Statement
Somehow we've managed think it's okay to focus on dystopian futures, but not utopian futures. In school we're read Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" but not "The Island". We read dystopian and depressing stories like "1984", "Farenheit 451", "Lord of the Flies", "The Great Gatsby", "Harrison Bergeron", "Slaughterhouse Five", "Night", "Animal Farm", "Hamlet", etc.
I honestly don't remember reading one uplifting book when I was in school. No wonder I read slowly, I likely linked reading to feeling lethargic, helpless and depressed.
While there are great lessons in the aforementioned stories, may we explore the possibility that we can also learn lessons from uplifting books that imagine a healthy future that we can feel more inspired to create?
The only major cultural influence of a healthy future that I recall is Star Trek. More recently "The Celestine Prophesy" taught ways of being that promote harmony and healing.
Reply
Simply put, difficult topics are essential for teaching and practicing empathy. These "depressing" texts create socially-consciences adults.
Ideally, up to this point, children have been reading books that build technical and critical thinking skills with less danger – like “Johnny Termain” or “Little Women” or “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” or “Anne of Green Gables.” Even "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey."
Also, let’s not pit books against each other - the human condition is complex and often many aspects of humanity exists in each story. What each person takes away from a book is different. Conflict and consequence exist even in the happiest of stories, it is what makes them compelling.
As teenagers, students finally recognize themselves in the texts and characters - and through that opening, can see struggling communities and worlds beyond their experiences and in safe spaces. They can discover circumstances surrounding issues and parallel elements within their own lives and systems allowing them to be more socially minded outside their spheres. We grow through discomfort - when readers are uncomfortable, they open themselves blind spots in their own thinking and then have the ability to confront and dismantle normalized harmful ideologies.
