So this semester is the first time I'm taking a class needed for my major, Creative Writing, when I transfer out of community college. After just a few weeks of taking my first major prep course, American Literature, I realized a couple things that I think might be relatable to other English majors, or bring some insight to other students:
The Transition from a Writing Class to a Literature Class
If you're like me, someone who has years of writing classes, and have been completely used to writing papers, the transition to a class where all that is required is analyzing pieces of literature, it might throw you off a bit. I know for some people that might be the best thing ever, jumping into a class full of readings, but if you haven't had a literature class since junior year of high school, you might have to retrain yourself in order to do...
The Readings
There is so much reading. I know, it shouldn't come as a surprise to an English major, but if you're the type of person that loves to read for pleasure, with assigned readings on the agenda, it then feels like a chore, but even when you do finally get to the reading you think: Oh why was I stressing so much about this one short story? Then comes...
The Reading Questions
Now I know that there is a good reason behind these questions; it's to teach you the history around the time period a particular author was living in, how that affected their writing, and what their themes and writing styles were. There's mostly easy questions about the plot of the story, but sometimes, if there is a question about a certain quote or you are asked about what a particular poem means, it throws you off for a moment because you don't know what that quote and/or poem means. Either there is some deep meaning behind it, or the writer is just being straightforward. Unfortunately, the only answer to this dilemma is to go back to try to analyze the reading again and who knows how long that will take.
But despite all of that...
You Learn Some Cool Stuff About the Authors
What I like the most about learning the different authors is that you get what influenced them to write. The most common theme that I found was that no matter who they were, these writers wrote what they knew. The best example of this is from writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
After giving birth to her daughter in 1885, Gilman experienced postpartum depression, but during the late 1800s, this was viewed as a "nervous disorder," which was a common diagnosis for women that were dealing with mental illnesses at the time, which lead them to not getting the help they needed. Gilman was sent to be treated by Dr. S. Weir Michell, the most famous neurologist in the late 1800s. There, she was given the "rest cure," where for weeks she was bedridden and was not given any intellectual stimulation. When she was released, Michell advised her to live as much as a domestic life as possible, have two hours of intellectual correspondence a day, and to never touch another writing utensil for as long as she lived.
She did follow Michell's advice for a while, but then pursued writing, wrote many stories and personal essays, and is now known as one of the earliest feminist writers in America. Her most famous short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, is based off of that early time in her life when she was being treated for her "nervous disorder," saying how she wanted this story to prevent anyone from going insane. Amazing. That deserves an applause.
See what I mean? That's pretty interesting!
So literature classes are not all that bad. I think that all there is to it is to dive into the readings, answer the questions as honestly as you can, because your answers show how you interoperate the different readings. There are no wrong answers, especially if you're in a class that is discussion based.
I hope that this has given you some consultation if you're an English major, or has given you some understanding if you have a friend majoring in this subject. And if you are struggling in Literature classes, you can pull through, ask for help even. You can do this! We all can, no matter what you are majoring in! So let's get to work!
