Why I Don't Like Literature Class

           Literature is not something to be pondered or mulled over or picked apart.  It is something to be read and enjoyed and accepted.  Is he a believable character?  Was she justified?  How might this have been different?  

            This isn’t real life!  In a fictional story, we don’t need to pick these things apart.  We need to read it, enjoy it, and take it at face value.  Literature is not created to make sense; it is created to stir emotion in the heart of the reader.

            When a writer sits down with passion in his heart and fire in his eyes and he puts his pen to paper and pours out eloquent words to capture the feelings he feels, he is not intending for the one who comes across his words to point out the inadequacies or inconsistencies.  He intends the reader to feel what he feels and see what he sees.  When he describes a scene, he doesn’t want you to ask, “Is this realistic?” or “What does this say about the narrator?”  He wants you to visualize it and feel the cool air and hear the gentle music. 

            Art appeals to the heart—to the emotions.  If we wanted it all to match up, we would study math, not literature.  The beauty of fiction is that it doesn’t have to make sense; it just has to be beautiful.  A writer has succeeded if it is beautiful and if it makes the reader want to keep reading.  Let us stop studying literature to the point of destruction and let it be what it was meant to be.