Beyond Pandemic Literature: The Study of Self

As Athenian lives through the pandemic, continuing to deal with the controversy and hypocrisy that have risen through isolation, many of us have changed our self-perceptions. Whether it was picking up a new hobby through quarantine, forcing ourselves to begin something new (perhaps to calm ourselves down) most found new passions through confinement. These hobbies, much like the hobbies of students at Athenian, became more prevalent in our lives, leading some of us to unconventional realizations about our true selves. To helps uf further build on these perceptions, humanities teacher Alex Mattraw began her Pandemic Literature class in the Spring of 2022. 

Pandemic Literature teacher Alex Mattraw

Pandemic Lit focuses on the essential questions: who has the agency to narrate and navigate crises, and what ought our responses be? And how can form and figurative language offer useful perspectives with which to understand suffering? Not only does she teach these impactful concepts, but Mattraw is also the first high school teacher to teach a pandemic literature course in the whole Bay Area. 

When asked about the impetus for the class, she said, “I started thinking about a pandemic literature course while I found myself concerned about the literature that my students would want to read, or rather, benefit from reading. The question of self-confrontation often required the characters in the books I teach to self-express, make art, or make imaginative experiences. Self-confronting is an amazing art; I thought, what if it could be a whole course?”

Not only does this class invoke themes of renewal, bravery, and authority of agency, the overarching theme of the class is the self—self-realization, identity, and moreover, inner peace. It begins with a short unit on the history behind pandemics; transitions to a novel, the Blue Book of Nebo; brings in another novel, Station Eleven; and wraps up with a unit about lyrical essays, which are ultimately the final project. These texts all contain characters through pandemics that battle with self-realization, serving as models for students in the class.

“A day in the class consists of discussion topics about the self and consistent journaling; we think about coping from the pandemic, finding one’s growth, or admitting self-realizations from the course curriculum,” Rishi R. ‘23 said. 

“Environmental crises, impermanence, and other themes empower students to highlight their authentic selves, but by using the journal, we further concretize and understand the self identities as we move past pandemic,” Mattraw said. 

“The course materials continue to prepare students to find their own versions of self through the isolation period of COVID,” Tanvi C. ‘23 said. “The novels focus on characters, how they deal with their own realizations, and their own revelations about their identities.” 

As the stories dig into the mechanics of quarantine—including windows, caves, and basements—themes of containment enter the literature that students read. Not only does the class reflect on our lives for the past two years, it provides excellent resources. Journals, reputable pandemic author visits, and a panel of authors that share their pandemic stories and practices have helped us find ourselves through this crisis and possibly revert to normalcy. 

As Mattraw works on the course with plans to offer it next year, she said her hope is to “cover practices for wellness by finding oneself, by confronting oneself.”

And in Knoll 7, that’s exactly what students do.