.. that Mr. B has ulterior motives in assigning these stories for us to read.
I mean, obviously they're exemplary pieces of literature. You can pick any literary term you desire and find examples of it in these stories -- irony, symbolism, humor, motifs, you name it. Reading and analyzing these stories will help us pass our AP exams in the spring. (Because that's the goal .. right?)
But .. it seems like I walk out of that class every X day with a new perspective on LIFE. Like how we were talking about pain, and how it's different for everyone that experiences it but no less painful? That one hit me hard.
I feel like Mr. Bruno's not only teaching us about analyzing literature, but he's teaching us life-lessons too.
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I think that's the point. The life lessons aren't ulterior motives, they come with the analysis and evaluation of the stories. Yes, Mr. Bruno does lead us to those lessons, but they exist in the stories in the first place. Mr. B guides us in these evaluations, often to find a theme of the story, because the life lessons are generally a good place to find the theme. I guess eventually (or soon...) we'll be evaluating these stories without his help so we'll hopefully notice those life lessons on our own. I suppose those two essays would be a good place to start.
ReplyDeleteFiction mirrors reality (direct quote from Mr. B), so by teaching us to evaluate these stories, he is also teaching us to evaluate life and understading life's lessons.
ReplyDeleteIt's frightening how much sense this all makes.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it is frightening.
ReplyDeleteI actually talked to him about it briefly, and what he alluded was that all true literature teaches a lesson, and if it doesn't, it's not literature.
(I disagree with him -- maybe it's just the GOOD literature that teaches a lesson.)
I feel like it's our duty as the reader to figure out the lesson and learn from it.
Of course... that's what literature does, isn't it? =D
ReplyDeleteAll of you are suck-ups just looking for approval from the one who is grading you.....I'm just kidding but in all seriousness that is the objective of the course; to analyze literature in a way that you can derive its true intentions so that in some way you can use them in your own personal life/world.
ReplyDeleteI think that Mr. Bruno's teaching us the literature. We, as AP students, are supposed to be able to interpret literature and relate it into our own lives. Since these experiences and lessons that we learn through these books seem to affect our lives outside of class, we are doing our jobs as interpreters and Mr. Bruno is doing his job as a teacher; he's making us interpret for ourselves. He's just the handicap that helps us to our interpretation.
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