The first article I read was called Is the Literary Canon Still Racist and Sexist? I found this article to be very interesting and something that I can agree with. While I was reading I often agreed with the author about how there are no women writers or colored men who are recognized in a canon. This struck me as racist and sexist in many ways. I agree with the author when they explain that maybe the reason for not having these types of people in the canon was because it was not acceptable for them to write or even have books published during that time, but that still doesn’t answer the question as to why there aren’t women or colored men in canons today. I believe that canons need to be changed or at least looked over again, because there are lots of new writers out there besides Shakespeare who have written amazing works of art.
The second article I read was called The Literary Canon- What Books Should be Required Reading? Reading this article has helped me get a better understanding of what canons really are and how they are different for every person. As the author mentioned in the article “My instinct is to give him a list of the most important books we think are worth reading, regardless of gender or race or time period, and then arm him with some history about how the canon was formed, how it has evolved, and whether there should be a canon at all” she wants teachers to explain what a canon is to the students but not have them read books of what is solely on the list. In my opinion, everyone has a different perspective on whats a good book, poem, song or etc, so how are we able to make a canon that is agreeable and please-able for all? Well the answer is, is that we simply can’t. I believe that the people who create the canons are not focusing on what is really valuable. They need to look at the bigger picture and get writing from different people and different time areas to get a wider range of types of writing to include in the canon.
jenniferschuppieeng112 