Returning to Dickens

[kt]

I just wanted to say thanks for making your students read this. I'm in 9th grade this year & I just finished reading it. I doubt I ever would have read it, if it hadn't been an assignment, but now I am so glad I did! So thank you!

[Unregistered]

Why would you boot Swift for a tale of Two Cities? Johnson and Pope might be a bit too much for Tenth Graders, but Swfit just can't be booted. (no, of course I am not biased in any way...)

[Dan]

This was one of the first novels I taught to tenth graders when I began my career in 1962. Whenever the school assigned me tenth graders, I taught them the novel. The ones who actually read it always seemed to enjoy it and its vivid characters, especially the comic figure of Jerry Cruncher, the "honest tradesman" in contrast to the straightforward Jarvis Lorry, the "man of business." Their favorite, however, was always the sentimental self sacrificing Christ figure of Sydney Carton. Most found Darnay and Lucie rather colorless. Of course, some never enjoyed it because they lacked the ability to read anything heavier than TV Guide. I returned to teaching in 2000, having resigned in 1999; and this year (my third back in a new school) I added the novel to my Sophomore Brit Lit course, having jettisoned Lord of the Flies after my first year back, adding Pride and Prejudice in place of it. It was easy to add Dickens this year by booting some Swift, Pope, Johnson, and Coleridge. We just finished Book the First the other day, and the quizzes were heartening: several 100's and 95's, many 90's, and few 85's and 80," and,yes, some pretty low ones,too; but not many. We began reading Book the Second in class immediately after the quiz, and the reactions were almost universally positive, excited about the prospects of Jerry's honest tradesman role and the tricky strategy at Charles's trial at the Old Bailey. I'm glad I went back to the book. It's like being recalled to life.