'You're not here for a course in creative writing. You're here for a course in critical writing. It doesn't matter what you have to say, what matters is how you use what others have said before you.'

That's it. My world crashed- academic world that is. Okay, what HAD I expected English honors to be? Certainly not a course in which I would be drilled into using the words of some long dead writers to say something about a text that I wanted to view in a certain way. Certainly not a course in which I'd never be able to look at the material directly, only look at its reflection in the words of some 'critic' and weave my answers from that reflection. I never counted on being a Lady of Shalott.

I hoped for a course that gave me free rein; gave me something to read and then let me go ahead and say whatever the hell it was I wanted to say about it. Let me express whatever thoughts ran through my head- regardless of format and the extent to which I used the opinions of people I'd never met and probably never would meet. I mean, in the end, how would it matter what Mary Pouvey said about 'Pride and Prejudice'? What's going to stick with me is what I thought the first time I read it, how I reacted to it. So why can't my essays on that infernal book showcase MY opinion and not that of a woman who's already been published and finished saying whatever the hell she had to say about fifty (if not more) years ago??

The answer comes back laden with smugness- cause I haven't read enough.

Again, how does that matter? It's my opinion on the BOOK that's wanted, my opinion on the CHARACTERS. Not my opinion on Austen's use of tax laws in her work. How does it matter whether I know the stuff about Chartism and all, if I can't tell you in a reader friendly language what I honestly think of Elizabeth Bennet (which is that she's a bloody annoying coot)? How does knowledge of Austen's economic situation help me formulate an opinion on the Jane and Bingley romance? Why would I want some long dead people dictating what I think of these characters?

If you're referring to critics, why not just watch the movie?

This may be completely biased and all...but seriously. I refuse to be a Lady of Shalott. I want to look at a work directly, unbiased. And the quality of work does not depend upon the number of critics you quote, in my humble opinion, it's the originality of your opinion and how well you put it forward the counts.

I rest my case.