First Name:
Emily
Last Name:
Johnson
Major Department:
English Secondary Education
Thesis Director:
Elaine O'Quinn
Date of Thesis:
May 2014
The classics that make up the Western canon in the English classroom are valuable in the perspectives they bring and in the way that they both encapsulate and expose a particular time period or way of thinking. Many of the themes (good vs. evil, man vs. nature, suffering and redemption, etc.) are timeless and still applicable to students and society today. The problem, however, is that the classics were not written for the adolescents who are studying them. While most practicing professionals do not advocate for the removal of the classics from the curriculum, they do suggest that the methods of teaching such texts leave something to be desired. This thesis provides an overview of the concept of pairing Young Adult Literature with classic texts and analyzes the thematic connections between William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Robert Cormier's young adult text The Chocolate War. After delving into the themes of conflict, power, and loss of innocence, the conclusion of this work outlines pre-, during-, and post-reading activities designed specifically to help students see how each text, though drastically different from its counterpart, illuminates and expounds upon the message of the other.