Post #3: TKaM, Pt. II

First, I'll respond to Dr. Cole's comments, then I'll offer a little update on my reading of TKaM.

I agree entirely with Dr. Cole's comments on the perspective of Scout.  Due to Scout's age, Lee was able to create in innocence in her perspective that would have been otherwise unattainable.  I think that Lee would have lost a lot had she gone with Atticus, Jem, or any other character as the narrator.  As for substituting TKaM for Monster... I don't know.  TKaM is an excellent novel, no doubt, and would benefit an Adolescent Lit class, I'm sure.  The downside would be that Adolescent Lit students would miss out on reading Monster, which was a really excellent book.  It opened my eyes to a genre of YA lit to which I was previously oblivious.  Also, I've thought about the benefits monster would bring to a High School classroom (I think that its a great read, with awesome themes, and being set up like a movie script would help draw reluctant readers that dig movies).  Had we never read Monster in Adolescent Lit, there is a very good chance that I wouldn't have been exposed to it, and had I not been exposed to it, I feel like I would have missed out on something. 

Also, the intended audience of all of the texts that we read in Adolescent Lit, if I remember correctly, were young people.  I don't think that this was the case with TKaM.  Granted, TKaM has become a major work in the High-School cannon, but I wouldn't classify it as YA literature.  I really enjoyed reading the YA lit in Adolescent lit, and I'm not sure what the effect of replacing a valuable piece of YA lit with a classic high-school text would be.

In regard to why I didn't read it in high-school: I was lazy and disengaged.  I rarely read assigned work during that period of my life.  In my experience up to that point, I couldn't relate to or enjoy a lot of the assigned readings, so I gave up on it.  That isn't to say I didn't read at all; I read plenty, I just chose to read outside of class rather than for class.

So, more on TKaM. I've read 6 chapters since my last posting, and what is most notable to me, as of late, is Jem's growth.  Since the trial scene, we've seen Jem grow from a boy into an adolescent.  Lee does an excellent job in portraying the difficulties that adolescents endure during this time, as well as the struggles that every adolescent goes through when they're trying to figure the world out for themselves.  Jem's troubles deal mostly with racism, but the growth, change, and discovery are universal.  No matter where they live, or what dissatisfaction with society an adolescent might have (for everyone has problems with the way our society works), they could easily relate their struggles to Jem's.

In terms of whether or not I like the book... I like it more and more with every page I read.