Final thoughts

Since we are reaching the end of the semester, I wanted to share my thoughts on the entirety of the class. I would first like to talk about the readings. Over all, they have been pretty interesting. I enjoyed starting out with Gilgamesh. It is definitely one of my favorite readings from this semester. It has action, conflict, and journeys that make it enjoyable. Although I don't like Gilgamesh as a person, Enkidu had a plethora of qualities that I like to see in my friends; such as loyalty, courage, and honesty. Their relationship allowed for many discussion points. Aside from Gilgamesh, my other favorite readings are Beowulf and Oedipus Rex. I think Beowulf is a given. It has a superb hero that goes out and beats monsters up because he wants to test his strength. Beowulf is the ultimate man; how can you not enjoy reading about such a character? Even though Oedipus is a little messed up, I enjoyed reading it. One of the reasons is because it was written very well. It actually made me feel for Oedipus; I actually felt bad for him at the end. He was just trying to be a good king and find out the truth so he could save his town from the plaque. He didn't listen to anyone, so he eventually he found out the truth. But even though he went down, he still saved his town; he was still an excellent king.

The one text that I enjoyed the least was Daoism. It is so complicated; I had no idea what I was reading for the majority. It was all very confusing. Watching The Matrix helped a little, but the comparison to salt helped me understand considerably more. Either way, I still didn't understand it very much. Maybe that means I actually understand it better than I think. Even though it brought up several discussion points, I couldn't get into it at all because it was too confusing for me. Every other text had some interesting parts, but they just didn't compare to the genius of Beowulf and Gilgamesh.

I have truly enjoyed this class. We read some great stories and we also read some not so good ones. However, the good readings greatly outweighed the ones that I didn't like so much. Our in class discussions have been pretty interesting. They allow for me to view the texts in ways that I didn't before class. They also clarify any misunderstandings that may have convinced myself of. Furthermore, they actually taught me that analyzing texts can be fun and exciting. In the beginning of the semester I just read the stories how they were written; I didn't put any thought into them. The later into the semester we got, the more thought I put behind our readings. I tried to interpret situations and actions in different ways than I normally would have thought. I don't know if I will continue to "read" movies, but either way I enjoyed reading deeper into the texts. This class has been extremely fun. I applaud you, Mr. B, for allowing me to have a different perspective on English this semester. Your passion for English was easily noticeable. Because of this, I too had more passion than for the texts that we read. Thank you for an excellent class.