LENS+1

LENS 1: //King of Shadows//   For Susan Cooper’s //King of Shadows//, I chose to read it from an intertextual standpoint. Given the content of the novel, it seemed the most logical. This text might easily relate to other texts. For genre, it can fall under fantasy and historical fiction. It certainly relates to historical events and figures of Elizabethan England. And as far as literature, there is a heavy emphasis on the works of William Shakespeare. The most notable Shakespearian reference is to //A Midsummer Nights’ Dream//, as it is almost a character itself. Some other referenced works include //The Tempest, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Othello,// and Sonnet 116.

 Comparing //King of Shadows// to //A Midsummer Nights’ Dream// is an easy task as Cooper does all the work herself. Nat Field’s relationship with Shakespeare is paralleled with that of Puck and Oberon’s. In his Elizabethan performance, Nat was able to connect to his part so well because as Puck worshipped Oberon, Nat adored Shakespeare. He became the father figure that Nat so desperately needed. Without Shakespeare or //A Midsummer Nights’ Dream//, it might not be as apparent the intense grief that Nat still holds over his parents’ deaths and his need for a caring fatherly figure in his life.

LENS 2: A Critical Approach to //Monster//

 //Monster// by Walter Dean Myers raises several issues about how resources, power, and agency are apportioned in society. In the world of black teenager Steve Harmon, the main character, the only viable source of resources, power, and agency are through violence, most notably related to drugs and/or gangs. On pages 149-150, Steve is seen talking with James King who is planning to rob the drugstore to make money. Even though he should legally be considered innocent until proven guilty, to the jury he is just another young black man caught up in crime like every other black criminal crowding the prisons.

 Steve is in many ways constrained to the social role of the poor, criminal minority. Most people in his neighborhood are either honest people who cannot afford to give their children a better life, like his parents, and those who have either embraced crime or reluctantly turned to it because they had no other choice. Prior to his incarceration, Steve actually looked up to the glamorized criminal.

 Steve is eventually deemed “not guilty” by the jury, but it was certainly an up-hill battle due to his socio-economic and racial situation. The prosecution did everything possible to show that he was no different than known criminals and, as his own lawyer pointed out to him, the fact that he was young, black, and on trial did nothing to sway the jury in his favor. These issues all raise many questions about how resources, power, and agency are apportioned in society.