Moby Dick is contradictory, convoluted, and, at times, mind-numbingly boring. Each night that I sat down to read my thirty pages, I felt another part of my brain go numb – every whale fact I learned evaporated another ounce of my motivation. Yet, Herman Melville’s literary behemoth should return to the curriculum, for Moby Dick represents one of the most important books in the American canon, and its difficulty is not a compelling reason to remove it.

In the 11th Grade, all Hackley juniors take an American Literature class, designed to give students an overview of our country’s literary history. Deciding which books to include is a complicated and subjective task for any class, particularly in one with such a broad topic area. But Moby Dick’s contribution to the American literary landscape is arguably second to none, with many considering it the first true American novel. Indeed, the article published in last month’s edition of The Dial does not challenge Moby Dick’s importance. Moby Dick should, in fact, play an essential role in any high school English syllabus.

In fact, the article’s main argument seemingly stems from the workload associated with Moby Dick, a very fair position considering that the book’s 625 pages takes almost a trimester to read, analyze, and write about. However, in no other subject are such significant and groundbreaking materials eliminated because of their length; calculus students spend most of a trimester learning derivatives, and chemistry students spend a trimester on stoichiometry. The raw amount of time spent learning a topic should not be the sole factor to determine whether that topic is taught, for the lessons taught during that time are foundational to future topics. If Moby Dick is thought to be one of the most influential pieces of literature in American history as the article suggests, then time spent should not matter.

The second part of the push back against Moby Dick seems to come from its complexity and difficulty. Again, however, complexity is not a convincing rationale to take something out of the curriculum. I never fully understood combinatorics in pre-calculus or kinetics in chemistry but I do not expect those to be yanked from their curricula. Moreover, a first reading of a book as challenging and long as Moby Dick does not have to be a complete, doctoral level thesis to make reading the novel worth the time and effort; taking a stab at interpreting a handful of chapters, a narrow theme, or a specific symbol can yield fantastic results.

All Hackley students ought to graduate reading as many foundational works of literature as possible, for a high school class is a perfect time and place for one to get a taste of the seemingly infinite number of pieces of literature in the American canon. To ignore a work considered as historic as Moby Dick on the basis of its length or complexity deprives Hackley students of an opportunity to read one of America’s most influential books and a chance to learn a little more about whale anatomy.