The Blackboard Jungle Summary
Evan Hunter

The Blackboard Jungle Summary

The main theme of the novel is the clash between a traditional American idealism which proclaims education the main goal and bulwark of a democratic society and the realities of what was happening in the city's schools after the war. For generations education had provided the entry into the American mainstream for countless millions of immigrants and offered the hope that with sufficient energy and dedication even the poor could rise from their poverty to become middleclass and prosperous. This myth of American life was centrally ingrained in the social fabric of the country. The war had also held out the promise of fuller participation in the nation's economic, if not social, structure to racial minorities and to women, who had been needed to work in the factories and to sustain the home front efforts while the men were away serving in the armed forces. Although little noticed...

(read more from the Short Guide)