Discovery of great novels – Books that schools inspire us to take up reading
by Cavan Wood
Were your school days the best days of your life? A cursory reading
much of literature produced about it suggests they were not.
Schools are places of learning, Places where school literature study plays a big role but they can be haunted by bullies or cynical teachers. They can provide a framework to explore teenage problems – such as in J.K.Rowling’s “ Harry Potter” series in which the magical establishment of Hogwarts seems a little like an Eton for wizards. Schools have the advantage of having a large cast of characters and personalities upon which a writer can develop their stories, which is why both in realistic and fantasy tales they are often featured.
They are the venues for power struggles. It might be the bully
against their victim. Or the race to become head boy or girl,
exposing the internal politics of teenage groups. Above all, it might
be about how does the teacher take control of a class and gain their
respect. These tensions can often be fertile ground to develop
stories in.
The school novel really began after the publication of Thomas
Hughes’ “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” in 1857. Dickens had presented
education in not an all together favourable light in both “Nicholas
Nickleby” and “Hard Times”, but both the academies featured are
not the principal focus of the tales. Hughes’ story is about a child
coming to terms with Rugby school – indeed, one edition says that
the novel is written by “an old boy”, someone who had walked the
path Tom was to in the tale. There are long accounts of how the
a game of rugby football developed there. Yet at the heart of the
novel, there is a conflict that needs to be resolved.
Hughes’ “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” in 1857. Dickens had presented
education in not an all together favourable light in both “Nicholas
Nickleby” and “Hard Times”, but both the academies featured are
not the principal focus of the tales. Hughes’ story is about a child
coming to terms with Rugby school – indeed, one edition says that
the novel is written by “an old boy”, someone who had walked the
path Tom was to in the tale. There are long accounts of how the
a game of rugby football developed there. Yet at the heart of the
novel, there is a conflict that needs to be resolved.
Tom encounters a bully in the form of Flashman, (a character so well
drawn that over a century later, George MacDonald Fraser, made
the school hard man the “hero” of a number of comicnovels). Following a trope
that will be developed in many other books and versions of school life,
Tom and the boys defeat their tormentor
in true David versus Goliath style. Thomas Hughes has an agenda in
his story is to show how Christian virtues should be the mark of the
gentlemen that schools at their best should be developing in their
students. Schools as a place where morals are learnt as well as
Maths or English is important in the debate to education to this day.
Teachers can be the centre of attention in the school novel,
especially as we see how students can learn from them as possible
role models. Sometimes, this can be disastrous as in the case of
“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”, where the title character teaches
them her fascist views as well as her subject. Yet this does not have
to be the case. In 1934, James Hilton produced perhaps the defining
picture of a secondary school teacher of his time in “Goodbye Mr
Chips.” We see the teacher across a number of years, with the
writer showing how his character goes through various stages. He is
the young buck, the middle aged man seeing others challenge his
ways and question his competence to becoming finally the respected
sage of the class and staff room.
in true David versus Goliath style. Thomas Hughes has an agenda in
his story is to show how Christian virtues should be the mark of the
gentlemen that schools at their best should be developing in their
students. Schools as a place where morals are learnt as well as
Maths or English is important in the debate to education to this day.
Teachers can be the centre of attention in the school novel,
especially as we see how students can learn from them as possible
role models. Sometimes, this can be disastrous as in the case of
“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”, where the title character teaches
them her fascist views as well as her subject. Yet this does not have
to be the case. In 1934, James Hilton produced perhaps the defining
picture of a secondary school teacher of his time in “Goodbye Mr
Chips.” We see the teacher across a number of years, with the
writer showing how his character goes through various stages. He is
the young buck, the middle aged man seeing others challenge his
ways and question his competence to becoming finally the respected
sage of the class and staff room.
Along the way, he has experienced loss with his wife and seen the
effects of the First World War. At one level, you think this is a life
wasted, but Hilton is clear that for all his struggles, there is a
nobility of purpose in Chips choosing teaching as a career. It is an
act of self-sacrifice for an essentially shy man who prefers the
company of books to others.
It enables him to influence an entire generation of children, even
when it might appear that the teaching of Latin is a dry pursuit. He
may not have become a parent to his own child, but when he is
challenged about this, he says “yes – umph – I have, he added with
quavering merriment,” Thousands of ’em, thousand of ‘em .. All boys”
(page 124 of the 1969 Hodder edition.). He has been “father” to
many students by his teaching, example and care.
Yet most school books are about the experience of the student not
the teacher. Sue Townsend’s “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged
13 and ¾” (1982) is a work of genius. It is a mark of her talent that a
middle aged woman (as she was at the time of creating her hero) was
totally able to draw a realistic portrait of the mind and interests of
her male title character. Townsend’s Adrian is an unreliable
narrator, with little clue as to what is really going on around him, be
that in his family or in the relationships he has with others or even
in his own head. Yet he thinks he understands all of these and while
this could provide tragedy, it instead is the source of great, realistic
comedy. He has a crush on Pandora, a girl that he will remain
besotted with for the rest of the series of novels, causing him
increasing heartbreak. He has a Flashman figure in the form of
Barry Kent, a bully who torments and later on has in some senses a
more successful life than Adrian. We feel for him despite the fact,
he is a hopeless failure like Mr Pooter in “The Diary of a Nobody”
and Bertie Wooster but his world is instantly recognisable. The fact
that Sue Townsend was able to take Adrian into middle age so
successfully shows how much she loved and understood here
character. Yet the influence of school is something is something he
can never escape.
Jonathan Coe’s “The Rotter’s club” (2001) is a very funny and
thoughtful book not just about school, but growing up as a teenager
in the West Midlands of the 1970s. The principal character
Benjamin Trotter (like Adrian Mole) is a naïve young man who has to
deal with the stresses of growing up. The novel is set in Birmingham
and a tragic incident that shaped the city in that decade is a key
moment in the story. Ben is struggling with understanding girls,
music, politics and race and the most puzzling, himself.
The students at the school he attends are equally worried about
their parents’ marriages, what the music press think about the
latest bands and are worried how their education might alienate
them from their loved ones. Then there are teachers and the
mysteries of the opposite sex to navigate. Coe uses a number of
different literary styles to show us what it was like to be a teenager
in the 1970s – which include school magazines, reflection pieces
from newspapers twenty years after the events and letters. The
characters are caught up in power struggles – through a debating
society and whether or not prefects are oppressors or role models.
Coe’s genius is to show the complexity of his characters whilst they
occasionally say things or behave in such a way that suggests they
have an understanding; yet their inexperience can lead them to
errors. The writer pulls off the trick of showing us that teenagers
can be hopeless dreamers, but that this is preferable to the
cynicism of much of the adult world.
When writers create the world of schools in their writings, we see
are a number of recurring themes. There are the students, who
often by their inexperience often do not really understand what is
going on between them and with their teachers. The best novels
show the complexity of the life of children and teenagers, showing
their certainties and their doubts, which causing them problems
over their identities. Then there are the teachers, who reflect many
different ages, philosophies and experience, which can often be ripe
for conflict, as older teachers find their ways questioned or even
underdetermined by new members of the profession. These are
often claustrophobic environments due to the discipline or the ethos
the school might feel that they need to survive or flourish.
Schools are a cross section of our society, bringing together a
diverse cast of backgrounds and problems that you are unlikely to
find anywhere else. This unique situation has made them the focus
of attention for politicians and social reformers who see that if you
could change this micro-world, you could make the society we live in
better. This is partially true, but it is also too simple as these novels
show. There are forces that are acting on students and teachers
alike that determine the success or otherwise of our schools which
are not necessarily under their control. The great school novels are
able to capture some of these complexities, showing the glory,
comedy and tragedy of humanity.
More about Cavan Wood
Cavan is a well sought after writer, teacher and speaker based in Sussex of over thirty years experience. He has written about religious, moral, cultural and political themes , having written or contributed chapters to over twenty books published by Bloomsbury, Oxford University Press , The Bible Reading Fellowship and Hodder amongst others. He is interested in politics, literature, cinema and is a leader in his local church. He is married with a wife, two children and a somewhat surly cat called Chloe.Are you in need of a weekly fiction fix
Subscribe and get it sent straight into your in box
* indicates required
Email Format
No comments:
Post a Comment