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		how do truly classic books become the classics (in the minds of critics at least) that they are? well, i for one really don't know. now i am not an english major nor am i even all that good at analyzing literature, so all of this is particularly unfounded. i am simply writing this tirade to display my dumbfoundedness over why some books are thought of as required reading and thought of as having a value greater than that of say the cat in the hat (which in its own right is a classic). i mean, really, how great is heart of darkness or scarlet letter (true i am choosing some of the more despised required readings, but still people think that it is good that one read and analyze those books as opposed to some action packed tom clancy novel)? what plot, what substance, what character development do they have? hmm ... (if memory serves right) heart of darkness: marlow goes on a boat trip to africa, meets kurtz, natives beat up marlow a bit, kurtz dies, and then marlow goes back home; and scarlet letter is not much better: hester has affair with dimmesdale, has kid, gets an 'a' for adultery, vengeful husband goes out to discover and mess with dimmesdale's mind, dimmesdale goes crazy and reveals the truth of it all, hester goes live in some shack. the cat in the hat probably contains as much substance as either one of those, plot wise or character wise, and it is probably a twentieth of the length of either novel: the cat comes, the kids play, the cat ditches the kids, the kids clean up and feel deceived. why do the authors persist on dragging those things on and on and on, until you are pained that the characters are so dense that they do not realize what you realized five chapters ago? others could go on and claim that it is not the plot but the themes that it presents that matters. on a side note, i have never enjoyed thinking up theme statements, it was always a bugger of a hard time for me. sure i could think up trite and stupid truths like revenge only causes disaster, or something along those lines. ok, enough with that bitterness, themes are basically morals, and the cat in the hat has a moral as well. and the moral of that story is: don't let strangers into your house or listen to that wise talking goldfish. though 'classics' may tackle tougher and more hard-hitting topics, like the evil within man, but that shouldn't necessarily make them better. a comedy should be regarded just as highly as a drama. people could say that the language and the use of figurative language ads a dimension to the novels that should be enough for it to be considered great literature. the mastery of the author's words is just so precise and lucid that it boggles all of the critics' minds. but the cat in the hat yet again shows that it is at the same level of complexity as those novels. it has plenty of alliteration, rhyming, metaphors, and puns. and what imagery can match the depth of an illustration (you want to view what's happening in the novel, look at the picture). let's see hawthorne or conrad illustrate their own novels like dr. seuss (one thing i just noticed, the spell checker recognizes hawthorne and conrad, but not seuss, what's up with that?) did. ok, if i don't think those are valid criteria by which one should judge literature by, just what do i think the worth of literature is, anyway? i, personally, think that the main purpose of literature (which somehow has been twisted throughout the years) is entertainment. it should simply be enjoyable to read. great novels, should be loved not because they are so dense only a smart person could bulldoze through it all to find its meaning, but because they, for a time, capture the mind and tell a story that is compelling and maybe thought provoking. i mean sure, the odyssey was swanky entertainment back in ancient greece, but today a lot of it is just dense and incomprehensible in today's world. i'm not saying all old books are bad, i'm just saying that just because they are old and liked in their time doesn't mean that they are a giant fountain of knowledge that people should regard highly for the rest of time. so those are my thoughts on the merits of literature, and if you wish to know which books i really, really like here are my current favorites: terry pratchett's small gods; orson scott card's ender's game; and neal stephenson's snow crash.