Week 2: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Twilight"

After reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Twilight, and the article by Brannon and Greene, I now have a better understanding of why I have read such a diverse spread of literary works so far this semester. The article by Brannon and Greene stresses the need for diversity in literary selection in classrooms. I agree with this viewpoint, and also agree that many teachers do not fully achieve this due to the difficulty in reconstructing their syllabi. I feel that it is very important for teachers to take the extra time and effort in order to better expose their students to a variety of literature. I firmly believe that what you read works to mold your outlook on the world, and the more diversity in literature that you are exposed to, the more open-minded your view on life will be.
In this class, we have already read some very contrasting pieces to the traditional literary selections. We began the class reading Sharon Draper’s novel The Copper Sun, which is meant to educate adolescents on the evils of slavery. This novel opens up students’ views to the world by educating them on slavery, a topic not widely covered in most classrooms due to its controversial and violent content. Another important reason for this novel to be taught in classrooms is that Sharon Draper is an African-American female writer, something not so common in the literary world full of old white men. I firmly believe that more teachers need to teach novels such as Draper’s to their students in order to broaden their perspectives on the issue of slavery and race.
This week, we have completed reading Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Meyer’s Twilight. Both of these novels are similar in many ways, such as their magical aspects, but they are also different in their purpose, as Twilight serves as a love story and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone serves as an adventure tale full of hope. I believe that the style of literature found in these works should be taught in school because it opens students up to a different style of literature than they have previously seen in past English courses. After completing my readings so far in this class, I agree with Brannon and Greene’s emphasis on improving the diversity of literature in their article.