My project examines the relationship between high and low literature, a classification that reflects themes of race, gender, and especially class. The explanation for this concept has proven itself through a myriad of changes to its supposed stagnant system. Renowned writers such as Daniel Defoe and William Shakespeare exemplify this evolution. Their works are now in academic spaces, studied by scholars and deemed the blueprint of high literature. However, in their time, they were deemed as low literature, their popularity seemingly proving their lack of highbrow status. This nature could refer to topics or themes discussed in their writing that were considered trash, cheap or taboo. Like in Defoe's Roxana, where the protagonist is a woman who indulges in affairs to attain status and wealth while abandoning the role of a mother, or Shakespeare's Othello, in terms of race, where Othello was depicted in blackface by male actors.

My methodology focuses on the variety of high literature novels taught in English courses at the Brooklyn College campus, observing which novels or writers are known by the public and which are not. Aside from investigating what works are considered high literature or low literature, I look at the specific factors that ultimately play the role in determining this status, factors that include accessibility, level of literacy and mobility. High literature is essentially exclusive and can mostly be found in academic spaces where it is discussed in scholarly discourse, whereas low literature is popular and highly inclusive and features many voices in its discourse, though often with far less scholarly emphasis. Are these disparities between classifying high and low literature products of social issues and if so, can by solving or at least understanding that system help then, solve conflicts reflected in society?