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Importance Of Canadian Literature

Decent Essays

Studying Literature in Grade 12
While good writers exist in all cultures, Ontario students should only study Canadian writers. There are three main reasons for this: the need to focus on Canadian culture despite being surrounded by other cultures, the need to promote and establish our own writers, and the need to encourage the development of younger Canadian authors. This essay will prove that graduating students in Ontario should only study Canadian literature in a Grade 12 English course in an effort to strengthen Canadian culture.
Students in Ontario taking English classes should only study Canadian literature because we are surrounded by the American culture. Canada has always been a “branch plant” of another country. This is due to colonization by England and France. Our own culture has never developed because we have always been under the influence of a powerful foreign country. In the past, a student in Ontario would study Shakespeare amongst other British writers. Today they may also study American authors such as Fitzgerald. But many schools limit students’ exposure to Canadian novels with restricted ISP reading lists. In this sense, Canada is an attic in which we have stored American and British literature without including our own.1 This results in a lack of recognition and appreciation for Canadian culture.
Often, the Canadian literature is studied is very old. This includes works such as Mordecai's Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz or Lawrence’s Stone Angel.

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