A Rare Occurence

I have a love hate relationship with the classics. They are the classics for a reason, (even if it's just happenstance that they are deemed "classics" as we discussed on Tuesday) as they are amazing in their own ways. As an English major, I have an undeniable respect and love for the classics. However, sometimes reading them can be such a force if I have to read them for a class. Odds are, I will dislike a book more if it is assigned than if I was just reading it in my free time. Having to read something in a specific timeframe, especially during an already heavy work week, will make me bitter when it comes to sitting down and reading a classic novel. Therefore, a lot of the classic novels I have read left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, as taking the time to read them was a bit of an inconvenience and contributed to my lack of sleep.

There are some classic novels, however, that were so good that I couldn’t be spiteful. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening for example. I read that novel in my senior year of high school, and wow I love that book. It was one of the first real pieces of feminist literature that I read and truly understood. It contributed to my own feminist “awakening.” Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Golding's Lord of the Flies, and surprisingly, Orwell’s 1984. These are all classic novels I was forced to read that I really enjoyed.

I’m currently reading an assigned book that will undoubtedly be added to this lineup of books. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. This one, again, was a bit of a surprise. I have to read it as a part of my American Renaissance class. I was definitely intrigued going into it, as I had heard of the autobiography countless times before picking it up. However, I didn’t think I’d appreciate it this much. Obviously, it’s brutal. Reading the depictions of slavery are jarring. However, isn’t literature supposed to be jarring? Literature can spur us to action, hold us accountable for our past, and encourage us not to repeat it. This narrative does all of those things. It is so vital to the literary canon. This book has made me feel more emotions than perhaps any of the classics I’ve ever read. I have so much admiration for Douglass, who risked everything to tell his story to support the abolitionist movement. To come from slavery and tell his story so poignantly is awe inspiring.

One part of the book that really struck me was in a letter Douglass received from Wendell Phillips. It begins saying “You remember the old fable of ‘The Man and the Lion,’ where the lion complained that he should not be so misrepresented ‘when the lions wrote history.’ I am glad the time has come when the ‘lions write history’” (13). I reread those lines multiple times, they are so powerful. That is exactly what Douglass did. It’s also what we still need. We need the voices of those disenfranchised, those who have been treated unequally to tell their stories and write history.

I have only read half of Douglass’ narrative, but I look forward to finishing it and continuing to be moved by his words.