American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese is a graphic novel and is the winner of many graphic novel awards. It tells three different stories where each protagonist must overcome a challenge they face. The problems include not being wanted by either a single person or group of people. They face racial discrimination because of their Chinese heritage and they live in America. They each learn something about themselves when going through these challenges. Each protagonist has grown in some way by the end of their challenge.

I would definitely consider using this book in the classroom. The pictures make it more appealing to students similar to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. One way I would use this is teaching diversity and multiculturalism to students. This novel teaches important lessons on accepting everyone for who they are no matter what culture, race, or ethnicity they are. The only problem I foresee with using this novel in the classroom is that there are a few racial stereotypes in the novel. I would simply send a letter home with students warning parents of this and giving a detailed description on how I would use it in the classroom.

Night

Night is about a teenage boy's experience in Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp. Eliezer expresses his horrifying experiences at the camp. He was separated form his mother and sister whom he never saw again. The Jews rely on each other for moral support and religious faith to get through there experiences. They encounter multiple humiliations and work under slave-like conditions. They are severely malnourished. Night also shows how people may react in survival situations. Some of the Jews become concerned with their own survival without thinking to rely on anyone else. When the camp that Eliezer is at is evacuated they are brought to another concentration camp. Only 12 survive the journey to the next concentration camp. Eliezer's father dies dysentery and physical abuse. Eliezer dies on the same day that the American soldiers liberated the camp: April 11, 1945.

Although this is not a memoir, it is obvious that Elie Wiesel is recounting some of his own experiences in Nazi concentration camps. Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home to Auschwitz concentration camp and then to Buchenwald just like Eliezer in Night. The back cover of the novel says it in words better than I could express: "Night is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel's memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man".

In the classroom this book would be a great supplemental text to use on a unit on the Holocaust. I would use this in the classroom to hit the emotions of students since this is as close to a personal narrative, without it being a personal narrative, as you can get. It is important for students to learn history and gain empathy for those groups that were once disenfranchised by society. It is important to teach these aspects of history so that we can grow as human beings.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is one of the greatest love stories in Western Culture of all time! The Capulets and Montagues have a fierce rivalry with one another. Romeo seeks the attention of Rosaline while Juliet's fate is already decided for her when her parents wish for her to marry Paris. But at the Capulet's ball when Romeo and Juliet first lay eyes on each other, it is love at first sight. Romeo forgets about Rosaline and Juliet longs to see Romeo again. Friar Lawrence agrees to marry them in secret. Tybalt (a Capulet), still enraged that Romeo was at the Capulet's ball, challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo having married Juliet is now one of Tybalt's kinsmen and does not want to duel him. Mercutio, a kinsman to the Prince and close friend of Romeo, steps in for Romeo and is killed. Romeo enraged by Mercutio's death kills Tybalt. The Prince of Verona declares Romeo must leave at once. Lord Capulet insists Juliet marry Paris at once. Juliet concocts a plan to fake death and be sent to Mantua, where Romeo now resides. Friar Lawrence is supposed to send the message to Romeo of the plan but all Romeo hears is that Juliet has died. Romeo sees Paris throwing flowers on Juliet's grave and kills him. Romeo drinks poison and dies. Juliet wakes moments after Romeo has died. Friar Lawrence begs Juliet to leave with him but she refuses. Juliet stabs herself and dies falling on Romeo's body. The Prince, the Capulets, and Montague walk and see what has happened. Montague declares that Lady Montague has died over grief of Romeo's exile. Montague and the Caplets agree to end their long standing feud. They raise gold statues of their children in Verona so that no one will ever forget the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

This story is one of Shakespeare's best plays. Love becomes Romeo and Juliet's ultimate demise. Once they saw each other there was no going back from there. There are certain instances where if Romeo's extreme behavior hadn't happened things may have been different. If he didn't kill Tybalt then he may not have ever been exiled. If he would have waited a day after receiving the news about Juliet, then maybe they would have lived happily ever after. But part of what makes this play so great is the timing of everything and fast pace scenario. The reader or audience feels the intensity of Romeo's emotions as he makes these irrational decisions due to his love for Juliet.

The way Juliet's character develops throughout the play is one of Shakespeare's best characterizations. Juliet isn't given many privileges, in comparison to Romeo, at the beginning due to her family upbringing. By the end, Juliet shows remarkable courage. She doesn't doubt her future with Romeo and devises the plan to be with him forever. She even refuses the advice of her Nurse, her closest confidant throughout the story, when she tells her to forget about Romeo and marry Paris after Romeo is exiled. Her death at the end requires more nerve than Romeo's when she stabs herself with a dagger. This is her final way of showing her intense infatuation with Romeo.

In the classroom there are many ideas and options available for teachers with this text. I would love to have a play having students act out scenes. This would provide students with a hands on experience with the play allowing them to get into the minds of the characters. Another option would be to take an in depth look at themes of this story. Love conquers all is one important theme in this play which I have already discussed in this blog post. The feuding of the two families is another major theme. Out of all the people in the world to fall in love with Romeo and Juliet fall in love with each other and there families hate one another. Perhaps that is some of their motivation for loving each other? Taking what you can't have. In addition, any middle school/high school student can easily put themselves in the position of Romeo or Juliet and say how they would react in that situation.

Things Fall Apart

This was my first time reading Things Fall Apart and I enjoyed the story. The novel centers around protagonist Okonkwo who is constantly living under the shadow of his father's mistakes. He believes his dad was weak because he didn't display manliness. He opposes everything his father stood for because his father was thought to be "soft" by enjoying music and engaging in conversations. Okonkwo condones violence and anger to display manliness. He ultimately becomes his own worst enemy because he tragically falls by continually trying to prove his manliness for his village.

Okonkwo resents his own son, Nwoye,  because he thinks his son is weak and displays many characteristics his father displayed. Ikemefuna is a boy that Okonkwo adopts and Nwoye looks up to him as an older brother. Ikemefuna is murdered and Okonkwo participates in killing Ikemefuna because he is afraid of seeming weak. Okonkwo is torn apart by this and things only get worse after Ikemefuna's death.

When Okonkwo is attending a villagers funeral, his gun goes off during a gun salute and kills a boy. Okonkwo is sent into exile for seven years for this crime. Okonkwo sees this as an opportunity to get in touch with his feminine side because he goes to live with maternal ancestors. Okonkwo resents his time in exile because he feels he is not showing manliness.

Okonkwo returns to his village, after being in exile, finding that things have changed because there are white men who now occupy the village. He rallies his tribe members to overthrow the leader and they do so successfully. When Okonkwo is wanted to be tried by the white men for his crime, he hangs himself. Okonkwo's reputation is ruined because suicide is strictly forbidden in the teaching of Igobo.

I would use Things Fall Apart in an Anthropology class or a Human Geography class for studying different cultures around the world to show students an example of how other cultures live. I think there are many things you can with this in an English Language Arts classroom. There are many different themes in this novel that a teacher could talk about in the classroom with students. The main character, Okonkwo, is a very complex character and that would make a great topic for discussion in the classroom.