This literature class has been an enjoyable learning experience. Since we read such a large variety of dramatic literature and fictional literature as well as poetry, I really feel like I learned something and was able to gain knowledge. I am not usually one who enjoys reading or anything connected to it, but I was very open to the stories we read. I think I enjoyed it more than high school literature because we actually looked at more modern work, rather than just focusing on the classics. I was surprised and intrigued by the stories in Fiction Fix. They were different and rather “off the wall” and I liked most of them. It was also very cool to know that they were written by people just like myself. It makes the stories come to life a little more than when it is someone foreign to you. You connect more that way. When we were studying poetry, I actually found myself enjoying reading the poems. That had never happened before. I used to literally argue with my literature teacher about doing assignments for poetry because I despised it so much. I definitely will look back on this class as an eye opening experience that helped me appreciate well written literature.

I chose three different works of literature that dealt with some form of love. Whether it be a professor and student relationship that was taken too far, and ends in a

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Bad situation, or an affair taking place in a foreign country, or just a crazy sexual poem, these three works all show some part of what we think of as love.

The first literary work I looked at is called Oleanna and was written by Mamet. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of drama. It is a story about a young girl, age twenty, and her college professor. She seeks help from him because she feels ignorant and wants to do better in his class. They are meeting in his office and he can tell she is extremely distressed and needs comfort, so he casually puts his arm around her in a friendly manner. She later takes offense to this action and ends up filing a report against him to the tenure committee saying he sexually harassed her. This causes him to lose his job and not be able to buy the house he was trying to buy for his family. Because of this he retaliates and ends up actually beating her. This story shows us a way that the act of love can be demented. This professor was trying to help one of his struggling students, and because he was a little too friendly he got fired and his life was ruined. I liked this story because I think I could relate to it based on the fact that I am a young female college student and I could easily be put in that type of situation at any point in my college experience. Most girls probably feel the same way I do about this story. It isn’t directly related to love, but it deals with male/female relationships, which leads to love.

The next literary work I chose to look at that is dealing with love is “The Lady with the Pet Dog” by Oates. It is the story of a man who travels to Yalta without his family. He is the type of man who looks at women as if they are inferior and is usually very comfortable around women. There is a new comer to the town, and she walks her dog at the same time every day and this man becomes very intrigued with her. He

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Watches her every move and eventually they begin having an affair. She is married and has a family where she is from. They have their lovely affair and then he goes home to his family and she is extremely heart broken and ends up taking a trip to see him after he finally leaves her. This story is the ultimate love story with an unhappy ending. They have this amazing fling for a short time, but it can never be anything more than that, and the woman cannot handle leaving him. This is typical of women, and I think all women can relate to this story. We can all sympathize with the poor woman who had her heart broken because she was naïve and thought it was actually going to last, when he had a family and children. I like this story because it makes me think of past relationships where I have been in the same situation as this poor woman.

The last literary work I looked at is called “she being Brand” by e. e. cummings. It is about a young persons first sexual experience. I like this poem because it is so different and uses such a unique way of explaining it. It is from the perspective of the male character, as he begins having sex with this girl. All young people can relate to this topic and it is definitely a part of what we call love. The poem starts with the guy being excited and talking about this “brand new” girl. He talks about knowing she is a virgin and therefore being careful what he does, so as not to hurt her. The rest of the poem is them engaging in sexual acts, and the climax is fittingly at the end.

This entire semester has been a good experience. I enjoyed this class and I would recommend you as a teacher to any of my fellow students. I like the way you teach and you really helped me become more accepting of literature and poetry especially. I am a journalism major and it is important for me to enjoy reading because I will be forced to

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Read things I may not enjoy, but I feel like I am more open minded to reading things after taking your class. Thank you for the experience and the wonderful time.

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