Entry 1

 


           Good afternoon, readers! In the last week, we’ve read our way through four stories from different cultures: Faust by Goethe, The Guest by Camus, The Metamorphosis by Kafka, and Requiem by Akhmatova. And we have examined them to deduce common themes. One of the common themes that one could place is the prevailing theme of powerlessness that permeates much of all four stories. Powerlessness is a sensation that is prevalent in just about every human being’s lifetime at some point.

While it is not a particularly positive theme, it is a theme that most certainly could resonate well with high school students. Though this does depend on the level of personal independence each individual student has actually achieved and would be better served early on. For teaching the topic, creativity might be necessary. Alternatively, talented oration would be a sufficient replacement. Ask students to imagine losing a beloved family member or pet, consider how that might make them feel, and have them answer. Make sure to keep everyone in that mindset to relate to the characters in the story.


Elements of popular culture that could be used to engage students in the theme might be significantly more banal than one might expect. Today’s teens are often quite environmentally conscious and conservation efforts often aren’t as effective as some would like. Therefore, emphasis on the subject of our grievously wounded planet, biosphere, and ecosystem might be enough to draw sufficient parallels to get the idea across alone.

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