Reading as resistance

By Lily McMenemy, Assistant Opinion Editor and Opinion Layout

If you read one book last year, you read more than 40% of Americans. On average, Americans read 12.6 books last year – the lowest recorded average in the past 30 years. Combined with steeply declining literacy rates in both children and adults, it is necessary to be aware of the literacy crisis in America. Authoritarian regimes have long understood the power of controlling education. When people stop reading and thinking critically, they become easier to manipulate. Questioning turns into treason, ideas to threats, and censorship to the norm. I sat down with the incredible Canisius librarian, Matt Kochan, and asked him about the importance of reading in times of political upheaval.

Lily McMenemy: “With phones, people’s attention spans are shorter than ever, so complex ideas aren’t reaching people, and people aren’t going to question what’s happening in the government as much, and they’re gonna be more susceptible to the things that are going on. So, is there anything you feel about that? 

Kochan: “...I think that it’s a matter of if you’re open to reading, just anything. And in the habit of reading anything, that you will read anything - and then you can form your own opinions. I mean, isn’t that what we’re here for?”

In our lifetime, the genre of “dystopian” has teetered toward non-fiction, so now is the time to explore its warnings. If you are looking for a way to protest the actions of this administration, pick up a banned book or seek information first-hand. Refuse anti-intellectualism. Be a force of independent thought that refuses control. In this age, literacy itself is resistance. Below is a list of titles that I urge you to read.

The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins

A modern classic and genre defining masterpiece, it tells of a dystopian society where children are selected to fight to the death, and a cruel dictator orchestrates wicked manipulations to assert power. 

1984- George Orwell

In an absolute surveillance state, a citizen is controlled in every possible way, brainwashed, and tortured. This is a haunting warning about the dominion totalitarian government can pose, and how their enemy is independent thought.

Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradbury

This tells of an America in the future where books are destroyed, and resistance begins with reading. The title refers to the temperature books are burned. It features protagonists who choose to resist by seeking knowledge and critical, individual thinking. Be like them. 

BB Wolf & The 3 LP’s- J.D. Arnold, Rich Koslowski

Specially recommended by Kochan, he says, “It’s like the three little pigs but it’s reimagined where the Big Bad Wolf is a blues singer and the pigs are- it takes place in the south- the pigs are like, racist and in ‘the Klan’. It’s clever. That kind of stuff hits me with, you know, looking at things from a different point of view.”

The Handmaid’s Tale- Margaret Atwood 

Under our administration, I have heard countless times, people, with terror and hushed voices, liken the state of our country to the events of this book. In this totalitarian hellscape, fertile women are enslaved to be “handmaids” to bear children for elites.

V For Vendetta- Alan Moore

While interviewing Kochan, I asked about stories that remind people to resist and he instantly mentioned this, motioning to me, “because I am passionate about this graphic novel and its movie adaptation. I watch it yearly and held an event in November. I cannot recommend this enough - it is such a beautiful, haunting, important tale and an absolute masterpiece, in my opinion.”

Ultimately, you (yes, you) should pick up one of these books today. The fate of the future could depend on it.