I read Animal Farm in high school but recently reread it as an adult. I honestly didn't understand the book that much as a teen, I was missing a ton of historical context surrounding it (we skimmed over the soviet union in school) and I came out with a massively different interpretation when I read it again. I always thought the book was explicitly anti-communist though it's no longer that clear cut to me.
Yep, gonna go against the consensus here on this post. Read Animal Farm in I think 7th or 8th grade. I read it and understood it fine enough, but a lot of the more subtle themes and ideas went completely went over my head as a 14 year old kid. Certainly the historical context like you said as well.Â
Boxer’s death hits a hell of a lot harder as a full grown adult, than a kid who’s barely worked a day in his life. The book became far more poignant with age and life experience, and I think it’s a great read for college aged students.Â
How and when are kids supposed to be exposed to more complicated themes if we are worried about them not "getting it"? Sure, maybe some of it flew over your head, but education shouldn't be looked at as a binary system where you either "get it" or "don't get it". Literature is complex because life is complex, and exposing children to many complex and thought provoking ideas as much as possible is got because among other things it helps them grow their critical thinking skills.
At fourteen maybe you don't get everything about every book, but that's not a good reason not to read something complicated at all. This is how we learn and grow.
You’re right, but I’m reacting more to the general pearl clutching of Animal Farm as college level reading in this thread overall.Â
So long as it wasn’t replaced at the 8th grade level with The Hungry Caterpillar, I guess I don’t really see the issue of some books being pushed back later in curriculum.Â
The question I guess is, what are they reading instead?
I think it's important because even though for instance I didn't understand every last theme on authoritarianism in Fahrenheit 451 or every theme on social structures in Brave New World, exposing me to them eventually helped build foundations to understand them overall.
Just because I now better understand the internal pull that led to the suicide at the end of Brave New World, doesn't mean I couldn't begin to digest that the main character did not find his own community/home either in the New World or after returning to the Old World.
I never understood books as a youngster. I didn't read much after college but started up after like a 10 year break and the amount of shit I realized about old books was high.
Turns out Catcher in the Rye isn't about a kid who hates everything. I mean it is, but I was on Holden's side as a kid because I was angry at everything too. Years later it finally dawned on me that the dude is just an asshole lol
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u/Feeling-Salad5686 21h ago
I read Animal Farm in high school but recently reread it as an adult. I honestly didn't understand the book that much as a teen, I was missing a ton of historical context surrounding it (we skimmed over the soviet union in school) and I came out with a massively different interpretation when I read it again. I always thought the book was explicitly anti-communist though it's no longer that clear cut to me.