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Wendi M. Brooks
Intro to Lit
Professor Maguire
22 April, 2004
This literature class has been an
enjoyable learning experience. Since we read such a large variety of dramatic
literature and fictional literature as well as poetry, I really feel like I
learned something and was able to gain knowledge. I am not usually one who
enjoys reading or anything connected to it, but I was very open to the stories
we read. I think I enjoyed it more than high school literature because we actually
looked at more modern work, rather than just focusing on the classics. I was
surprised and
intrigued by the stories in Fiction Fix. They were different and
rather “off the wall” and I liked most of them. It was also very cool to know
that they were written by people just like myself. It makes the stories come to
life a little more than when it is someone foreign to you. You connect more
that way. When we were studying poetry, I actually found myself enjoying
reading the poems. That had never happened before. I used to literally argue
with my literature teacher about doing assignments for poetry because I
despised it so much. I definitely will look back on this class as an eye
opening experience that helped me appreciate well written literature.
I chose three different works of
literature that dealt with some form of love. Whether it be a professor and
student relationship that was taken too far, and ends in a
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bad situation, or
an affair taking place in a foreign country, or just a crazy sexual poem, these
three works all show some part of what
we think of as love.
The first literary work I looked at
is called Oleanna and was written by Mamet. I thoroughly enjoyed this
piece of drama. It is a story about a young girl, age twenty, and her college
professor. She seeks help from him because she feels ignorant and wants to do
better in his class. They are meeting in his office and he can tell she is
extremely distressed and needs comfort, so he casually puts his arm around her
in a friendly manner. She later takes offense to this action and ends up filing
a report against him to the tenure committee saying he sexually harassed her.
This causes him to lose his job and not be able to buy the house he was trying
to buy for his family. Because of this he retaliates and ends up actually
beating her. This story shows us a way that the act of love can be demented.
This professor was trying to help one of his struggling students, and because
he was a little too friendly he got fired and his life was ruined. I liked this
story because I think I could relate to it based on the fact that I am a young
female college student and I could easily be put in that type of situation at
any point in my college experience. Most girls probably feel the same way I do
about this story. It isn’t directly related to love, but it deals with
male/female relationships, which leads to love.
The next literary work I chose to
look at that is dealing with love is “The Lady with the Pet Dog” by Oates. It
is the story of a man who travels to Yalta without his family. He is the type
of man who looks at women as if they are inferior and is usually very
comfortable around women. There is a new comer to the town, and she walks her
dog at the same time every day and this man becomes very intrigued with her. He
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watches her every
move and eventually they begin having an affair. She is married and has a
family where she is from. They have their lovely affair and then he goes home
to his family and she is extremely heart broken and ends up taking a trip to
see him after he finally leaves her. This story is the ultimate love story with
an unhappy ending. They have this amazing fling for a short time, but it can
never be anything more than that, and the woman cannot handle leaving him. This
is typical of women, and I think all women can relate to this story. We can all
sympathize with the poor woman who had her heart broken because she was naïve
and thought it was actually going to last, when he had a family and children. I
like this story because it makes me think of past relationships where I have
been in the same situation as this poor woman.
The last literary work I looked at
is called “she being Brand” by e.e. cummings. It is about a young persons first
sexual experience. I like this poem because it is so different and uses such a unique
way of explaining it. It is from the perspective of the male character, as he
begins having sex with this girl. All young people can relate to this topic and
it is definitely a part of what we call love. The poem starts with the guy
being excited and talking about this “brand new” girl. He talks about knowing
she is a virgin and therefore being careful what he does, so as not to hurt
her. The rest of the poem is them engaging in sexual acts, and the climax is
fittingly at the end.
This entire semester has been a good
experience. I enjoyed this class and I would recommend you as a teacher to any
of my fellow students. I like the way you teach and you really helped me become
more accepting of literature and poetry especially. I am a journalism major and
it is important for me to enjoy reading because I will be forced to
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read things I may
not enjoy, but I feel like I am more open minded to reading things after taking
your class. Thank you for the experience and the wonderful time.
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