Analysis Reflective Essay: I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read

Name: Professor’s Name: Course: Due Date: Analysis Reflective Essay Francine Prose’s article titled I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read is a thoughtful and credible account of what has been happening in high schools. For a majority of students, high school is where one develops certain interests and when these are not nurtured well, they can easily fade away. Today, reading and writing are not given the weight and significance they deserve. Students do not seem to be overly concerned with what they are reading and how they ought to respond to what they are reading. For the most part, reading novels is an empty endeavor that is done with the sole purpose of meeting the semester’s requirements. There is no connection with what students are reading and this leads them to disregard the literature masterpieces at their disposal. There is a great discord and disconnect between the current high school student with the past high school student. The sad bit is that the current teachers and those aspiring to be teachers later in life grow up with the perceptions described above. In her article, Francine makes it clear that attention has shifted from the quality of work authors produce to trivial matters like the ethnic background of the author, gender of the author, and sexual orientation of the authors. In this article, I seek to support Francine’s assertions and draw similarities to what she says in her article to my high school experience. One thing that Prose notes in her article is the fact that emphasis is currently being put on who the authors are and not on the quality of their works. She writes that “the question is no longer what the writer has written but rather who the writer is – specifically, what ethnic group or gender identity an author represents” (180). Everywhere you go in America, people are talking about diversity, acceptance, and tolerance. In the day of screenshots, live-streaming, and the Internet, it is possible for a story to be taken out of context and the narrative be changed to suit a particular group. One of the reasons why emphasis has shifted to who the writers are is because, for a long time, white authors have dominated reviews. Additionally, books written by white authors have been regulars in high schools and colleges. In her article, Govinnage (np) notes that “white authors reign in book reviews, bestseller lists, literary awards, and Amazon.com recommendations.” However, being privileged racially does not mean white authors have not been writing great books but only helps to showcase the rotten culture and nature of our society. It is true that there are other great writers who have missed out opportunities to have their works showcased or read in the same fashion as those written by white authors. However, the books to be included in the high school curriculum ought to be carefully selected and established to have reached a particular standard of quality. The use of diversity in helping to include certain books in the high school curriculum does help to reduce, simplify, and discredit literature by overwhelming it with common and recycled themes of racism, inequality, among others. Prose also seems to be concerned about teachers simplifying literature for students something that I can attest to. She notes that “rather than exposing students to works of literature that expand their capacities and vocabularies, sharpen their comprehension, and deepen the level at which they think and feel, we either offer them “easy” (Steinbec...