Lions and Tigers and Minivans, Oh My!

The single biggest influence on any literary work is the mind of the person who’s reading it.

Most English classes would disagree with me.  The overwhelming consensus (in public schools, at least) seems to be that a work must be dissected to be appreciated: you have to understand the author’s life and the time period to truly appreciate a piece of literature.  This isn’t wrong, per se, since analysis adds a wonderful depth to literature, but I’ve got two problems with that mindset.

First, it completely disregards the reader’s reason for actually liking the book.  Example: it took me years to appreciate To Kill a Mockingbird for the racial significance.  I loved seeing a book portray a child as a human being.

Second, we aren’t actually allowed to teach kids about the author’s life or the time period, so the actual purpose is moot.