Literature can teach us many different things and it is possible that every person learns a different lesson from the books they read. That is one reason why I love literature and reading; there are many different lessons to be learned through it. It is solely based on how you interpret what the author is trying to portray to their audience. At the end of my English15 course in college, our professor asked us to:
“List five things that the study of literature in general and perhaps this course in particular has led you to reflect about.”
With that in mind, here is my list of five:
1. Group Presentation/ Group Work – going through this course led me to seeing that I need to work on working better and more sufficient in groups.
2. Widen my reading – going into this course, I only read the “classic” novels in literature; Lord of the Flies, The Scarlet Letter, Huckleberry Finn, Dracula, etc. Coming out of this course, I know now that there is a lot more out there to read that I did not know about.
3. Communication – I always knew this was a major role in society, in the classroom, and of course in the work field. Our professor just made it that more apparent; if you do not know how to communicate face-to-face, you will not get that far…anywhere.
4. Reading makes you Smarter! – this just becomes more and more apparent to me as the years go by. I know so much because of the books I read for and outside of school. It amazes me every time.
5. Last, but not least, you have to make the best of it – I’m a math person; my brain likes numbers and calculations. I never had an interest in learning or taking a class in literature/ English what so ever. As I said in #4 though, I’m starting to realize that I am actually starting to like reading and understanding what the authors are trying to portray in their writing. It is just another way of thinking I guess and it has become more interesting to me throughout this course.
