Another thing happened yesterday. I am shocked to find that not one, but two parents have complained about a short story we read in my English class. The short story, the Sniper, is about a sniper during the Irish Civil War who ends up killing another sniper, who just happens to be his brother. There is no gratuitous violence, and the story is largely about setting a mood and developing suspense, and or course the irony of killing your brother...
The ironic thing is, I chose the story largely to appeal to my class composed of many young males who have a fascination with all things war. (as evidenced by their very detailed explanation of exactly what a Sniper gun was) Now, perhaps it is best not to encourage this war loving mentality, however, with a choice between boring them with another short story, and getting them actually interested in reading, I go for creating interest.
Unfortunately, after reading the Sniper, I had them read another classic, The Lottery, which should be more disturbing to the sensitive parents. Hopefully they won't get it.
From now on, it's The Necklace all the way. I was planning on teaching them Night and Monster (about a young African American on trial for a killing at a convenience store that he did not directly participate in), which I believe I will still teach in part because I already ordered them but also because the themes of both are not violence, but about working against violence towards peace... I should have just gone with The Old Man and the Sea..nobody would complain about the violence towards the good old fish.
Interestingly, the message I got from the teacher I talked to, was not, try to limit the violence, but I just though you should know, and yes, these parents are very sensitive. The teacher actually said he thought it was an excellent piece of literature to teach, had a copy of the story with him, and asked if he could keep it, because he found it so interesting!
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