Literature Can Soothe the Savage Barbarian? On Taste and Class

One day in my AP Language Class, my students read a series of articles on the death of Princess Diana in order to analyze different audiences and purposes for each kind of article. I chose this particular subject for the students to analyze as it related to the current topic of Prince William and Catherine Middleton's engagement and Diana's death was an event that had happened in my student's lifetime -- although they were quite young. My students, who are a very diverse crowd both economically and racial/culturally had mixed reactions to the subject. Some of my students -- mainly the Asian, Latino and African American -- did not know much about the British Royal Family and one girl, whose knowledge of Princes and Princesses came primarily from Disney films, asked if the reason Princess Diana was called a Princess was because she was still a teenager. Didn't she become Queen when she became a grown up woman? This experience was sort of a wake up call for me about class, culture, and taste.

If your ethnic background does not take your family roots back to merry old England or even Europe, why would you be interested in all things British? Even British literature? This is why it should also not be a surprise to me that the Latino and African American English teachers in my school try to avoid teaching Shakespeare and the British Literature course. What is interesting about that is if I disdained to teach Toni Morrison or Sandra Cisneros, I would be called a racist. Aren't those guys being racist for disdaining to teach "the dead white males"? I would like to say NO on both accounts, because for most of us, it is simply a matter of taste.

David Hume reminds us that the temperate rather than the passionate nature will make us "happier" human beings. It is most of the time not within our control to experience good or bad fortune, so one should cultivate a calmer disposition in order to enjoy the ordinary days in life rather than let our extreme passions on good and bad days overshadow the joy of everyday living. However, one of the things Hume suggests adds to the joy of everyday living is our capacity to become passionate about the artistic beauty we choose to expose ourselves to -- specifically in literature. He notes that ". . . delicacy of taste has the same effect as delicacy of passion: It enlarges the sphere of both our happiness and misery and makes us sensible to pains as well as pleasures, which escape the rest of mankind . . .the good or ill accidents of life are very little at our disposal; but we are pretty much masters of what books we shall read, what diversions we shall partake of, and what company we keep . . . every wise man will endeavor to place his happiness on such objects chiefly as depend upon himself; and that is not to be attained so much by any other means by this delicacy of sentiment. When a man is possessed of that talent, he is more happy by what pleases his taste, than by what gratifies his appetites, and receives more enjoyment from a poem or a piece of reasoning than the most expensive luxury can afford."

That being said, even if one's background or culture does not naturally gravitate one toward what Hume calls the "higher and more refined taste" that does not mean teachers should not attempt to expose students to work they might not naturally gravitate toward. I like to use Literature Circles with my students which gives them somewhat of a choice. If I have to teach British Literature, students can at least choose their novel or author based on what they might most be naturally interested in. This has been somewhat successful, even with kids who had not been exposed much to British literature. Plus, my passion toward the subject goes a long way in showing students the beauty and power of the language of authors such as Shakespeare or Dickens or Austen.

Conversely, my natural affinity may not be to gravitate toward authors outside of my comfort zone, but have learned to love and appreciate work of multicultural authors. Refined and higher minded work does not always come from the dead white males -- and I never thought it did -- but I also think there is still much to be appreciated and taught from those tried and true classics.

Matthew Arnold believes taste varies between the classes of the Populace, the Philistines, and the Barbarians and he concedes that there is much to admire in the culture of all three of these classes. I think it is dangerous to pigeon hole the taste of humans into social classes, even if there is a lot of truth behind stereotypes and categories. As a teacher of high school English, I believe it is my job to expose my students and myself to a wide variety of taste in literature and to never look down on anyone's taste in literature or music or art. This kind of beauty does what Hume says it should do -- adds passion and happiness to our ordinary lives.

However, the question of what kinds of literature one should be exposed to in order to qualify as "well educated" is still highly debated -- but I think it is dangerous when the debate becomes too race and culture oriented. It should be a matter of taste. The educated palate should be able to, as Hume suggests, "judge the character of men, of compositions of genius, and productions of the nobler arts" regardless of the race or social class from which this work of art originated.