A little late I know, but so what is a question that may or may not haunt me for the rest of my literary analysis. It’s a question that I presumed used to have a “simple” answer, but even that is putting it lightly. Being in this class made me realize that there are so many interesting interpretations within literary analysis and criticism, and that no one thing is truly correct even if it is the big consensus that people believe. I always had a small fear behind saying something incorrect, or saying something that really didn’t go anywhere, but ultimately, so what?? Literally, so what. There’s always a so what attached to someone half of the time, and I really do think this class helped in fixing a very ingrained mindset. Struggle might not feel nice, but it is important to have. Smooth-sailing just sounds a little boring anyways, and I really do appreciate the way this class has built on some previous foundation of writing skills that were a lot weaker because wow, standardized testing really messed me over. Reading is an important skill, and just about anything can be “read” to this level if you just try hard enough.
Moby-Dick
ECL 522: Fall 2025. Professor Pressman
I would honestly like to print out this blog post and have it framed on my wall because it is such a brilliant articulation of my single most important goal in teaching. If this is what you took from my class, I feel like I did a good job. And you certainly did a great job–I watched you work hard and think hard and listen hard every single class meeting. It was deeply inspiring. Thank you for being such an important part of our learning community, and I certainly hope I will have you in another class in the future!
Hey Diana,
Thank you for your thoughts on this, I do feel like as long as you struggle, you will always learn more from the course. This is why the course is structured heavliy around close-reading, it’s to help us understand the meaning rather than caring more about the materials.