In on-level English classes, we’re doing analysis papers on one or more characters from William Shakespeare’s play, Othello. We have three prompts to choose from, and we were told that we could alter the prompt however we wished so long as it’s core component was retained. I chose the prompt that centered around the play’s villain, Iago, because I enjoy analyzing characters who just really suck in terms of personality. But of course, not everyone feels this way. And can we really blame them?

I get that Shakespeare and many other “classic” writers are integral to English classes. Some of these classics are enjoyable to read, like The Great Gatsby, but some of them just really, really suck. Sometimes it’s because it’s just plain bad, or hard to understand, or just plain boring. 

We really don’t have much of a choice but to put up with them since we don’t want to fail, but I really wish that we were able to make silly analysis papers on books that we, the students, chose. Things like this are what cause students to lose an interest in reading or writing in general, which can be really devastating to those who really enjoy at least one of those things. And even when it comes to assigned readings, I wish we were able to be more flexible and have more fun with it.

Basically what I’m saying is that even though English is my favorite subject, it’s getting so boring. It’s the same thing every time this year: read a book made by some dead person, analyze the book by said dead person for several weeks, write an essay on the book, then repeat the whole cycle again. Not all of the classic books are good. Not all of them are as influential as people lead us to believe. Sometimes the award-winning classics are just not good, and that’s okay.

Why not let us analyze books from recent times? There’s a lot of aspects found in modern young adult fiction that is found in the classics, like the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Dig by A.S. King, and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. 

Teachers should try to incorporate these kinds of books into the curriculum because students would probably have much more fun with the assignments that would revolve around them, and would feel the need to put more effort into them. Plus, we look at the classics to compare the lessons taught in them to what we face in the real world, but that doesn’t mean that modern young adult fiction isn’t capable of doing the same thing.