Multicultural Literature

There is a common theme of the power or powerlessness of choice in the readings “Faust” by Goethe, “Metamorphosis” by Kafka, “The Guest” by Camus, and “Requiem” by Akhmatova. Goethe’s “Faust” is about a man who makes a deal with the devil that leads him down a path where he learns he is no longer in control of his own life. In “Metamorphosis”, the protagonist Gregor was transformed into a large insect and was powerless to the ways that he was treated by his family and others around him. “The Guest” emphasizes the power, and lack of power, of choice when Daru gives the Arab a choice to flee or to go to prison for a murder he committed. The Arab chooses to continue his path to prison, leaving Daru feeling powerless in his attempt to help the Arab to safety. Akhmatova’s “Requiem” focuses more on the theme of powerlessness and the toll that that can take on a person.

As teachers, the theme of power and powerlessness of choice can be taught to high school students in a variety of ways. One approach that I like is to have the students embody this theme and put it into the students’ perspectives. You could create an activity where students are given a choice at the beginning of the week and have to “live with” the consequences or rewards of that choice for the entire week. Goethe’s “Faust” would be a great example of this because Faust chose to make a deal with the devil and in the end, had to live with the consequences of this. An element of popular culture that one could use to engage students in the theme of choice and power/powerlessness could be video games and how each choice you make when playing a game leads you down a different path where you either prosper or suffer the consequences of that choice.