Book Review

Never Fade Away

A novel by

William Hart

 Fithian Press, Santa Barbara, 2002

        It isn’t often that we get a chance to read a novel whose protagonists are an adult ESL teacher and adult ESL student, but here is your chance. Set in California in a university environment, its characters and issues, and well as style of writing, make it excellent supplemental reading for an intermediate or advanced adult ESL class, or as a resource for a teacher training ESOL issues course at the university level.  As language teachers who have probably used journal writing as a teaching and learning strategy, you will enjoy the structure of the novel.  The pages alternate with the journal entries of Mr. Goddard, the ESL instructor, and Tien Le (Tina) one of his students.  As the novel progresses, their journal interactions begin to intertwine. 

        Mr. Goddard is a Vietnam veteran who has found himself in the permanent position of being an ESL adjunct faculty at a California University.  Passing his remedial English class is a prerequisite for students to continue studying at the university.  Students are allowed to take the course twice, but if they fail both times, they are not allowed to continue with their studies.  The pressure is on for many ESL students who may not be allowed into the university if they can not pass English 002.  Once through English 002, they must pass English 101.  The catch is that even if the students pass all written material in the course, a departmental final exam carries such a high percentage of the grade that if the exam is failed, the student can not pass the class and must drop out of the system.  The departmental exam, crafted by an aloof cadre of academics, including the department chair, contains such arcane cultural material that it guarantees a ninety-five percent failure rate. 

        Enter the students of English 002, including a gifted and sensitive Tien Le.  Her journal entries contain typical second language grammar errors, but also contain the honest questions and desires of many immigrants.  She wants to succeed in America, but is haunted by ghosts of her past.  The drowning of her parents in an ill-fated attempt to smuggle themselves into the United States and Tien Le’s  subsequent rape, while held captive by the boat crew, have left their scars.  Mr. Goddard also fights with his ghosts from the Vietnam War.  Flashbacks of his comrades being killed have left him with a constant sense of responsibility for their death.  These real events affecting the psychology of the teacher and student stand in contrast to the test makers’ self-righteous position on what constitutes proper university level English, and their determination of who is capable of producing adequate English.

        The journals of Mr. Goddard and Tina reveal the talent of Mr. Goddard as a committed instructor and Tina as a talented student.  He encourages her writing and she grows in skill as she incorporates her Vietnamese experience into well crafted essays.  Although potentially a brilliant writer, she eventually takes the exam and fails.  For Mr. Goddard, it is now time to take a stand regarding the exam.  He decides to give her, and a few other students, a passing grade in spite of the exam.  Now his job is at stake as the department chair wants him to change the grade, which he will not do.  The university holds a formal hearing into the matter and in the process accuses Mr. Goddard of writing Tina’s papers, and accuses Tina of having a romantic affair with her instructor.  While the two have been spending time together with their mutual interest of Vietnam and writing, the accusations are far from the truth.  As the inquisition comes to an end, Mr. Goddard finds himself without continuing teaching opportunities and the students who passed his class receive a failing grade.  They are all forced out of the system, but since this is a novel, that is not quite the ending.

        Tina’s final journal reads:

As I now believe, the strong feelings I have for my teacher are most fortunate, because they show me I can love and trust a man.  For many years I did not know how to love or trust anyone, especially men.  It is the greatest thing my teacher teach me, and surely this is the purpose of my love for him.

There are many kinds of love in this world. And which kind is best?  Maybe I can answer by the time I die.

In the end, what you have is memories.  And I believe the most you can hope for is more good memories than bad ones.  Memories that never fade away if they happen when you are young, full of the pain and joy of being alive.

Hart’s novel will be a refreshing and perhaps provocative addition to the usual case studies found in textbooks.  It may remind you why you first were inspired to teach ESOL students and that contrary to the philosophy of objective standards, it reveals the potential power of human interactions to destroy or heal.

By George Iber, Ph.D.

Program Professor, TESOL

Nova Southeastern University