Goal 3: Culture Through Literature (ENGL 201)

This course was one of my favorites in my college experience. I was able to do what I love most: read and write about literature. Instead of the typical text set for World Literature, which is largely Western-based, we actually read books from all over the world. My favorites from the course were from authors that I never would have encountered in a typical literature class.

One of the best aspects of the class was the group discussion. I enjoyed the freedom to discuss topics that I felt deeply interested in, particularly about gender and class in differing societies. Instead of being told the answer, we discussed possibilities and theories about the texts in ways I never had before. I learned that literature is something we consider and reflect on, and that it’s okay not to have a “right” answer.

Our course work was challenging and thought-provoking. For an essay assignment, I wrote about Arundhati Roy’s overarching disapproval of the caste system in her novel, The God of Small Things.