Toni Morrison question

[Goblinmonger]

At our high school, we are working on curriculum for an AP Lit class. Anyone have any experience teaching Toni Morrison novels or have been taught Morrison novels at this age level? Which novel(s) have you taught/been taught? Our main concern is reaction to the sexual content. I realize that AP students probably won't have problems, but a lot of parents might. Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

[vi5]

1. I've been taught Morrison novels but at the Grad School level..

Not sure how to get around a lot of the frank and shocking subject matter in her books. Also depends on which ones are being taugh. If memory serves me correctly Song of Solomon was a little less graphic than say Beloved or The Bluest Eye. But still.....I think if you're trying to avoid controversey with parents you may want to avoid her books. If you aren't concerned about controversey then dive right in. I think you're right in that AP students should be more equipped to handle that type of thing.

[Goblinmonger]

2. We aren't trying to avoid controversy

Actually, my district is pretty good about letting us teach good literature that is troublesome elsewhere. We have a lot of the "big hitters" on the frequently challenged lists: Huck Finn, Ordinary People (which has some really frank, in-your-face language and sexual content), Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. I am just putting this out to see what other people have done/felt.

Thanks for the reminder of Song of Solomon. That did not come up in our department meeting.

[Momgonepostal]

6. Song of Solomon was actually my favorite Morrison book nt.

[TheBaldyMan]

3. Sexuality is part and parcel of the human condition

Any sexual theme in literature could not be taken out of context of whole text and should be one aspect of a novel or play that will be shown. If the subject matter may be construed as problematical for students of a tender age perhaps this might be a reason for not using certain titles.
Literature, like any art form, may raise questions that may not have occurred to the reader otherwise. There are worse ways of raising the thorny subject of sex than a Toni Morrison novel.
Admittedly I've never worked as a teacher and left school as soon as I could but in this case would credit the pupils with the intellectual maturity to grasp the difficult subject matter.

[Goblinmonger]

4. 100% agree

and this novel would be taught to 17/18 year olds who are talented in the area of literature. The main problem would be parents. Not that I devise my whole day to center around parental reactions, but it is a concern when writing curriculum.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

5. I was taught "Beloved" at sixth-form college (aged 16)

although I think there's less of a history of parental concern over what children are taught over here.

There was certainly no shying away from the sexual aspects - in fact I remember a class looking solely at Morrison's use of sexual metaphors (IIRC Denver's masturbating and Sethe & Halle having sex in the cornfield ("how jailed down the juice", etc). With the latter, we also read a poem - again using the corn metaphor - about the ecstasy of ejaculation. I don't remember any problems with the students during all this (a few embarressed sniggers aside.)

We looked at the significance of events like Paul D holding Sethe's breasts, kissing her "tree" and sharing her bed, then how Beloved's arrival changed all that. This was all taught in terms of intimacy and character development (which one would expect anyway). There were certain sexual sections I remember our teacher had to help us understand because most of us hadn't really understood what we'd just read (Sethe paying for Beloved's gravestone with sex springs to mind).

With "Beloved" there's also the (sexual) violence that may cause concern - I guess particularly the scene in the woodshed where misinformed parents could complain about ("you're supposed to sympathise with a woman who did that?!"

I can't remember exactly what assignments we were set, but I do know that I wrote a lengthy piece about adapting the book for film and a shorter, fictional, piece set in the jury deliberation for Sethe's trial (which bore a striking similarity to "Twelve Angry Men!".

I don't know if that's any help. It was ten years ago, so my memory of the actual classes is pretty hazy, but I'll happily try & answer any other questions you may have.

[tarkus]

7. I read The Bluest Eye in 11th grade

This was advanced English at an independent school though, so there weren't too many deeply religious people in the class. The year before me one girl was offended, but she just read something else.

[shrike]

8. I guess I should hang my head in shame

I DON'T like Toni Morrison. Which in some circles is like saying you're against Mother, Apple pie, the Flag and Baseball. I've tried, I really have. But I've never been able to finish one of her books. (And I'm a white person who enjoys African-American literature: Richard Wright's Native Son' is on my list of favorite books of all time.) I suppose, when it comes right down to it, she bores the hell out of me. And I'm pretty tough to bore: I read Balzac, etc., for fun. Of course, I didn't like The Shipping News either, so maybe I'm just weird.

As for your original question, parents do get overwrought about lit and sexual content. But if these are AP students, you might be dealing with a more sophisticated crowd -- maybe. Talk to some of your colleagues, perhaps, see how this has been dealt with in the past? Is this the first sexually explicit novel to be taught in your honors classes? If not, you may not have as much trouble as you think.