So the final first week of school has just gone by like a strong gust. It sure did hit me hard in the face, but thank the heavens, because boy was I prepared for it. There were definitely some boring classes... but English was not amongst them. In fact, I began to realise the importance of literature through our renewed focus of literature in class.
We started off by reviewing the purpose of studying literature. Literature is a form of art, just like drawing, painting and music. It is stringing together words and sentences in order to make a new world: be it mystic or realistic. This new world brings the entire reader community under one roof: a common ground for understanding each other. Through our fictional conversations with authors, we are able to relate our lives to the author's feelings and thoughts. Literature not only improves our conventional 'use of language', but also rather increases our emotional understanding of each other. We are able to comprehend one another, which leads to a harmonious existence of the human race.
Next, we started to focus on our main topic for this unit: Women's literature. Mr. Michael posed an intriguing question to us: What is women's literature. There were definitely some quite good definitions thrown around. Women's literature can be considered as one of those new worlds that brings the readers under one roof. It tells a story through the perspective of a female, and hopes to form a common understanding between the author and the reader, of the social problem that is gender inequality. It may also lead to a conversation about other topics, such as the construction of a female identity. These are quite different from the stories written by female authors though; some of these cannot be classified as women's literature.
Even though Munro doesn't identify as a feminist writer, her work has had a lot of impact on the social sphere. She considers herself to be a private person, and just wanted to be free of the daily life that society had imposed on her. Due to this, her stories, even though not intended to be feminist, have had a considerable impact on modern social structure. Her books are one of the very few that provide a meaningful insight into the life of women. The thoughts one goes through as a female are remarkably conveyed through Munro's beautiful short stories. The subtle symbols and themes that shine through her stories stimulate the mind to form connections that someone with other thought processes might never think of. Through the use of powerful metaphors and other such literary devices, Munro has developed literature that even though is contextually not relatable, but gives rise to a new female identity.
Munro's work itself has given me a lot to relate to, even though I'm not female. It's like Munro has left these gaps in her stories that are meant to be filled in by the reader, like an actually conversation. I find myself swapping the genders of certain characters and thinking about how it would make a different ending to the story. Personally, when I think of certain stories, I start thinking of related scenarios which consist of me and the people around me. I think of how the social structure, appearing very flexible on the outside, is still very rigid on the inside. One day, hopefully, that will change.
We started off by reviewing the purpose of studying literature. Literature is a form of art, just like drawing, painting and music. It is stringing together words and sentences in order to make a new world: be it mystic or realistic. This new world brings the entire reader community under one roof: a common ground for understanding each other. Through our fictional conversations with authors, we are able to relate our lives to the author's feelings and thoughts. Literature not only improves our conventional 'use of language', but also rather increases our emotional understanding of each other. We are able to comprehend one another, which leads to a harmonious existence of the human race.
Next, we started to focus on our main topic for this unit: Women's literature. Mr. Michael posed an intriguing question to us: What is women's literature. There were definitely some quite good definitions thrown around. Women's literature can be considered as one of those new worlds that brings the readers under one roof. It tells a story through the perspective of a female, and hopes to form a common understanding between the author and the reader, of the social problem that is gender inequality. It may also lead to a conversation about other topics, such as the construction of a female identity. These are quite different from the stories written by female authors though; some of these cannot be classified as women's literature.
Even though Munro doesn't identify as a feminist writer, her work has had a lot of impact on the social sphere. She considers herself to be a private person, and just wanted to be free of the daily life that society had imposed on her. Due to this, her stories, even though not intended to be feminist, have had a considerable impact on modern social structure. Her books are one of the very few that provide a meaningful insight into the life of women. The thoughts one goes through as a female are remarkably conveyed through Munro's beautiful short stories. The subtle symbols and themes that shine through her stories stimulate the mind to form connections that someone with other thought processes might never think of. Through the use of powerful metaphors and other such literary devices, Munro has developed literature that even though is contextually not relatable, but gives rise to a new female identity.
Munro's work itself has given me a lot to relate to, even though I'm not female. It's like Munro has left these gaps in her stories that are meant to be filled in by the reader, like an actually conversation. I find myself swapping the genders of certain characters and thinking about how it would make a different ending to the story. Personally, when I think of certain stories, I start thinking of related scenarios which consist of me and the people around me. I think of how the social structure, appearing very flexible on the outside, is still very rigid on the inside. One day, hopefully, that will change.
An insightful reflection Pratik. I'm glad you are able to relate to the texts and even if it involves some creative gender swapping.
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