As I begin to reflect on my own experiences with literary theory, I realize that never during my four years of high school English did I ever hear these two words put together. In fact, I was well into college and had declared English as my major before I began to learn how to interpret texts from theoretical perspectives such as Marxism, Feminism, or Reader Response. Unfortunately, I believe that many high school students share a similar lack of experience with theoretical interpretations of texts.
Certainly literary theory must have a place in the secondary classroom. If we are to begin moving away from a teacher centered curriculum and towards a student centered curriculum, than part of our responsibility as English teachers is to teach our students not only to appreciate the multiple perspectives from which a text can be read, but also to think critically, asking themselves how their interpretations may change when viewed through the point of view of a different literary theory or lens. By introducing various literary theories such as Reader Response, Deconstruction, or Marxism, we can help our students to consider multiple perspectives when approaching a text and perhaps more importantly when approaching life.
