Literature is used in nearly every school in the UK, and is crucial in teenager’s GCSEs, but what impact does it have on young teenagers? What are their opinions?
Books such as An Inspector Calls, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Romeo and Juliet are widely used in schools and are studied by many students. These books are known to have many different interpretations, and can sometimes be ambiguous.
However, one student argued “these books help us understand the ideas and beliefs of people at the time”. They continued, saying, “it gives us an insight into how people acted”. The language in some of the books/plays is from their era (eg. The Victorian era, which makes it harder for students to understand what the writer is trying to convey.
An anonymous student counter-argued, saying, “the language is difficult to understand, which makes it harder for me to understand it”. Another commented, “it’s hard to remember all of the quotes and can sometimes be really stressful”.
Overall, there are mixed ideas about the impact of English Literature on students. Many replied that sometimes it could be stressful. However, there was a lot of positive feedback from the students, saying they had enjoyed what they were reading, once the understood it.
