Final Thoughts

Before this class began I was afraid that it would all be over my head, that I would spend most of my class time looking at the clock and day dreaming about who knows what. However, literary theory turned out to be pretty interesting and while there was some that was over my head, I feel that I have a pretty good grasp on all the theories we've discussed. Whether it was attempting to wrap my head around the idea that all of language is a system of differences, or the idea that nothing has any real meaning or a true center, my knowledge of the topic has greatly expanded.

One of the major apprehensions I had going into the class was that I felt literary theory really had no place in everyday life, that it was something reserved for the academic world. However, while it might be true that more in depth observations are best saved for academia, theory can be applied to almost everything around you, even if it's only to spark some thought for yourself. They all give you a new way to think about your surroundings, particularly looking at what is taken for granted by most people. Whether it's looking at the power structure of the country, the college, or your job or even just looking at an advertisement and thinking about the underlying meanings in it, theory can be applied to all kinds of things.

I think the overwhelming lesson that will really stick with me from this class is to be careful with my language. Previously I had never thought much of language, whether I was reading someone else's work or writing my own it was not something that I really thought much of. Yet through the study of theory I've come to understand that language is something of great importance and can have a great influence whether it intends to or not. Language is a system that is always at work looking to establish meaning or destroy meaning (if you believe there is a meaning) depending on which theory you subscribe to.

This class has certainly exposed to new ideas and has changed the way I think about certain things in my life. While I'm not to the extent of Jon Rosenblatt, the student in our final article, I definitely do find myself having new thoughts about things I see everyday which I would not have been doing without my new knowledge of literary theory.

Settle for the Draw

I'd once again like to begin my post with a thank you to our guest lecturer, Ms. Tonya Krouse for her extensive and informative discussion about the many aspects of feminism and feminist theory. It greatly illustrates the complexity and overarching spread that feminist theory has, more so than almost any theory we've engaged in this semester.

When I first think of feminism my mind is filled with images of women burning bras, holding picket signs and an overall social revolution. While I completely understand that I'm generalizing the term and associating it with dated ideas, they are the free associations that my brain conjures up. The idea of feminism, as we discussed in class, gets quite a bad rap in today's society, which is odd for an idea that seems pretty simple, that women should be treated equal as men, in society and in this context, in literature.

Ms. Krouse does a great job of separating the ideas of women and literature and women in literature, and the differing approaches of theory that follow. This separation is one that I usually did not make when thinking of feminist theory prior to reading this posting. I tended to simply associate a feminist reading of something as strictly analyzing female characters in literature, how they were presented, if they were obviously oppressed, and how/if the patriarchal society around them was dictating their position. Yet, as with most theory we've discussed this semester, there is much more to it, much more that I learned for the first time.

One particular aspect of Ms. Krouse's guest post that piqued my interest and opened up some new ideas in my mind was the discussion about performance studies and how "individuals create their gender and sexual identities in language and in action," and the controversies that accompany this line of thinking. I've begun to really suscribe to this line of thinking that all of a person's individuality is really a creation of the society around them, in regards to this discussion, that girls act like "girls" because they're taught that's the correct way to behave from birth. So this idea of performing your identity introduced and discussed by newer feminist critics is one that I agree with.

The part of the discussion that really interested me though was the critiques that followed these ideas, particularly the idea that this view limits political action because a woman is no longer being defined as a woman, it has been complicated. This idea seems somewhat ludicrous to me, that simply because the age old belief of gender identity separation is being questioned these theorists aren't aiding in the political movement or advancement of women. While again this idea of political mobilization was something discussed in class today, it is an area of extreme interest for me. Feminist theory, and almost all theory for that matter, while engaged certainly in the political arena, specifically in regards to change, is not confined to that space. For feminist theorists to be criticized on their idea because it may hurt the political position seems counter-intuitive to the institution as a whole, the theoretical institution of deeper analysis of the literature and world around us. Suffice to say, these ideas were not ones that I usually had when thinking of feminism before reading this post, and I will definitely no longer only associate feminism with flannel shirts. (That's a joke)