Reading the Classics

Some good friends and I have challenged one another to read more classics this year. There are so many great books I have never read and it's fun to read and discuss them with friends (not to mention it's good to be held accountable!). My natural inclination is to use reading as an escape--as entertainment. This challenge is helping me better use my reading time to educate myself and grow in my thinking. We compiled a huge list of books we would like to read, most of which at least one of us has never read. The list is daunting, but we decided to focus on one classic per month which makes it more realistic and attainable. I'm going to briefly summarize thoughts and impressions from the classics I've read so far this year with these friends.

GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
I started this in December and finished it in January, so I'm including it on "this year". I had started Gone with the Wind in high school and never finished it. In the early part of the book I remembered why I didn't finish it: I simply don't like Scarlett. I know! I think I'm the only person who feels this way, but I find her annoying and a spoiled, selfish little brat (although at the end I felt so sorry for her and thought a 45-year-old could surely give an immature 28-year-old another chance!!). I persevered, however, and became captivated by the story because of Mitchell's amazing gift with words. (Really, the reason I dislike Scarlett so is due to Mitchell's characterization!). I am glad I read this book, which was ultimately about survival ("In the end what will happen will be what has happened whenever a civilization breaks up. The people who have brains and courage come through and the ones who haven't are winnowed out."), and find it an interesting view of the Southern culture and the ravages of the Civil War. I was also especially impressed by the reminder of perspective:

"In the old days, now dead and gone, life had been so complex, so full of intricate and complicated problems. . .Now life was so amazingly simple. Now all that mattered was food enough to keep off starvation, clothing enough to prevent freezing and a roof overhead which did not leak too much." --Scarlett

I think it would be interesting to read Gone With the Wind and Uncle Tom's Cabin back to back.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I was fascinated with this book that we read in January and will definitely have to read it again some day. It was a challenging read for me as I had to look up words like "scrofulous" (morally degenerate, corrupt) and acquaint myself with ideas and teachings like those of Fourier (a mathematician--trig in specific and heat equations) and Schiller (a philosopher who believed emotions should be educated by reason so that duty and inclination are no longer in conflict with one another and who taught the ability to defy one's animal instincts, such as the drive for self-preservation, and willingly sacrifice self for conceptual ideals). Then there was Nietzsche saying "God is dead" and presenting a "superman" ideology and nihilism rejecting all the "old beliefs" in favor of "nothing". . .it really was a thought-provoking book that incited my curiosity! I would love to study it with the kids someday--maybe their senior year as there is a lot of depth to this novel.

In a nutshell, the main character commits a murder and then suffers the punishment of guilt as he waits for the police to figure out he did it. His motives for the murder are unusual, his actions after the murder are bizarre, and his relationships with his family and friends are especially strange. There is so much depth to this book--themes of sacrifice, love, guilt, alienation, suffering, poverty, pride, selfishness. . .The main character is very interesting, but some of the minor characters are just as interesting if not more so! I'm so glad to have read this book!

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
Our classic for the month of February was one I had read twice before--in high school and in college. It was much easier to read than C&P, which was a nice change and the storyline is such that it can be read in one or two sittings. Even though I had read it before, some of my life's experiences made different aspects of the book stand out to me. For instance, I found it interesting to compare and contrast the racial stereotypes in this book with those in Gone With the Wind--and then think back to Invisible Man which I read last fall. I was also fascinated by the commentary this book had on education, which I suppose is more meaningful to me now as a home educator than it was as a student. I was struck by the way Atticus taught his children, nurturing their curiosity and whetting their appetite for learning and how that was contrasted with the teacher's rigidity and adherence to what the curriculum said a child should know and when. As an educator, it reminded me of what is important in teaching my individual children and not to get boxed in by curricula or tests or the expectations of other people. Life, or experience, truly is our best teacher.

I was disappointed that we didn't make time to discuss this book with my friends (which my children jokingly refer to as our "literature class") and I just may have to drag my friend Dianna to a nearby library for their book discussion--I think she said it's on the 23rd, right Dianna?? :)

The message that hit me most in reading To Kill a Mockingbird this time is summed up in a quote from Mother Teresa that I see on the header of an online friend's blog:

"It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start."

I would add to this quote "our own home, family, neighborhood, or town". I don't know if it's because I read Radical by David Platt and Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearn in the last couple months as well, or what the reason is, but it really stood out to me that the ladies of the Missionary Society were so concerned with doing good to those "Negroes in Africa" yet completely overlooked the need to love those 'close to home' and talked badly about their African-American cooks and servants. This hypocrisy really stood out to me. I'm not negating the need to be aware of poverty in other countries and to do what we can in the name of Jesus to help those in third world countries. It just reminded me to tend to our relationships with our own families, friends, and neighbors first--even though it's sometimes easier to feel compassion and a desire to help people in third world countries than it is to feel love and compassion for those we actually interact with who might be annoying, selfish, rude, or unappreciative.

There's much more that could be addressed, but I'm going to go read a few more pages of the "modern classic" we're reading this month: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy.