Five
Things I’ve Gained from Reading Literature
- What piece of literature has stayed with you, even though you haven't read it recently?
-
Thank goodness for being “forced” to read literature
for a class. Despite being a while since I have opened its pages, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte has stayed
with me throughout my college career and will continue to remain one of my most
beloved works. What about this work is so lasting to me? The answer, if there
is such a thing, I believe boils down to three concepts: gothic background,
character, and twisted love. Since my early youth when Edgar Allan Poe was my
constant literary companion, gothic literature has held a place in my twisted
little heart. The darkness, twists and turns, and elements of surrealism have
mirrored my own journey through life. Second, Jane Eyre and I are kindred
spirits who would have enjoyed many a conversation. In fact, maybe in a past
life I was Jane Eyre if she had existed. Finally, twisted love has dotted the
landscape of my life as well as hers. This created another level of mirroring
and commonality between myself and the story. Thus, Jane Eyre has been and continues to be a work that stays with me.
2. What character or story has influenced something you've done?
-
Sometimes stories that touch the soul are chosen by
someone else. During my student teaching career I came across Tuesdays with Morrie. It is the story of
Morrie Schwartz and his battle with a disease that ultimately claims his life
and reduces him to a feeble, physical shell of what he once was. Morrie knew he
had months to live and what did he do? He passed on his wisdom and love for
life in a series of talks to a former student. His courage and wisdom have
influenced me to take a hard look at my life and appreciate the gift of each
day.
3. What character or piece of literature seemed to relate to a recent
news story or personal experience?
-
Edna from The
Awakening by Kate Chopin relates to the recent news stories of bullied, gay
adolescents taking their own lives. Despite the empowering message of Edna choosing
to explore her own happiness outside of social conventions, Edna does
ultimately take her own life because societal pressure to be a certain type of
wife and mother eventually gets to her. The same happened to students who felt
the pressure from society to be heterosexual. They recently took their own
lives, despite trying to explore their own happiness. Society has yet to learn
to let others alone and allow them to explore alternative paths of happiness.
4. What character has made you wonder why he or she did/said
something?
-
I am attracted to the tortured loner whose only desire
is to be loved and accepted. Thus, Christine’s refusal of the Phantom’s love in
Phantom of the Opera and Esmerelda’s
denial in Hunchback of Notre Dame are
both examples of my gothic heart bleeding for my poor outcasts. In more ways
than one I see myself as the lonely outcast who has felt the stinging palm of
rejection. I shall never understand why normal, boring, stereotypically perfect
specimens of manhood are more desirable. Therefore, Christine’s and Esmerelda’s
rejection remains a mystery to me.
5. Name something from a work of literature (such as a character,
setting, or quotation) that you find beautiful or vivid.
-
Copied below is John Donne’s “The Flea.” Metaphysical
poetry has always been a fascination to me since the complex metaphors tie
together so nicely into an unorthodox but congruent thought. “The Flea” is no
exception. Making the comparison between being bitten by a flea and having sex
is comical and philosophical gold that brings to light a vivid image as well as
discussion.
THE
FLEA.
by John Donne
MARK but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is ;
It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
Thou know'st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two ;
And this, alas ! is more than we would do.
O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
Though parents grudge, and you, we're met,
And cloister'd in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it suck'd from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou
Find'st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
'Tis true ; then learn how false fears be ;
Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.
by John Donne
MARK but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is ;
It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
Thou know'st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two ;
And this, alas ! is more than we would do.
O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
Though parents grudge, and you, we're met,
And cloister'd in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it suck'd from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou
Find'st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
'Tis true ; then learn how false fears be ;
Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.
