The Curriculum and Related Activities, Thesis Paper Example

The curriculum and related activities have helped me through the years to discover my real passion: writing. The books, resources, and essays reviewed during the course have provided useful information about what writing should be about. Creative writing, essay writing, book, play, and movie writing have been covered in the literature classes, and the knowledge about literature, the process of putting ideas on paper was complemented by other studies, such as humanities; social sciences, economics, and philosophy. I now understand that – in order to become a creative writer and journalist – I need to understand not only literary works, but the mechanisms behind criticism, analysis, and readers’ motivation. The below review of curriculum and literature covered is not complete, however, it features some of the most influential works covered that will help me complete my chosen major: journalism.

Literature

I started to understand that writing should never be viewed as a standalone art. Indeed, studying the works of Shakespeare, I understood that without researching history, the author would never have been able to create authentic plays, such as Hamlet and Macbeth. Further, the works would not be as “fit for stage” as they are even today, if the author was not an actor himself, knowing about theater and acting practices. He had to study not only contemporary theater, but ancient drama and literature, in order to create a cathartic experience that is still present on the stage whenever Hamlet is played.

I also learned a lot about social criticism, and now am able to compare early ironic writing about social issues in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales with modern sarcastic journalism and literature. Studying the Canterbury Tales has made me realize the real purpose of writing: opening the eyes of the readers to the truth. It has strengthened my previous intention to become a journalist and serve the public by revealing the truth, or showing it from a different perspective. In a way, Chaucer is one of my heroes in literature, as he was not afraid to show people the discrepancies of the society, and he did it in an entertaining way. He was not only a brilliant writer, but also became extremely popular in England, according to 14^th Century measures. When I continue my education journey, I will try to achieve the same goals as Chaucer did: entertaining and revealing discrepancies at the same time.

Reading the Holy Bible as a literary work, instead of a religious book presented a challenge. People who grew up religious find it difficult to distance themselves from the spiritual meaning of the text. However, I discovered that hymns of the Bible are indeed poems for the supernatural, while the parables are somewhat similar to the format of Aesop’s fables. Indeed, I discovered more about the purpose of each chapter and hymn than ever before, and studying the book has revealed a lot about how the social and ethical norms of the Western civilization were formed, based on Christianity’s values.

Dante’s Inferno part of the Divine Comedy has helped me understand the way 14^th Century people thought about the world, religion, God, and sin. The experience was like traveling back in time, and I realized that if I ever decided to engage in creative writing and will decide to write about historical events, I would need to research the literature at the time, to understand people’s preferences, values, motivations, and the social system in general. Similarly, reading More’s Utopia has helped me understand the social structure of the 16^th Century, and revealed that every age and system has its limitations. I admired how the author used satire to reflect on people’s desire to become “superior”.

Humanities

In humanities, we learned about the foundations of humanities, studying Plato’s work, Symposium. The author chose dramatic dialogue as the format of the book, and aligned different arguments about issues, such as love, men’s role in life, and in particular the “theory of love”. It was an important work to study, as it reflects on human emotions in a way that sets an example for authors of the future generations. Further, it features a unique concept to feature different views of life and emotions in one work.

Descartes’ work was extremely educational, as it was written in the 17^th century, and he is considered to be the father or modern philosophy. The open attitude of the author try understanding the world around him, discover the true nature of people and plants is remarkable. His moral psychology was based on the freedom of people’s thoughts, and subjectivity. While he is also considered to be the father of rationalist thought, he was also a great mathematician, who used unique methods to understand physics, laws of mathematics, and the natural world.

It was also interesting to study Saint Augustine’s political works. His main concept that he defended in every work was that people were born with free will, and choosing between God and evil is what makes people good or bad. Indeed, the theme of contrasting good and bad is the main focus of many contemporary books, movies, and plays. He described Utopia in his work, and many future philosophers used his ideas to develop new concepts of the society and order.

In the light of the previous works, it was interesting to read Nietzsche’s account on the fight between good and evil. His concept of freedom was something that struck me the most, and the fact that he went against all of the previous philosophers who tried to explain it. He provides the readers with some life-truths, such as: “Help yourself: then everyone will help you”. He also reflects on morality, and states that Christianity became a leading religion because it “spiritualized passions”.

Social Sciences

In social sciences, we covered a number of important works from Freud, Karl Marx, and Kahneman. For me, discovering how the course of politics, ideologies, and inventions depend on human nature was one of the most important parts of the learning journey. Freud’s ideas about he development of civilization, as well as his experiments and findings on human thinking, the history and process of thought was revealing that there is indeed a connection between people’s attitudes, psychological features, and their motivation to understand the world. While Freud stated that people are all unique, Marx was more interested in creating general rules for society that can benefit all in the society. In his “Communist Manifesto”, he invented the term “social justice”, and assigned the responsibility of maintaining it to governments and leaders. However, today, in the neoliberal world, all people should be working on creating social justice, based on consensus. His ideas on positive and negative liberties are still debated today by sociologists.

Kahneman’s discovery on the human thought process has helped me understand how people are able to understand ideas, and it has greatly helped me adjust my writing style to the needs of the readers. He stated: “”Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you’re thinking about it.”  – something he called the “focusing illusion”.

Preparing For a Writing Career

As I neared closer to selecting my major, I focused more on writing as a process, engaging with the audience, and different genres. King’s work: “How to Write a Movie in 21 Days” has not only taught me about creating a storyline, but also how to build up a movie systematically. The author described the “inner movie method”, a creative approach that is no only useful in writing movies, but also any type of creative activity. I liked the chapter that was describing the “brainstorming” process creative people engage in to get ideas for a movie. Again, this method can be used for every genre.

I finally understood feminist criticism from the work of Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar: “Feminist Literary Theory And Criticism”. I understand more about the issue from a historical perspective, and the connection between humanist ideology and feminist approaches. Indeed, this liberal ideology has still got a lot to provide for authors and critics alike. Further, I can now see a close connection between postmodern art and feminist movements.

Miramar is a story that is also focusing on people’s individual perspectives. Just like symposium, it features different accounts of the events. The book uses a unique and creative solution to make sure that the author does not provide the reader with an opinion, and does not influence their judgment.

Studying the “The Spectacle: Media and the Making of the O.J. Simpson Story” helped me understand how mass communication and media operate in modern society, and the responsibility of reporters, journalists to reveal both sides of the story, and not to omit important details.

The Way Forward

Starting my major in journalism and creative writing next year, I am planning to learn more about postmodern art and feminist approaches. I would like to review contemporary writers’ and artists’ methods of combining mass communication effects with artistic features; deconstructing common objects and giving them a new meaning.