Monday, March 15, 2010

Class Entry

Class Entry. Not surprisingly, writing the class entry each week ends up being one of the most stressful events of the weekend. Not because I do not have time or I want to be doing something else but because I simply have a difficult time remembering exactly what we have been doing in class. Class is typically fun and interesting but for some reason I have the hardest time remembering what we did to make it that way. This week I remember the poetry equations, a very long poem, strange letters, and reading As I Lay Dying. Personally I am not a fan of the idea of turning lines of poetry into physics or math related formulas. In reality, a person could pick any line even if it made no sense and if they could come up with a random way to explain it that sounded intellectual it would be deemed worthy. Also I do not believe that a poem, especially one of the length that we read, should be chopped up in to about four unrelated lines. It takes away from the true meaning of the piece and renders interpretations that, although interesting, are easily misconstrued. Along with that, it was not enjoyable. Who, in all honesty, wants to try to think up physics equations that in some way relate to a work of literature? On the other hand, our little word coloring excursion was quite enjoyable. It is always relaxing to be able to simply consider the true meaning and effect of something as seemingly simple as a word and come up for air realizing there is much more there than you ever imagined. It helped me, and others I am sure, understand how words can be misinterpreted or carry different meanings for different people. This related directly to William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. In the novel different characters tell different sides of the same story, leading to confusion and as times nearly lost patience. The reading can be confusing and at times uninteresting but it does seem to explore the human mind and reveal how different people and personalities perceive the world. Many have been complaining about the book but I found it entirely more interesting than The Great Gatsby. I did not see any particularly outstanding traits in Fitzgerald’s writing style. It was a good plot and the characters were interesting but I felt like nothing was truly compelling to me. It was simply the story of a bunch of obnoxious rich people who do not know what to do with themselves. I know that it is actually an outstanding work of American literature and I do not mean to belittle its fame or Fitzgerald’s prowess but it simply did not speak to me. As I Lay Dying managed to grab on to and hold my interest by a combination of the style of flow of consciousness, character complexity, interesting and thought provoking concepts, and a plot that creates hatred and love all at the same time.

Despite that fact that I can not remember exactly what we did in class I do remember that it was a fairly good week and that we are nearly finished with our reading of The Great Gatsby and As I Lay Dying. What will we do next? Who knows! I can't remember.

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