Bringing the Human Back to the Humanities

The topic of nonfiction reading has come up a lot in the professional articles I've been reading lately. This is in response to the-- shocking to some -- number the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) used that 70% of all reading in High School should be nonfiction. Because many teachers believe that the CCSS is a path in the right direction, and because teachers usually do what they're told, we look for support to implement the new standards in a pedagogically sound way. The articles I've read describe primary source reading and vocabulary lessons and cross-curricular integration ideas and nonfiction back-up to novel studies.

It all makes sense to me, but last week as I was reading Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson, I was thinking: Why not read more fiction in Social Studies?

image from Amazon.com website

I had just finished teaching the American Revolutionary War during Social Studies before spring break. The students read the textbook, watched clips from The History Channel's series Revolution!, participated in role play, worked with maps, and took a test. It was a pretty good unit.  The video clips were, by far, the most popular and memorable part for the students: maybe because they like the mental break of receiving  information passively, maybe because more and more of their out of school information comes from video sources, or maybe because seeing the actors recreate the scenes helps the information come alive. Despite its popularity, however, there was a distance and objectivity to the video because it was a nonfiction explanatory text: the narrator told what happened and why without any emotional overlay.

Historical fiction adds an emotional overlay to the facts. Forge is the story of Curzon, a former slave who joined the Continental Army during the Battle of Bunker Hill (in the previous book Chains). In Forge, Curzon is part of the Battle of Saratoga and then winters at Valley Forge during that cold starving time of 1777-78. Anderson's description of the battle scene brings all the fear and confusion to the Battle of Saratoga:

"I poured the gunpowder, rammed home the bullet, primed the lock, and peered around my tree. The British were just within range of a musket such as mine, but the smoke made it hard to see anything. I shot, loaded and shot, loaded and shot, never knowing if I'd hit anyone. The soldiers around me worked as I did, some daring to stand in the open whilst loading. One fellow was shot through the leg as he reached for his powder horn. He screamed so loud, I could not hear the commands of our officer. The fellow behind the next tree threw an acorn at my head to get my attention: he was out of powder. I tossed him two cartridges and prayed the battle would soon end." (p. 24-25) 

Compare that to the description of the battle from the textbook: History Alive! The United States Through Industrialisation (Teacher's Curriculum Institute, 2011):

"Although the rebels outnumbered his army, Burgoyne ordered an attack. Again and again the rebels beat back Burgoyne’s troops. On October 17, 1777, Burgoyne accepted defeat." (Lesson 7, Section 6, online version)

As I read Forge during spring break, I thought how fiction adds the human perspective to historical events. Anderson's character, Curzon, shares his hopes, dreams, fears, frustrations, and agonies with the reader. His experience as a Continental soldier, a slave, a black man in a white man's army, and a young man who misses his first love brings emotional elements that are missing from the other nonfiction texts. His experience, as told through his first person narrative, becomes our experience as a reader because we connect, empathize, sympathize, and rejoice with him.

History classes need the human perspective to be part of the lesson. If our children are ever going to remember what we taught them in order to see patterns and avoid making the same mistakes in the future, they need to understand how actions impact people. Historical fiction can bring the human back into the Humanities.

Yes, we need to read primary source material and nonfiction texts in content classes. The facts are important. And if the nonfiction text happens to be an auto-/biography, so much the better. But let's not forget to bring in the emotional impact of horrific events such as war or segregation or colonisation. Our students need to know the human consequences of such actions.