"In grammar school they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fairy tale. In the university they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fact!" -Ron Carlson
Not looking forward to the English final today. It's on both Hamlet and Slaughterhouse Five, though I'm not really worried about the Hamlet part, more S5. Actually, the thing I'm looking forward to least is the length of the darn thing. The regular time for that class is and hour and 15 minutes, but all our other tests have taken at least an hour and a half, and that's rushing. Two hours probably, if you took your time. Since we're allotted two hours for the final, it's probably going to be about a 3 hour test. I swear my teacher is delusional. He has no concept of time. I think he's read S5 too many times. I hate that book. I loathe that book more than any other I've read, except one. And that one was for another English class. Why is it one must be tortured with depressing and mind-numbingly boring books in English class? I love to read, but I hate English classes because all you read are depressing, crude, and boring novels and short stories. They start with the depressing as early as possible (I remember one particularly depressing book from 4th grade), and I guess they figure by junior high they can subject you to the graphic and crude. By high school it's worse, and in college they can get away with anything. My question is, why are these novels considered great literature that one must study? What exactly is it about Slaughterhouse Five that makes it important to read? It's simplistically written, so it's boring to read, and it wreaked havoc with my own writing skills since I tend to absorb the writing style of whatever author I've been reading recently. That's why I was having such trouble with my art history paper. So, what does S5 have going for it? I swear, some of these so called 'great' novels are like modern art. They really didn't take any talent to create, but somewhere along the line, someone decided it was good, so now everyone has to think it's wonderful or else you're a moron, or have no taste. Personally, I'd question the taste of anyone who really liked S5. Like I said, it's crude, graphic, boring, in some places little better than thinly disguised pornography. At least to me. I suppose to the modern world it's rather tame. All I know is I've read many fanfics that were infinitely better. And if S5 were a fanfic, it'd get an NC-17 rating most likely. Then again, maybe it's just me. I hate that '60's pseudo sci-fi crap anyway, and I look at books, at least fiction, primarily as entertainment. If you want to put some grand message in there, great, but at least make the story interesting while you're at it. Take pity on the poor English students who have to read and analyze the stuff.
End rant.
I'll be better once the English final is over. Really. I promise. I have a long reading list over the summer of some good fiction to purge my brain of this semester.
