Coming into this class I really wasn't sure what to expect. Some of the ideas/themes I was already familiar with from having Dr. Mortimore for WIFYS, but some of the authors were completely new to me and rather provocative. I'm not going to lie, some of the selections from the beginning including Bauerlein and Lasn really pissed me off. But looking back on it, I can sort of identify that they, as well as the other material we covered had a purpose.
I feel that more than anything from this course, I have learned to think, which may sound silly. Haven't we already spent 14+ years in school? Shouldn't I already have known how to think? This literature class has made me question what I "think" or "believe". Before I had so many opinions thrown at me, as many of the authors we read do, I sort of just took everything I heard or was told as fact and did not consider that i could have questioned everything and found out how i really felt about things, instead of letting others do that for me.
I have really had my eyes opened by a certain authors. At first i really didn't take "It's Gotta Be the Cheese" seriously, i was like oh come on someone wrote a poem about cheese? What sort of meaning could be in that? Well throughout the course i feel that in someway everything tied back into the idea Kadosh was trying to illustrate, and that is the idea of plentitude. I've often been unhappy when i have absolutely no reason to be spoken of. I have all of the necessities of life and most of the material goods that I desire, so why wasn't i satisfied? Aton Kadosh got it right, as Americans we are spoiled...we have plenty and we always want more. Maybe the next generation iPhone, a better car, a nicer home...its never enough. In Lasn's Culture Jam he rambles on and on about all of the selfishness and ridiculous new "diseases" that are catching on. So many Americans are being treated for things that can't be seen and therefore may not even exist. He alludes to the idea that perhaps they are bored with all that they have and need another way to get attention. Henry David Thoreau had a different and slightly more refreshing approach to the idea of plentitude. In the essay we read from Walden, he tells of himself going into the wilderness-well basically, and simplifying everything in his life. He encourages readers to do the same, to really get back to what life is all about and to realize that material goods are not the only thing that is important.
Another reoccurring, and slightly terrifying theme we discussed that really hit home with me was voyeurism. I never had a second thought on watching reality TV or why news of terrible things never really made me feel much of anything unless it some how directly affected me. It was utterly sick how fascinated I was with The Hunger Games, kids were dying and killing each other, and there i sat riveted by it, by the drama of the whole thing. I rarely watch TV, but I definitely get sucked into Teen Mom and in a sense i feel proud that I'm not that person, that i didn't screw up. The discussion and the book really made me understand how desensitized our world has become and it really sickens me.
Overall, I really enjoyed the class and feel that the topics I mentioned above as well as other topics discussed throughout the semester were very relative to our everyday lives. Even though at points I was so annoyed with the material presented to me, I feel that I have gained a lot. Thinking critically is something that we are taught not to do, we need to know material for an exam, but we don't understand it's real world application. I feel that this class has sort of breeched the gap between the two.
