In Defense of Reading Badly: The Politics of Identification in “Benito Cereno,” Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Our Classroom

Faye Halpern

Traditionally, we English faculty have warned our students against simply identifying with a literary work’s characters. For us, such attachments constitute “reading badly.” But we engage in identifications, too, including ones with the work’s author. A consideration of critical responses to “Benito Cereno” and Uncle Tom’s Cabin enables us to see how our own identifications often operate. In our teaching of reading, we should openly acknowledge our own commitments and help our students negotiate them.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 8:15 pm and is filed under July 2008, Vol 70.6. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.