Five Things I've Gained from Reading Literature

1. What piece of literature has stayed with you, even though you haven't read it recently?

The Green Mile by Stephen King. My freshman year roommate and high school friend Emily brought a whole drawer full of movies with her to Duquesne and wanted us to watch them together when we had free time. The movie version of The Green Mile was among them, which I always found daunting because it was practically three hours long, plus she insisted I read the book first. Finally, before Christmas break she threw it onto my bed where I was stuffing things haphazardly into my bag so I could make it out of the building and down the six blocks to the bus stop. I promised to read it so we could watch the movie the night we got back. I read the book in about 2 days, and I still think about how magical the whole story seemed and how unjust the outcome was. It comes to mind most when people are sharing opinions on the death penalty. After reading an entire book where a man who essentially worked miracles was wrongly convicted and having the span of the book to grow to adore John, his death hits hard even though it’s evident from the beginning that there is no other option for him. It also made me think a lot about prisoners in general. King gave them personalities and stories. He made them real rather than just the vague “criminals” that are always guilty monsters and begs the question of whether it’s ethical to punish murderers by murdering them.

2. What character or story has influenced something you've done?

Harriet from Harriet the Spy. When I was about eight I discovered the book in the school library during one of those clear-out-the-library-by-giving-musty-books-to-students days. I read and re-read that book so much it fell apart (although I still have it of course). I used to want to be a spy too, and the idea of spying on my neighbors was immensely appealing to me as I moved around a lot and always had a plethora of new people to make up stories about. I would wear my black slicker and crawl through the mud, crouching near a bush and scribbling furiously into a purple composition book or sitting sap-covered in a pine tree staring down at the world through my yellow plastic binoculars. I even roped my little sister into it, insisting that we had to have spy names and that mine was Harriet.

3. What character or piece of literature seemed to relate to a recent news story or personal experience?

Miles in Looking for Alaska by John Green. I got the book for Christmas and when I was reading it there were aspects that I could really identify with. Even though I moved a lot as a kid, I always was fortunate enough to just move houses, not schools. Starting high school and undergrad were easy transitions because so many of my Holy Trinity friends went to OLSH and Duquesne was practically OLSH part two. However, starting at RMU for grad school was a thing I did on my own, and so for the first time in my life, as a 22- year- old, I was “the new kid” just like Miles. The campus was unfamiliar to me and kind of lonely because I didn’t have my network of former classmates and friends. I also went five days a week to the job I had managed to maintain even though I only worked a couple random days over breaks at Duquesne. Like Alaska, the Colonel, and Takumi, my co-workers were into things that I either refused to try or never even considered, and we were completely different. Like Miles, in spite of being kind of a goodie, I befriended them because that’s what happens when you’re new and uncomfortable- the people recognize that and take you in as one of them, even if you’re completely unlike anyone they’ve encountered. Although I felt out of my element, some of my co-workers were very welcoming and we managed to find common ground and have fun. Oddly enough, playing pranks was something I was incorporated into, just like Miles was with Alaska.

4. What character has made you wonder why he or she did/said something?

I recently read Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, which is based on a true story about Chris McCandless. He graduates college, donates all of his money to a charity, and takes off into the wilderness alone. He severs all ties with his family and lives the life of a vagabond, taking from the land and striving to be a combination of Kerouac and Thoreau. Even though I could understand the appeal of living a simplistic life completely off the grid, becoming one with nature, I couldn’t fathom why Chris wouldn’t have prepared better for the Alaskan wilderness than he did, which could have saved him.

5. Name something from a work of literature (such as a character, setting, or quotation) that you find beautiful or vivid.

“I’ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas: they’ve gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the colour of my mind.”

            -Cathy in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontё

Part of this quote was in the cover of a journal someone got for me when I was 10 and I’ve always loved it. Last summer when I read Wuthering Heights it only made the quote more poignant because the sentiment is one I have experienced as well.