LAST BLOG!

This blog is a collection of your impressions about the literature you’ve read over the course of the semester. Do you have favorites? Those texts about which you feel you could still use a deeper understanding? Those that you would consider reading again? Discuss

In my own opinion, this class was by far the best English class I have had in that the literature the assigned was always very intriguing and it allowed for the class to discuss it in a matter that was not structured. The blogs allowed for me to express my opinions on material that, it seemed that, everyone had something to say. I don’t believe there was one individual who did not want to voice their opinions about the assigned readings.
I believe that my favorite, by far, was Oleanna! Although it took for me to rent the movie (the play was verbatim) because I just could not visualize the meaning of the interactions between John and Carol. But once I understood the characters and had a full on discussion with my husband about it, I felt I was right there in the story. At first I wanted to defend Carol, but as the play ends my merciful emotions went to John and I wanted give Carol a piece of my mind. It was actions like the ones she took that make it impossible for women to be taken serious in a matter such as what happened between her and John. I believe a good piece of literature should stir up the emotions inside the reader or observer because then it shows that there is some personal meaning behind it. I believe that when a reader can identify on a personal level with the characters, the story and the meaning behind become that much more intriguing. Another one of my favorites was the play by Henrik Ibsen “A Doll House.” I found this one to be intriguing on a personal level. Although there were some major differences in how I handled the similar situation, I still found that I identified with Nora. Reading this play in a time when women have endlessly fought to be viewed as a human being just as important as a man and believing females have come quite far, did I realized that the battle will never end. There were will always be those who do not feel females are capable of pursuing a life outside the kitchen but as long as everyone remembers that our world needs both males and females to survive I believe the struggle will diminish.
There were a few poems I had a hard time trying to imagine and decipher but there was only one story that I just could not grasp the intensity of – “Killings,” by Andre Dubus. I found it hard to follow and visualize just what was going on. Maybe this was one of those stories I needed to see instead of read and possibly the visualization would have helped me to better understand the story. The poems I had a hard time with as well, were: “Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds,” “Somewhere I have never traveled,” and “Wild Nights – Wild Nights!” These were poems I just could not understand and I feel that it was that I could not identify them on a personal level or on any level for that matter. I would have liked to have read more on others opinions or view of these and maybe then I would have seen the meaning or significance behind them.
To My Classmates: Thank you for doing your part in making this class enjoyable and interesting. Your thoughts and opinions were, in my mind, not underestimated. Your responses to the questions and to my comments were thoughtfully respected and I thank you for voicing them! Good luck in your future! Kind Regards, Your Classmate, Stephanie Lamkin