Flashback-----*

When I leave this class, I think the Idea that will always stick with me is that good and evil cannot exist without each other. They are what they are, only because of what they are not. This Idea will stick with me the most because I had encountered this idea some months before we read Areopagitica. My mom told me to read a passage from the bible, and I flipped it randomly (more out of irritation than anything else) and started reading. The passage was basically about how one who had never encountered evil could not claim to be righteous, because righteousness is when you are aware of the evil, but consciously decide to do what is right. I though this passage was interesting, but I did not think too deeply about until the same Idea arose in Areopagitica, and Blue Velvet.
Something else that will always be in the back (but not super back) of my mind, Is the definition of literature. As much as I disliked reading literary theory, once I was able to understand it, I was able to see why the book had so many good reviews. The Question “What is Literature?” is one that most people will not be able to give a straight forward answer to. Even Eagleton in his infinite wisdom could not give a straight forward answer. Literature for me has always had a narrow definition, but studying all these works, made me think hard. In the past I would not have called a show like The Wire literary. I would have noticed its sophistication compared to other shows, but I would not have called it Literary. This whole Idea is still very new to me, and there is no way I will approve of a high school class studying a “literary show” in place of a book, but I don’t know why not. I guess this change might be too much to swallow in one semester, but it is one of the biggest changes in mindset that I have had in this class, and will not easily forget.
As far as texts, Lolita is defiantly one to remember. I think more than anything, I will remember the way the book felt. The way the language made you go along with the story, and made you feel strangely comfortable with what was going on. You are not fully aware of what you are reading till you are done, and then you have to go back, and say “what?”.
We covered am lot of ideas that I feel we will continue to encounter in life, and not only in our memories when we remember this class.