My Thoughts on Text Selection

The three texts that I have chosen to write about are: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (YA novel), “Vistors” by Alfian Sa’at (featured in Here and Beyond: 12 Stories) and Night by Elie Wiesel (not my typical read).

I read The Outsiders during my month-long enhanced school experience prior to NIE. Ranked as ‘the most popular’ book in the school library, I assumed it would be a good representation of the literature preferences of students today. The plot is simple: it is an archetypal story about gangs, about the complicated connections between members of the same gang and the steeping animosity between rival gangs, albeit in a U.S context. The characters in the novel are categorised by their socioeconomic status; the Socs are wealthy and influential and, the Greasers are described as “coming from the wrong side of town”. The novel conveys the societal displacement often felt by teens today and challenges seeming dichotomies such as right vs. wrong, rich vs. poor and possibly for the teens, family vs. friends. Through a series of events, the book challenges its reader to formulate their own response as to what it means to “stay gold”.

Both a prominent youth novel as well as a MOE Recommended text for lower secondary students, I strongly believe The Outsiders has its value for students today. There is no doubt that the novel will appeal to the students due to the accessibility of the content and the relative simplicity of its form. As a coming-of-age novel written in the perspective of an alienated teen who somewhat resolves his sense of societal displacement eventually, one can sense the resonance many students would feel while reading the novel. However, beyond its potential to inculcate certain values and encourage certain moral dispositions amidst the students, I am skeptical as to whether the novel is sufficiently challenging as a school literature text. I believe a literature text for lower secondary school students should be both engaging as well as informative; whilst the content should interest students, there should be a certain level of sophistication that begets critical analysis. I think The Outsiders fails to achieve such a fine balance necessary in a literature text for students. Hence, if I were to ‘use’ the text in class, I would consider providing an excerpt rather than the entire novel. I believe that an excerpt, aptly selected, would sufficiently encapsulate the critical attributes of the entire book.

On another note, I read Here and Beyond: 12 stories, edited by Cyril Wong and Alfian Sa’at’s “Visitor” struck me as a fascinating text that I would teach my students subsequently.  Like The Outsiders, I think the story is accessible, albeit on different grounds. “Visitor” also explores the idea of displacement but the nature of displacement is presented within a localised context, with prevalent issues pertaining to race, nationality and family. The short story revolves around the emotional struggle of its central protagonist, Hidayah as she counts down to her parents’ arrival in New York, where she has been studying. Despite its length, the short story is compact and has much depth as a literature text that can be better understood with critical lens. Specifically, a better understanding of various elements within a literature text such as: diction, metaphor, symbolism, point of view and form can be introduced/reinforced in the study of this short story. More importantly, I believe that literature students, in particular the upper secondary students should be exposed to the wide array of local literature available. As a writer/poet/play-wright, Alfian Sa’at is a representative figure that cannot be left out and “Visitor” might work well as a good introductory literature text for students.

Additionally, I read Night by Elie Wiesel, a book I bought when I was visiting the Aushwitz Concentration Camp two years ago but have not read. Apart from being a souvenir, I bought the book with the intention of using it as a historical source for history classes subsequently. Written in first-person, Wiesel provides his version of the harrowing account of The Holocaust as he was confined within the Nazi concentration camps in Poland. Inherent in such an account is the sense of displacement, the social alienation felt by Wiesel and of which is presented in a much more intense manner compared to The Outsiders and “Visitors”. The book has evident value as a school history text and I also believe it is dense enough to serve as a literature text, especially for lower secondary students. Most overtly, its sustained use of “Night”, “darkness”  and “dreams” is worth exploring. Furthermore the form is fascinating as it is sometimes difficult to ascertain whether the events were factual or imagination. Furthermore, the text provides an avenue for students to explore writings that “are set and written in different contexts”, and “explore a range of human issues” (literature syllabus 2013) that are still prevalent today.