Literature and why it matters

I am writing this blog to answer some questions in regards to literature. The first question was asking how does literature matter to me. To be perfectly honest, for years I had found it difficult to understand the importance or need of literature. But when I began to look more closely, and think hard and deep about it, I can see why it matters in our world today. People write for a variety of reasons, some for pleasure, and others to convey a very important message. I believe that literature matters because it helps to give us different outlooks on life as a whole. I also think that certain works of literature can help us give up a very narrow-minded way of thinking. So in conclusion to answering this first question, I would have to say that literature matters to me because a great deal of it helps to broaden my perspective on life itself. Many times, in the work or school setting we are given projects to do. Some may be done solo, or in a group effort. Both methods can get the job done efficiently. There are many cons to group projects, but I’d like to focus on one of the pros. I find that one of the pros to group projects, is that you get to hear the ideas of suggestions of others, some of which you may not have thought about on your own. This is how I view literature. Solo, we formulate our own views and ideas on things, but the ideas and concepts that some authors present in their literary works, may present to us a different way on how to view things. I may or may not agree or find useful many different pieces of literature, but being that there is such a large variety out there, old and new, I am bound to find something enlightening, useful, pleasurable, or preferably a mixture of all three.

The second question that I was to answer was in what ways does literature speak, inform, or change me. Although this is one question, I will break it up into sections. First I will go into how literature speaks to me. Literature speaks to me in a number of different ways. My favorite type of literature is non-fiction. Literature has a way of evoking many different kinds of emotions on me. At times I find myself sympathizing with the plight of the character in the story. If it’s sad enough, it may even bring a sad expression on my face. That is just one of many ways that literature speaks to me. And so how does literature change me? I believe that I answered this question in the first part of this blog. It changes me because it helps to give me a different outlook on things in life.

I think that this class will help me to better understand what the authors are trying to say. I know we will have to do many discussions on what we read, and I know I won’t enjoy or want to do most of them, but at the same time I feel that it will help me to dig deeper. I really hope this class helps me with life in general, and mainly my study habits. I also hope that this class will help me to search harder and pay more close attention to what I read in and out of this class.