Getting Lost

I think the point of novels is getting lost in this class. People have become so focused on analyzing the book as a tool to portray a different culture that they forget that it is a novel. About PEOPLE. People are inherently complex, battling a variety of issues at any given time. So when Justine is worried about being fat and liking boys and her grandmother dying, she's still Jewish, still portraying a multicultural perspective, but it's from a TWELVE YEAR OLD GIRL. The impression from our discussions in class is that people expect these novels to be textbooks that cover everything about a culture from A to Z accurately. I believe that they cover the narrator's life from A to Z accurately, and it is important to remember that these books are written from a certain perspective. That person may not be completely orthodox Jewish, or know everything about ancient Native American rituals, or be entirely proud to be Palestinian. That said, it is still important to be aware of that narrator's perspective as well as the cultural representation. But take the words, practices, places and people with a grain of salt. For example, Levithan created an entirely idealistic high school representation in Boy Meets Boy, but he did it with PURPOSE. Authorial intent and artistic license are also something to consider when reading. Please, when reading, don't forget that novels themselves are complex, to say nothing of the subject matter and people within them.