Getting Beyond the Cuss Words : Using Marxism and Binary Opposition to Teach Ironman and The Catcher in the Rye Lisa Scherff and Candace Lewis

A brief return to the high school classroom in 2004 provided me with the opportunity to teach young adult literature for the first time in my career. In the six years I taught English and reading, from 1996 to 2002, I only used classic works—Great Expectations, A Separate Peace, Romeo and Juliet, etc. It wasn’t that I didn’t like or want to teach young adult fiction; my schools never provided such titles. Don’t get me wrong. It is not that I dislike the canon either. Certainly, there are titles and authors I hope all students have the opportunity to read: To Kill a Mockingbird for its social justice theme, Faulkner for his use of the Southern grotesque, and The Scarlet Letter for its timelessness. However, most of the classic titles we read were not interesting to, or at the appropriate reading level for, my remedial and average level students, most of whom were at risk of failing. At one point, frustrated with the lack of relevant literature for my students of color, I purchased titles I hoped they might like: Black Like Me and A Raisin in the Sun. The students were excited, and we dived into them, moving beyond a great story to analyzing themes, symbols, and characters. Relating Bird Sings—and we continued reading. It was this experience that taught me the most about labels and expectations. Perhaps I, too, had been guilty of shortchanging my students. Never forgetting this lesson, I revamped two of my courses (Teaching Fiction and Adolescent Literature), choosing to pair young adult with classic literature and incorporate literary theory. One project requires students to (1) thematically pair a recently published, award-winning young adult novel with a commonly taught classic work (novel or drama) and use them to (2) create lessons to teach literary theory. Moreover, their lessons need to focus on regular or remedial students in grades eight through ten. Pairing of novels by theme and using literary theory are integral for two main reasons. First, my experience as a high school teacher showed that upper track students, like those in honors and Advanced Placement classes, receive more in-depth instruction with an emphasis on critical thinking skills (see also, Applebee, 1989, 1993; Finley, 1984; author, 2004). Moreover, these students read a wider range of literary works, whereas students in lower track classes are