Final Learning Statement

I was most surprised at how close the writers were; although they were competitors they were able to learn from each other. I was also surprised at the tremendous effect that the war had on the writers of the time. I know war is a life-altering event; however, based on the work I was familiar with before entering the class and the book analysis I was given in high school, war was not a huge topic. The first time I read The Great Gatsby was in a high school English class that could not hold a teacher; we went through four teachers and with all the confusion I do not think the topic of war ever came up. It was refreshing to learn the reality behind the fantasy of not only that novel, but all of the one we read in class; I enjoy learning about the historical and cultural context of books.

            Out of the authors we dealt with in class, I found Hemingway to be the most compelling. Although both Hemingway and Fitzgerald’s works are believable, I just found Hemingway’s work to be more real; it did not have the outlandish parties and ridiculous characters. Hemingway was more down-to-earth in his work and told all aspects of the world not just the exciting ones people want to read about.  In comparison, I found Stein to be the least compelling. She truly did not care about her audience and I was unable to find something in her work that interested me enough that I wanted to keep reading.

            I think that the class challenged my skill levels of critical thinking, writing and argumentation and reading comprehension. The texts we read were not easy and at sometimes it took great discipline to keep reading. However, in the end, the texts had so much underneath the surface that it was worth it. I will definitely be reading differently from now on.