History through Literature
The following paper will demonstrate that one of the best ways of learning history is through literature. People do not like to memorize and in this case, with literature, learning history can be more meaningful for them. Thus, this issue will be explained in our real contexts.
First of all, it is a fact that lots of people do not like to learn history because of they have to memorize and recall all the times facts, events, process, and dates of the past situations. For instance, my experience at schools where I have been studying and assigned to work in, it is well known that History or Sociedad, as it is called now, is not pleasant to learn; because it is not relevant or it is not useful for them in order to use it according with their context, and so with what they think, need to live, to achieve their goals, and to understand their present.
Referring to this fact, it is important to know what is happening inside schools. There are many problems related with this issue. Some of them are how history is taught at schools, how students are learning history, how literature is understood, and so on. It is essential to clear what meanings these concepts have to develop the thesis set out above.
To begin with, I will give some approaches of Literature. At schools, Literature is perceived just as reading and more reading. Reading that does not have relevance for students’ concerns. This happens because teachers do not teach what literature actually means. Trough my experience at Literature courses, I have learnt that literature is the pure expression of cultures. With this huge tool I am able to know my past, my culture and, most important, who I am. Thanks to literature I am more capable to critic, analyze, develop, reflect, imagine and create my own world.
Although, I have built my own perception of literature, there is not only one answer of it. Other important fact is how people perceive literature to learn from it. To support this statement, Esther Lombardi mentions that “Literature introduces us to new worlds of experience; we learn about books and literature… this decoding of the text is often carried out through the use of literary theory, using a mythological, sociological, psychological, historical, or other approach…”
Other problem of why people do not like literature due to they are not accustomed to read or be expressed, and still more to consider actually what they read or what to say. Therefore, it is very difficult for them to understand or create written works, thus, they do not like it. As Robert Louis Stevenson states, “The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish." It is really important to analyze and interpret what readers are saying, thus we are able to learn how to express and at the same time to be interprete
d.
Nevertheless, people do not learn or comprehend these approaches of literature. Therefore, people do not like literature, not even read and express themselves due to they do not know how to. Meanwhile, if we are learning history, we do have to read. Consequently with it, we should analyze, critic, comprehend, acquire, reflect on, and to question why events happened happened.
In this case, students’ perceptions of history in their learning process are that they do not learn what they have to. This happens as a consequence of what teachers teach. At schools, educators give dates, events and some facts of what happened in the past, but not why they occurred. History is not a bag full of dates and facts. This is more related with human beings and their memory. I refer memory in terms of humans’ experiences, learning and comprehension, not a way of memorization.
There are a lot of definitions and concepts of what history is, and all of them are correct due to there is not only one accurate answer of it. However, according to Malcolm X, “History is a people's memory, and without memory man is demoted to the lower animals.” And Friedrich Nietzsche adheres, “Genuine historical knowledge requires nobility of character, a profound understanding of human existence -- not detachment and objectivity.” I agree with these two concepts of history. They state what teachers must know, history is not just objective, it is more subjective because it comes from us.
So, in accordance with these two concepts, History and Literature people can relate our history with some written works such as poems, novels and tales that being fictitious or real are more relevant for them to learn. For instance, if we read Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, we realize Oliver’s story is fictitious, but it gives us facts of really occurred at the Victorian Age. Clearly, with this story students can learn about child labor, human rights, social inequities, Industrial Revolution, etc, that belong to our history, as well.
Other examples are the essays. Virginia Woolf wrote her essays and novels according to what she lived and thought, such as A Room of One’s Own. This is a very good example to learn and comprehend the social and cultural inequity and injustice between women and men that have been part of our long history. Poems express what poets saw in the past. It is really important to mention, T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land, or W. H. Auden, in his September 1, 1939. This latter poem clearly shows the impact of living the World War II and what some revolutionaries such as M. Luther King, wanted to show to people. Others good examples of stories with history are some children’s literature such as Anna Frank Diary and Flowers on the Wall, by Myriam Nerlove, whom show the Holocaust through real stories during the WWII. All written works like novels, poems, tales, and so forth, want to tell us something. We have to interpret them.
To sum up, what I try to make in this paper is to show the differences of learning History isolated and learning it through Literature. Teachers must be aware of the several possibilities they have teaching a subject. In the case of history, if students learn it through literature, they are going to be capable to understand their context, and so they would try to change it for their better. In this way, students are aware of what Literature and History actually mean. Therefore, they will learn in a meaningful context what happened, and at the same time they will be open minded for their own world. I strongly believe it would be possible to reach the critical literacy at schools, through this path. As teachers we should transform students’ perceptions of the world to change and improve it. Critical Literacy lets us to involve the analysis and critique of the relationships among texts, language, power, social groups and social practices.
Works Cited and References
Crtical Literacy. English Learning Area. Especially for Teachers. Department of Education, Tasmania, School Education Division. 2007
Di Fligio, Gina. Teaching History through Children’s Literature. Elmhurst College Preservice Teacher. 2003.
Lombardi, Esther. Literature. Classic Literature.
Meyer, Jim. What is Literature? A Definition Based on Prototypes. USA. 1997.
Ortega, Eliana. North American Literature Course. English Pedagogy. Alberto Hurtado University. Chile. 2009.
Trajtemberg, Claudia. British Literature II Course. English Pedagogy. Alberto Hurtado University. Chile. 2009.
What is History? <>
The following paper will demonstrate that one of the best ways of learning history is through literature. People do not like to memorize and in this case, with literature, learning history can be more meaningful for them. Thus, this issue will be explained in our real contexts.
First of all, it is a fact that lots of people do not like to learn history because of they have to memorize and recall all the times facts, events, process, and dates of the past situations. For instance, my experience at schools where I have been studying and assigned to work in, it is well known that History or Sociedad, as it is called now, is not pleasant to learn; because it is not relevant or it is not useful for them in order to use it according with their context, and so with what they think, need to live, to achieve their goals, and to understand their present.
Referring to this fact, it is important to know what is happening inside schools. There are many problems related with this issue. Some of them are how history is taught at schools, how students are learning history, how literature is understood, and so on. It is essential to clear what meanings these concepts have to develop the thesis set out above.
To begin with, I will give some approaches of Literature. At schools, Literature is perceived just as reading and more reading. Reading that does not have relevance for students’ concerns. This happens because teachers do not teach what literature actually means. Trough my experience at Literature courses, I have learnt that literature is the pure expression of cultures. With this huge tool I am able to know my past, my culture and, most important, who I am. Thanks to literature I am more capable to critic, analyze, develop, reflect, imagine and create my own world.
Although, I have built my own perception of literature, there is not only one answer of it. Other important fact is how people perceive literature to learn from it. To support this statement, Esther Lombardi mentions that “Literature introduces us to new worlds of experience; we learn about books and literature… this decoding of the text is often carried out through the use of literary theory, using a mythological, sociological, psychological, historical, or other approach…”
Other problem of why people do not like literature due to they are not accustomed to read or be expressed, and still more to consider actually what they read or what to say. Therefore, it is very difficult for them to understand or create written works, thus, they do not like it. As Robert Louis Stevenson states, “The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish." It is really important to analyze and interpret what readers are saying, thus we are able to learn how to express and at the same time to be interprete
d.Nevertheless, people do not learn or comprehend these approaches of literature. Therefore, people do not like literature, not even read and express themselves due to they do not know how to. Meanwhile, if we are learning history, we do have to read. Consequently with it, we should analyze, critic, comprehend, acquire, reflect on, and to question why events happened happened.
In this case, students’ perceptions of history in their learning process are that they do not learn what they have to. This happens as a consequence of what teachers teach. At schools, educators give dates, events and some facts of what happened in the past, but not why they occurred. History is not a bag full of dates and facts. This is more related with human beings and their memory. I refer memory in terms of humans’ experiences, learning and comprehension, not a way of memorization.
There are a lot of definitions and concepts of what history is, and all of them are correct due to there is not only one accurate answer of it. However, according to Malcolm X, “History is a people's memory, and without memory man is demoted to the lower animals.” And Friedrich Nietzsche adheres, “Genuine historical knowledge requires nobility of character, a profound understanding of human existence -- not detachment and objectivity.” I agree with these two concepts of history. They state what teachers must know, history is not just objective, it is more subjective because it comes from us.
So, in accordance with these two concepts, History and Literature people can relate our history with some written works such as poems, novels and tales that being fictitious or real are more relevant for them to learn. For instance, if we read Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, we realize Oliver’s story is fictitious, but it gives us facts of really occurred at the Victorian Age. Clearly, with this story students can learn about child labor, human rights, social inequities, Industrial Revolution, etc, that belong to our history, as well.
Other examples are the essays. Virginia Woolf wrote her essays and novels according to what she lived and thought, such as A Room of One’s Own. This is a very good example to learn and comprehend the social and cultural inequity and injustice between women and men that have been part of our long history. Poems express what poets saw in the past. It is really important to mention, T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land, or W. H. Auden, in his September 1, 1939. This latter poem clearly shows the impact of living the World War II and what some revolutionaries such as M. Luther King, wanted to show to people. Others good examples of stories with history are some children’s literature such as Anna Frank Diary and Flowers on the Wall, by Myriam Nerlove, whom show the Holocaust through real stories during the WWII. All written works like novels, poems, tales, and so forth, want to tell us something. We have to interpret them.
To sum up, what I try to make in this paper is to show the differences of learning History isolated and learning it through Literature. Teachers must be aware of the several possibilities they have teaching a subject. In the case of history, if students learn it through literature, they are going to be capable to understand their context, and so they would try to change it for their better. In this way, students are aware of what Literature and History actually mean. Therefore, they will learn in a meaningful context what happened, and at the same time they will be open minded for their own world. I strongly believe it would be possible to reach the critical literacy at schools, through this path. As teachers we should transform students’ perceptions of the world to change and improve it. Critical Literacy lets us to involve the analysis and critique of the relationships among texts, language, power, social groups and social practices.
Works Cited and References
Crtical Literacy. English Learning Area. Especially for Teachers. Department of Education, Tasmania, School Education Division. 2007
Di Fligio, Gina. Teaching History through Children’s Literature. Elmhurst College Preservice Teacher. 2003.
Lombardi, Esther. Literature. Classic Literature.
Meyer, Jim. What is Literature? A Definition Based on Prototypes. USA. 1997.
Ortega, Eliana. North American Literature Course. English Pedagogy. Alberto Hurtado University. Chile. 2009.
Trajtemberg, Claudia. British Literature II Course. English Pedagogy. Alberto Hurtado University. Chile. 2009.
What is History? <>
History through Literature
