A student in my AP English class printed this exchange out and brought it to me today. These emails were sent between the two of us last summer, prior to our first meeting in August. At the end of last year, I gave the AP students several assignments to complete over the summer, one of which was a choice of two out of three recommended books to read and write a comparison paper on. As this is now the final week of classes for seniors, this student thought it would be funny to remind me of our first interaction.
First, this is the email that he sent to me in June ...
Hi Mr. Doyle,
This is Cole Montgomery from your new English Literature class. I started reading The Kite Runner, and it seems to have been written by a negative person. I haven't even started chapter 4, and I have read several instances that are cruel. One instance in perticular is a thought from the author in the story, where he says he wishes that all the orphans died with their parents (pg 18, 1st paragraph). I can understand that this is a true story and some things will be the raw truth, but this just appears to cross an imaginary line that people shouldn't cross on how far to go in a story. I apologize for disrespecting your homework to us but I would like to read another book instead.
He sent another email the following day before I had a chance to respond to the first ...
This is Cole Montgomery again.
I apologize about the last email. I figured I could let it go and I continued reading the story. I reached page 75 the last paragraph and realized something. The last comment I said about crossing the line that shouldn't be crossed was wrong; this is the part that it is applied to. It is sick, disturbing, and a little too graphic for me. My own mother agreed to that. I don't care if this is a true story; it is getting more mature than I am ready for or ever will be ready for. Therefore, I refuse to continue the book until an explaination is given as to why high school students are reading a highly mature book as explicit as this one. If I read further, will I encounter more explicit content? Are the other book choices given to us going to be the same way? I apologize if I sound mean but I just want some answers.
That weekend, when I had time to reply without being rushed, this is what I wrote back to him ...
Cole,
First, thank you for taking the time to write with your concerns and I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. It's been a busy week and I wanted to make certain that I paid adequate attention in responding. You are not disrespecting the assignment by voicing your opinion, and I commend you for expressing your views so readily. While I don't want to seem at all to contest your evaluation of the text, I would like to do my best to justify the assignment and why I selected that particular book.
In an AP course, we will be dealing with books that I would consider to be at a higher level than most you have read previously in your other English classes. This includes content that may be considered more mature than texts previously read under the auspices that the students enrolled in the class would be more suited to dealing with such topics with an open, yet naturally critical, mind.
While for some the issues and themes presented in this novel may be seen as controversial, it comes down to the fact that these are real life issues and themes which do exist in the world, if not directly in our own personal lives. The Kite Runner puts a human face to the recent events in Afghanistan that we would not always see in the news. It opens a reader's eyes to another experience, another culture, even another way of thinking. And if these critical themes and issues are not deemed safe to be explored or acknowledged in the abstract literary form, what implications can this have for how these same issues are dealt with in reality? Unfortunately war, rape, violence, and cowardice all exist in the world just as they do in this novel. Please do not feel that the author is encouraging or applauding such negative behavior by bringing attention to it; his intent is just the opposite, in fact.
Personally, I believe that this novel's strengths surpass its potential flaws and feel that such content will necessarily elicit strong reactions from readers (as is evident in your contacting me so quickly) and that this is a good thing. You do not have to agree with any suppositions made in any text we read. In fact, it is often true that readers do oppose one or more of the themes presented in most examples of advanced literature. Critical evaluation and such visceral responses as yours will no doubt encourage a very thoughtful and engaged thesis in your paper and I look forward to reading it. However, there is something to be said for finishing a story or delving deeper prior to passing final judgment. In the author's own words, "The overall message of the novel is tolerance, love, friendship and forgiveness. It denounces bigotry, it denounces violence, and hatred and discrimination." I think that if you continue on with the book through to its end that you will see this clearly.
In retrospect, I should have provided a disclaimer along with the summer reading packet that these texts cover some sensitive issues. If you decide to not continue on with the book, that is your choice and I have no problem whatsoever with you selecting two of the other three books to read and compare instead. I think you will find them less polemic. Just let me know what you decide and feel free to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns. I look forward to having such a critical mind as yours in class this coming year. It is so often that we see students apathetic towards their own education that it is refreshing to know those with strong opinions and voices are there as well.
I hope you are enjoying your break,
Daniel Doyle
He never responded and about two months later (the week before classes started for this school year) I received his completed paper, a comparison of Angela's Ashes and The Kite Runner with these comments ...
Here is my required work for AP Literature.
I will turn in the rest the first day of school.
Have a nice day.
Cole Montgomery
His paper was very articulate and expressed his initial apprehension but eventual appreciation for the books as works of literature but also respect for the stories that were told and their messages of compassion and understanding.
Blink.
