I just read the 3rd chapter of Appleman and really got involved in the example with Hamlet. I did not, however, become involved because I felt that my classroom could use the example to the extent that I could. I teach in essentially the direct opposite type of class that was used in the example. I teach in inner-city, almost totally black, and almost totally poverty stricken surroundings. All of my students would have been in the 5th circle with a few that would claim the 4th circle. In the example the teacher was met with some hostility because some of his students seemed defensive over their positions of given power. I feel that opening a Marxist conversation would create hostility of a different sort in my classroom.
For example, I read Othello last year with my students because I thought that it would provide them with the greatest chance of having something to relate to while reading Shakespeare. (Teenagers are steaming with passion, jealousy, insecurities, and manipulation). However, I could not get the students to see Othello as any more than yet another attack on blacks. Even after partnering with the history teacher to teach about the culture and times of Shakespeare and the history of prejudice and racism the students still wanted to focus on their struggles today. While I had hoped to give the students an experience with human emotions and vulnerability all I seemed to give them was yet another reason to hate the white man and another example of keeping the black man down. I was (without intending) doing somewhat of a Marxist reading on Othello and it fell apart on me, I wanted to expose and reveal and I ended up angering and justifying.
Another fear I have over Marxist: creating an us vs. them sentiment. There have been many times, (I'm the only white person in the room besides my white co-teacher, I'm middle class and he's upper-middle/lower-upper (Whitefish(Whitefolks) Bay)), when my students use terms such as 'you guys' and 'white people' and 'rich people' and just plain 'you' to refer to my 'people.' I fear that having a more focused discussion about the oppressed and powerless will only cause my students to broaden that gap rather than embrace differences or understand how to work the system.
I wonder if this is just me and my own battles with stereotyping/racism sometimes. I don't feel like I'm racist or classist but sometimes I feel that I'm walking on eggshells trying too hard not to offend. I think that Marxism is a very important and needed critique to be applied to literature and life in general. I just also feel that it's a very personal and sensitive topic for a lot of people and that it needs to be handled carefully. Do you all see how this could be an awkward topic in my situation? Or do you think I'm not giving my students enough credit for being able to get beyond their own situations?
Kids, like anybody, have to want to have an open mind--or at least be open to having it opened.
ReplyDeleteThere is a scene in "Do The Right Thing" where each ethnic group represented in the movie gets a whole bucket of racial slurs dumped out in front of them by another ethnic group. It's squirm-in-your-seats ugly, but it proves a point. I don't like being called "white bitch" as in "that white bitch Heidi" when I was in high school by the black girls any more than they would have liked being called any of the epithets easily available for the other racial groups. Somehow, because we are not the minority group, the racial slurs aren't supposed to hurt us, but I've found it hard to ignore. I try, but it still stings.
And I'm CERTAIN I've received those far less than somebody of color who can be called names for doing something as horrible as--gasp--buying some snacks at the convenience store.
I think being of a different ethnic group means bracing and waiting for "the man" to come down on you, especially when a person is in those more fragile teenage years. I can't imagine trying to figure out who I am while being told in clear (and altogether unpleasant terms) who people THINK I am based on my ethnic group.
Maybe a text like Othello is a good one to teach, but maybe instead of doing the entire class in Marxism, the class is split into different theory groups. A group (OMG: Did I just assign small groups?) could use feminist, Marxist, Deconstruction, Reader Response and so forth. When Reader Response and Marxism start sounding a whole bunch alike, THERE is room for discussion. I think I'd set ground rules, too. This isn't a free-for-all--we're discussing this text, but we also have to walk forward together and not alienate each other. I think I'd use it for a discussion of Civil Rights and maybe launch into some ML King Jr. and what his thoughts were on freedom and equality. If they see things as hitting a nerve in Othello, it's a good time to compare and contrast: then vs. now--has society changed?
I don't know if this helps, but it is sort of mentally working through it myself.
Maybe don't teach Othello? How about Tempest instead? (ducking as shoes are thrown)
Actually, I tend to agree with Heidi that Othello is really difficult to teach in high school. (Wow, did the Shakespeare fanatic just say that? Yes, I did.) I know what you were trying to do with it, but it might be over these kids' heads - it's even over my own head at times. I just took a Shakespeare class last semester at UWM and my professor was trying to explain to us how "racism" then was not the same racism we have now. It's not something we can presume to understand in the same context, which is REALLY hard to do for anyone.
ReplyDeleteFor example, even though Othello is often referred to by his ethnicity ("the Moor"), the references are supposedly less about skin color and more about being an "outsider." In many of Shakespeare's plays, being an "outsider," someone from another country or social standing, is in fact more significant than being someone from a different race. Outsiders are often referred to by their country or city-state of origin, such as "the Venetian," etc.
In the beginning of the play, Othello is actually talked of in reverence, as someone who is respected even in a land in which he is an outsider, because he is of a higher social status and has demonstrated his skills as a responsible leader. However, it is when he tries to marry someone without using the proper procedures (i.e. asking her father for permission, etc.) that he becomes more of an outcast and the subject of scorn.
When we consider the treatment of Othello from a racist perspective, we are imposing our own context and understanding of race relations on Shakespeare's time in which this did not exist yet (slave trade HAD NOT begun through Britain as of yet). However, I think separating ourselves from that context is perhaps too difficult a task for high school students. Perhaps, as Heidi suggested, you might choose another play to open their minds. For example, The Taming of the Shrew is one I would love to teach...the subject of gender relations might spark some interesting debate without instilling or inflaming too much anger.