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

Abrief 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 2002,1 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 to the works and the characters, the students moved beyond their labels (remedial and/or average) and became honors students. seeing the increased confidence, competence, and attitude among my students, I borrowed books from the Advanced Placement program-Bless Me, Ultima and / Know Why the Caged 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 often relegated to a narrow range of literature. second, as stated earlier, I was never provided with young adult novels to use with my students, novels which would have interested them and, perhaps, prompted them to participate more in class. I had either nothing or the abridged versions of classic works (A Separate Peace, Great Expectations, etc.) included in the anthology which were at least two grades above most students' reading level.

Both of these factors-readings with little relevance to students' lives and literature too difficult for them to read-contribute to low interest and achievement levels and provide a justification for using young adult literature even if an exact definition for young adult literature may be elusive. Herz and Gallo (2005) note that there is "no agreed-upon literal definition of YAL [young adult literature]. Others have defined it as any kind of literature read voluntarily by teenagers, while some describe it as books with teenage protagonists, or books written for a teenage audience" (11). Young adult literature serves two primary purposes: It gets students interested in reading and allows teachers to provide challenging assignments. The latter purpose is where literary theory comes in. Young adult literature, according to Ted Hippie, "must be read with attention, not simply to its story lines, characters, or settings but also and very importantly to its themes" (2000, 2). Lisa Schade Eckert (2006) adds to the discussion, asserting that:

Teaching students to use literary theory as a strategy to construct meaning is teaching reading. Learning theory gives them a purpose in approaching a reading task, helps them to make and test predictions as they read, and provides a framework for student response and awareness of their stance in approaching a text. . . making literary theory an explicit part of instruction provides a teacher with opportunities to model ways of reading instead of merely translating a text (8).

In this article we attempt to illustrate these opportunities as we present aspects of one university student's (Candace) project, the pairing of two controversial novels-Ironman and The Catcher in the Rye-aimed at ninth- or tenth-grade students. Along the way, we hope to provide access to literary theory for teachers who may not have background knowledge in it and how to make it relevant for students. We also hope to illustrate purposes of pairing a young adult novel with a classic literary work, such as showing students that classics still have relevance in their lives and that young adult fiction has significance beyond interesting plots and characters. First, we offer a rationale for pairing of Ironman and The Catcher in the Rye, brief summaries of the novels, and theme and theory connectors. Then, short introductions to applicable literary theories are given to provide teachers with a starting point. Lastly, we present one idea in practice. Other young adult and classic literature pairing ideas are provided as an appendix.