Literacy Masterpiece Expectations English 106 March 11, 2013

Literary Masterpiece Expectations Hearing the words, “Literary Masterpiece” was quite intimidating when I first discovered I would be taking this class for my degree. I did not have the most pleasant experience with reading literature until my freshman year. I was certain that I would not understand “old books,” they would be boring and last the “cool” kids did not have time to read books. They were too busy being cool to worry about nerdy things like that. I was wrong about those things. Since I have grown a bit I notice that those “old books” are transformed into movies that have sold out in theaters. There are many things that discouraged me from reading decent literature growing up from being worried I would not comprehend the story, being under the impression that they were boring and that reading was not a popular thing to do. Understanding Literature I lunged into the Odyssey when I was a freshman in high school and thought that I would be able to whiz through this story just like the other books I read in the past. I quickly changed my tune within the first couple pages; I was extremely overwhelmed and intimidated by the literature. I needed to face the facts and get extra help from my teacher. He told me that I had to be patient with the text, and read it paying special attention to the punctuation and to read it slowly so I would be able to fully absorb the story. When I did what he instructed, the story flowed and all doubts about this and other masterpieces disappeared. Dull to Fun In the beginning, I expected literary masterpieces to be boring and dull to read. I would picture old men in dusty libraries with reading glasses hanging from their noses. That was the image that television would show of literature in general, they implied that reading was not fun and only for old people. A bad experience with anything in life can put a sour taste in anyone’s mouth. This is also true of reading literature, how the story is written, the author’s personal biography or even the topic of the literature. Those reasons along with others can put someone off on a certain literature. Opening my mind and taking a chance, I overcame this hurdle. Once I did this, I saw all that these masterpieces had to offer not just to me, but everyone. They simply put me into a time in the past or future, tell stories of things that have occurred or may occur in the future. Literature in Society I believe all of these characteristics are important in all literature. I wish others could see literature the way that I do, as a drug-free way to escape reality. In a few pages, I can be off to a new world and learning new and exciting things. There are many characteristics that can be seen in some literary masterpieces, they teach about love, loss, and values to name a few. These things are very important in today’s society, it lets people go and read about how “it should be done,” how things should be. It is very interesting that in the past few years many literary masterpieces have been taken out of those dusty libraries and turned into major motion pictures. This showed the portion of society that has not yet experienced these numerous works just how amazing they could be; it gives them a glimpse of the possibilities held in the pages. Since starting my college education years ago, I have learned to appreciate literature much more than I originally thought. I have learned to overcome the small things that kept me from experiencing literature to its full extent. I learned that reading it slow and minding the punctuation is a necessity if I want to fully grasp the story. In turn, when reading slower than usual and taking my time I discover that the books that I thought would be dull or boring are full of fun, adventure, love, and romance. Thinking that it “was not cool” to read books, is a silly concept looking back, plenty of teens were reading books and enjoying it. Literature masterpieces are important for people of today and tomorrow, they hold the key to another reality.