Literary outsiders : Norm breaking characters in value system education

This study examines how literature can be used in value system education in the Swedish high school. It uses anti-oppressive theory to focus gender issues in three literary works, Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Brontë, Orlando (1928) by Virginia Woolf and Mira (2016) by Eija Hetekivi Olsson. The novels are chosen with historical diversion so that they can be compared according to changing norm systems. The study is organized in two parts where the first, the literary analysis, examines how the characters relate to gender norms. The second part contains a didactic discussion on how the results from the literary analysis can be applied in the classroom. The study shows that the literary characters, even though they come from different times, deal with much the same kinds of power structures. The study argues that the characters can be used in different ways to discuss anti-oppressive questions and theory in the classroom, examples are the performative theories of Judith Butler and Iris Marion Young, and that value system education can be helped by providing students with theoretical approaches. It also argues that the supposed conflict between facts and value system knowledge is not inherent in the curriculum and can be solved by combining reading and literary analysis with anti-oppressive theory. It shows that Jane Eyre and Miira have many similarities in their relation to gender norms, while Orlando is an outsider among outsiders. Thus, Orlando can be used as a contrast to the other two in illustrating norms and in pinpointing how norms change while maintaining its regulating functions. The didactic discussion uses socio-cultural theory and critical literacy to argue that reading should take place in a social context where writing and class room dialogue are key parts of the learning process