This class has been a huge learning experience for me that I would do again. I initially took this class because I saw Moby Dick as an important/constantly mentioned in pop culture and I wanted to see what it was all about. I am also ambitious and wanted to tell people I have read this book. Once class began, and the reading did too, I started to feel challenged by the ‘so-what’ push we have gotten all semester. I am used to reading something and liking it for aesthetic purposes, but I rarely questioned a line in a book and asked why it is important. This forced me to consider what I am reading in a larger context/include my own personal experience. But as the semester went on I really enjoyed making connections to the real world from a 1 or 2 sentence line, it forced me to think really deeply about single words.

Another thing that stands out to me is the class discussions that we would have. This would be an initial point of insecurity in the beginning of the class, I took it as an indicator that I was not ‘understanding’ the book in the same way other people did. But this was another thing that I had to shift my thinking about. These discussions pointed out so many amazing parts of this book that would reshape the way I initially read some parts. The sharing of interpretation was also helpful when I was genuinely confused in certain chapters. Overall I really liked taking this class and it taught me new ways to approach reading, thinking about literature and about feeling lost/confused when reading a book.