You Are What You Read?
Do you remember the books you read in high school? I’m guessing that some of the books include: Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, 1984, Hamlet, etc. These books incorporate extremely negative themes such as violence, depression, anarchy, and skepticism of the government. The effects of these themes, especially to growing teenagers, can be exceedingly harmful. At worst, exposure to these texts can make teens think that since the world is corrupt, there is no point in contributing to society.
According to a 2002 study conducted by J.G. Johnson and published in “Science” magazine, the more [violent] media a teenager consumes, the more likely he is to commit acts of violence and aggression. This is not the only effect. Other studies show that exposure to violent media result in desensitization to violence, nightmares, and even fear of being harmed on a daily basis. According to Emanuel Tanay (retired Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Wayne State University and a forensic psychiatrist for more than 50 years), the two teenage boys who murdered 12 schoolmates and a teacher and injured 21 others at Columbine High School in Colorado before killing themselves lived in a pathological environment. “Their lives centered around violent video games.”
While the texts studied in school are not video games or television, the ideas within the contexts carry similar messages. For example, in Lord of the Flies, a group of children crash-lands on an island with no adults. Even though the group starts out with a fair government, any form of order quickly falls as Golding presents his thoughts on anarchy and on the dark side of human nature. The group of boys quickly resorts to extreme violence and one of the boys starts a dictatorship, ruling the other children with fear. Another book with similar themes can include Animal Farm, which is a satire of Russian history. After throwing the owner of the farm out, the animals begin a utopian society. However, the utopia fails and the pigs begin a dictatorship. The pigs, being smarter than others, uses deceit and trickery to enslave the other animals. If the other animals didn’t listen, the pigs would send out dogs, the military forces, to injure them. Even though both of the literatures are fictional, their themes and meanings have an especially unconstructive effect on maturing teens.
Teens are seeds of potential that can advance the welfare of our society. To ensure the future of the seeds, it is the high school’s duty is to provide positive influences for them. In place of Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm, the school should offer books with hopeful themes, such as Life of Pi and even the Shakespearian play: The Taming of the Shrew. These works will present a positive outlook on life, giving teens a new perspective on how contributions and support to communities will help shape their own personal values.
Sam is currently a Grade 10 student in the St. Georges Senior School, but he has been in the school since Grade 6 in the Junior School. As an athlete with...
Frank Sandoval • May 19, 2015 at 2:43 pm
Sam,
First of all, great title!
However, I have talked to diverse people in my ELL class and some of the thoughts about this that I have collected disagree with your statements: “I agree that this books impact our live, but not as much as it is considered here. It is pictured as an extreme, however, events like the Colorado killings are not mainly caused by these reasons but by others like loose gun laws.” Justus Krug.
“These books do implement the idea of a dark world, but at the same time they also are meant to introduce the idea of working hard to overcome situations such the ones presented in this books, which is a good message for teenagers to learn in school.” Harry Yuan.
“From my experience I have to disagree. In class, when we read these books we also analyze them and develop on their themes, which rather than desensitizing makes people become more sensitive about these themes.” Mr. Roberts.
I personally agree with your ideas, but I just wanted to make a constructive critique.
Sincerely,
Frank
Sam Shen • May 21, 2015 at 11:28 am
Thanks for replying! I wrote like 500 words back but the comment bugged out and got deleted so this one might be a bit shorter :X
To Justus: While the main cause of the Colorado shootings is due to loose gun control laws and school safety regulations, there are underlying causes that motivate the teens to actually do the shooting. There was a national debate about whether the teens were bullied, played violent video games, or exposed to violent media affected their behaviours. Since we do not know about their lives before their attack, we cannot say for sure whether violent media influenced them to the extreme of using physical violence.
To Harry: I agree with the idea of working hard to overcome situations, but some of the books do not suggest that. Let’s take Animal Farm for example. One of the most hard working animals, Boxer the horse, does almost triple the other animals’ work everyday to contribute to the welfare of the farm. He works hard to overcome the difficult situation that his farm is going through. However, after a full lifetime of work, Boxer is sold and slaughtered mercilessly by the dictators (the pigs). I don’t see how this is a positive message to developing teens; hard work is repaid by betrayal and deceit. Meanwhile it may raise awareness of the corrupt government, this relates back to my argument. This can make teens think that since the world is corrupt, there is no point in contributing to society.
To Mr. Roberts: talked inclass.