Benjamin Logan High School college-preparatory seniors in Gennifer’s Ball’s classroom recently utilized William R. & Helen Dodge Family Grant funds to create a “A Gallery of Opposition” combining literature and art to highlight contradictory forces in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye.
The students identified and analyzed the many universal contradictions faced by the teenage narrator, Holden Caulfield, in the novel by J.D. Salinger. They also looked at how those ideas are illustrated in not only the novel and other literature, but in the art world as well.
They developed a written analysis of how a binary, dichotomy, or paradox is treated in the novel using textual evidence to support their claims. In this analysis, the pupils examined how the idea has been treated intertextually — across other works of literature.
Students further developed the opposition by creating an original artwork in any media to serve as a visual representation.
Finally, students compiled a collection of existing art, from various eras and genres, which also represented opposition. They displayed their analysis, personal art and found art in a gallery experience that was shared with and judged by an upper-level art class in the high school.
This experience created authenticity for the pupils — sharing their synthesis of art and literature while generating dialog with another content area.
“It created a lasting visual and experiential memory of the thematic importance of The Catcher in the Rye,” school officials said.