Reflection on the Course

I would have to say the biggest skill I learned in this class was two-fold.  First I learned how to do good close reading.  I learned how to look differently at a piece of literature and pull meaning from it where I used to just read and take the piece I was reading at face-value.  It has become apparently clear that I have missed so much over the years by not knowing or utilizing this skill and look forward to applying it in the future, perhaps even rereading some of the classics I’ve read before.  The second biggest thing I learned was to take that close reading and analyze it.  Asking questions and forming my own opinions as I read.  This is something I never realized I was even capable of but have since been able to apply it in many areas of my reading.

As for the readings in this class, I have come to a very different understanding of monsters.  As I’ve said before, I have come to see and recognize the ways in which monsters are not just creatures that have nothing to do with us but rather they are the ugly parts of us that rise to the surface and find expression when we try to avoid them.  They are our biggest fears and ugliest traits given life and animation.  I originally chose this specific class based on the fact that we would be reading Frankenstein and I am glad I did, I really enjoyed reading it and analyzing it.  I do have to say that I was initially disconcerted to find we would have to also read and write about poetry and I was intimidated by the idea of having to come up with my own ideas about any kind of literature, but I am glad I stuck with it.

Over the course of the semester I have seen my writing process change in terms of organization and planning.  I started with a process that was mostly a think about it and when it comes to me sit and write.  Not much organization at all, but as we progressed in our objectives, so did my process.  By our last essay, I found myself taking notes from the beginning, asking questions about what I was reading and looking for deeper meanings.  By the time I finished reading The Scarlet Letter I already had an idea of what I wanted to write about and was able to sit down and sketch out a rough outline.  After the outline I was able to more effectively search through the secondary sources and find supporting information.  Approaching the writing process this way made it much less stressful to flesh out a workable and supportable paper. 

All in all, this class has been incredibly beneficial to me.  I have learned to look closer at what I’m reading, ask questions and analyze and I have found a happy medium between how I used to write and a more structured method of writing.  While I still consider writing academically, especially using my own opinions, one of my biggest challenges, the processes that we went through and the things we have learned in this class have given me more confidence in my abilities to do what I need to do to produce a good paper.