When you see English Literature as one of your subject options, you may think that we’ll be learning Shakespeare with Romeo and Juliet. However, that is not the case, as English Literature is so much more than that!
The doors to English Literature start off not just with a warm welcome from Mr Hugh, but also a short reading session with a book of choice and classical tunes whispering in the background. It helps us to get into the flow of reading to sustain the habit, and to exterminate any leftover yawns from the early morning.
After about 15 minutes, Mr. Hugh stands up and usually signals us politely to mark our pages as we’re about to begin class. The syllabus is very vast; from covering poems by Maya Angelou with themes ranging from feminism and empowerment all the way to slavery and sorrow; and books like Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss that outlines the life of 3 peculiar individuals, a young girl Sai, a cook, and a retired judge living lavishly (or not) on the hillsides of northern India. Since we’re all fairly new to the subject, we devote a lot of time reading and dissecting our piece of literature to actually absorb the essence and meaning of the text (of course, with the guidance from Mr Hugh) and to complete our tasks.
Our assignments are fairly feasible to complete in class, with just a pen, a notebook, and your laptop open to Google Slides. Lately, our most recent task is answering questions regarding various chapters of The Inheritance of Loss, where we have to read pages of the book either on our own or with Mr Hugh’s narrative voice, and use quotations and information to answer in our notebook.
Marita’s Class Review
At the beginning of the year, I was placed in this class by accident. Despite that, I stayed in a few classes due to the fact that I really enjoyed each lesson. Analyzing Maya Angelou’s poems helped broaden my understanding of her life as an African-American woman, the struggles that come with it, and her beautifully written poems, one masterpiece after another. Just like Mr. Hugh says, every time he reads her poems, there is always something new to analyze. Literature is a type of art form that I am glad I am exposed to, as it's very interesting and creative, similar to the visual arts.
Moving away from poems, the book “The Inheritance of Loss” is a piece of literature worthy of its title as the winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2006. Only 13 chapters in, and I have physically gasped 5 times. Each page gave so many answers yet exponentially brought more questions about each character and the world they live in. Kiran Desai is one incredible author who made this novel so captivating and groundbreaking. The contrasts between each character and their devastating backstories are ones that I am glad to have read. I can’t wait for every lesson. Although I’d like to mention that this book demands higher English comprehension skills, which means I found it a tad difficult to understand. Nonetheless, with the aid of Mr. Hugh, his narration and emphasis keep me in check and entertained.
The main reason I stayed in this class is because Mr. Hugh is a teacher who is passionate about the subjects that he teaches, which is clearly made evident by how much fun he has, whether it’s reading Maya Angelou’s poems or the novel. Moreover, the content that we are studying itself is enjoyable. As an artistic person who appreciates art, I’ve always been interested in poems and novels. I hope that this article sheds light on joining English Literature, as Marita 5 months ago would call me crazy for picking this subject!
TLDR: To my pleasant surprise, English Literature is fun.