The Teaching of Literature and Total Effect and the Eighth Grade Summary and Analysis

The fiction writer is particularly vulnerable to public criticism because the nature of fiction deals with topics that everyone knows about and consequently considers himself an authority. Between the author and the reader lies the English teacher whose job it is to open the eyes of students and guide interpretations and possibilities of fiction. O'Connor feels that the study of novels should be a technical course addressing the love of language and its crafting into dramatic truth.

Unfortunately, many teachers do not understand how to approach literature with immature minds and choose instead to take an historic approach to the subject instead. Another method is to try to understand the psychology of the author which O'Connor feels is just an evasive...