom setting. In schools, teachers will try and make the character’s actions and traits simple to understand and create a simple good/bad scale that they will ‘rate’ these characters, when in fact, most characters have a three­dimensional analysis. Teachers need not to tell students what they are to get out of a book or the characters by simplifying the characters or plot line.. Prose is correct by saying that a student should analyze characters and books with their own independent thoughts. Further, I believe that simple characters make the lessons easier to learn in a book, but are not always entirely accurate when it comes to character outlines and understanding the full meaning of the plot. While reading students think about how each character interacts with each other and what makes them act the way they do, but most teachers do not believe this. A high school class should not have paced reading that makes the student feel pressured and rushed because when a student is rushed, they will not be thinking about the meaning of the assignment, but, rather, will only be thinking of getting the assignment done.
When a student reads a book that is for school they have thoughts on the complex aspects characters while they read. The characters or events may be unrealistic but the lessons taught are real, the books taught are not too exaggerated to where they will not help a student learn real life lessons. These important lessons are learned by experience and a book can be one of the biggest experiences a student might get at the age they are. The experience is heightened by attachment to the characters in all their trait. It is inaccurate for Prose to say that lessons are not learned through text. Students in high school are striving for independence and the lessons taught through school reading environments help this need for independence thrive