It’s no secret that high school students can be conflicted about reading the required literature for English class.  Every student is familiar with that grueling feeling of turning the page, only to realize you still have hundreds more to go. However, there are the occasional gems of literature that manage to captivate and inspire us, melting the hearts of even the strongest anti-readers. When this happens, we not only learn something from the book, but we learn something about ourselves and our tastes. Through an Instagram questionaire and in-person survey, Menchville students shared their thoughts on the best and the worst of required reading.

Favorites: 

Of Mice and Men– “I liked Of Mice and Men because of the emotional aspect of it,” explains sophomore Joelle Kurten.  Sarah Clark, also a sophomore, agrees that Of Mice and Men was one of her favorites.

Animal Farm– “Okay but Animal Farm? So wild,” remarks junior Hailee Ward. Junior Laura Madler believes that animal farm is “A fascinating allegory, and Orwell has a biting satirical humor.”

The Odyssey- “I liked The Odyssey because it was different from most of the books we typically read in school. It was a different take on literature,” dotes sophomore Cameron Daquisto.

To Kill a Mockingbird: “It shows a life story of a child who had to live during the segregation era and her having to stand up for what’s right,” argues freshmen Meghan Barnes. “I liked that it wasn’t a happy ending because it showed the reality of racism,” comments sophomore Deja Smith.

Least favorites:

Antigone: “Screw Shakespeare and Antigone,” proclaimed sophomore Alec Wolf.

Dante’s Inferno: “Dante’s Inferno was boring and pointless,” states Cameron Daquisto. Senior Helen Grenoble believes that “Dante was trash along with Metamorphosis, even though I love that he was a literal roach.” Deja Smith feels that “The concept of Dante’s Inferno was really terrible.”

Romeo and Juliet: “It was just in really old English which made it hard to really understand and to read,” explains Meghan Barnes.

Animal Farm: Although this may be a beloved favorite of few, it is also spitefully disliked among other Menchville students: “Animal Farm sucked. It was far too overanalyzed in class and too obvious to be meaningful work,” criticizes Junior Elliot Lawler.

The Scarlet Letter: “I hated The Scarlet Letter because it was utterly complicated to understand and the assignments made no sense. I feel like you had to be a scholar to understand it,” stresses Hailee Ward. “Frazier tried to get me to read Scarlet Letter, which I think is impossible to understand,” says senior Max Spady. “I cried twice and it took me eight hours to read ten pages. I quit that class,” he laughs.