Changing Perspectives
And so I began the experience of undergrad. I started college with the intention of majoring in business and marketing. I felt that it was important to move beyond the childish world of books. For in my mind, books were still simply an escape from the ordinary and a means to dream a little about the wild and exciting future. Though I still enjoyed the experience of reading, I couldn't believe that there was a relevance for English literature in the "real world."
During my sophomore year, I enrolled in what I thought was to be my last English class: Introduction to Fiction. In this class we read Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Poe, Alexie, O’Connor, Updike, Tolstoy, Conrad and so on and so forth. We approached literature in hopes of gaining understanding and wisdom about the world in which we live and the individuals who make up this world. Instead of discussing the technical aspects of grammar, punctuation, or word choice, we discussed the deeper issues and social implications behind finding a good man in changing times. We questioned why an Indian boy in Seattle might pretend to hold up a convenience store merely for the sake of scaring a prejudice cashier. We asked why a wealthy Russian man might be led to a death bed conversion and what the implications of this were.
For the first time, I was expected to draw deeper implications from each text which I encountered and I was delighted. I could hardly have believed that literature could be so relevant and rich. No longer was it simply a means of escape--an opportunity to ignore the real world--but instead, it was a way of engaging the world around me more effectively and with greater understanding. What had begun as a means of entertainment and graduated into a form of escape and idealism had finally developed into a means of engaging the world in a realistic and beneficial way.
During my sophomore year, I enrolled in what I thought was to be my last English class: Introduction to Fiction. In this class we read Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Poe, Alexie, O’Connor, Updike, Tolstoy, Conrad and so on and so forth. We approached literature in hopes of gaining understanding and wisdom about the world in which we live and the individuals who make up this world. Instead of discussing the technical aspects of grammar, punctuation, or word choice, we discussed the deeper issues and social implications behind finding a good man in changing times. We questioned why an Indian boy in Seattle might pretend to hold up a convenience store merely for the sake of scaring a prejudice cashier. We asked why a wealthy Russian man might be led to a death bed conversion and what the implications of this were.
For the first time, I was expected to draw deeper implications from each text which I encountered and I was delighted. I could hardly have believed that literature could be so relevant and rich. No longer was it simply a means of escape--an opportunity to ignore the real world--but instead, it was a way of engaging the world around me more effectively and with greater understanding. What had begun as a means of entertainment and graduated into a form of escape and idealism had finally developed into a means of engaging the world in a realistic and beneficial way.
