The short story "saga" of my Humanities class is over. The period spanned about less than two months and covered nine short stories in total. Because of that "saga", I had to develop the habit of expecting to read a short story for the next meeting. If I didn't, I would have to sit like a rock in class without any idea what everyone else is talking about. Well, in reality, I would not have had the motivation or the idea itself to read stories like "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" or "Through the Tunnel" and everything else. Actually, I never knew that the stories and their corresponding authors existed. XD But now, I think that it is good that I had the chance to know those short stories. All of them are worth the effort and time to read. I learned and relearned concepts relating to value, challenges, life, death, time, freedom, youth, etc. because of those stories. Here is a brief list of ideas that I got from each story:
Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket
The concept of value is embedded within the story. The knowledge of what we should value will make us better off.
Through the Tunnel
The concept of value still appeared here. But the main idea that I got from the story is the importance of risks. The idea of risking a lot for something that we want to achieve...
The Widow and the Parrot
Oh, dear. Kindness to animals. I don't usually care about animals... XD I actually hate the dog at our front gate. It barks at me so loudly. I'm kind but I don't care about them. XD Moreover, the presentation of this story doesn't convince me to be any kinder to animals.
The Masque of the Red Death
Death will come for anyone, in time.
The concepts of egalitarianism, stages of life and unjust rulership also appeared in this story.
Two Friends
Responsibility is something that should always exist for any action.
Nationalism.
Doing what we want to do; freedom.
War affects everyone.
The Problem
The substance of this short story is pretty hard to digest. Something about disciplining and spoiling. I think it is about how "adults" should handle young people or youth. And that no matter how the adults handle youth, the latter will behave in the same manner (I don't believe that though). Or probably, adults should discipline the youth so that the latter will not be abusive or something.
Magnificence
Don't completely trust newly found friends.
Summer Solstice
All in all, the "saga" is a good find. Without it, I wouldn't have learned more about these concepts. The Humanities class is actually proving to be more beneficial than I thought.
The constant seating arrangement is unadvisable especially because the chairs are usually disarranged by some force. In addition, there is a scarcity in chairs; there are times when seats are taken to other classrooms.
Another suggestion is for the novel part to have a list of pre-chosen novels so that a student can choose a novel from a set of predetermined novels. This will make the choice easier, especially for preoccupied students. Custom choices are still available, nonetheless, for students who do not want any of the given choices.
Why is it that the Humanities I G.E. only got offered without prerequisites when I am already at my fourth year of college? If I took the course at an earlier year level, I would have understood what I just learned, to improve reading skills, read, read a lot.
The Humanities class is now off to poetry. I am hopeful that this time I will be able to appreciate the jibberish that Shakespeare utters.
