English classes have, generally, always been a nightmare for me. I am more of a left brain and mathematical person and so things such as holistic thinking and creativity have never really been my thing. However, this changed in my junior year of high school, when I started taking AP Literature and Composition. The class itself was mentally challenging. Coming to the United States two years prior taking the class, I was still struggling with the language. While everyone could read works of Shakespeare without using the translator or speak in front of the class without feeling ashamed for having an accent, I was the opposite. This made me feel embarrassed and, often, out of place. I felt that, because of not being a natural English speaker, I would never be as good as other students. In spite of this, I loved my teacher. She taught us to, when analyzing a piece of work, look at how the message of the story applied to real life. This concept was eye opening for me as it taught me to find the meaning of a literature piece in terms of reality. As a result, I started seeing a change in my essays and my thought processing. I begin to write analyses with much more depth than before and excitement. Because of this, I also had more courage to read poems out loud in front of the class despite my fears. This class genuinely improved my English and writing skills. But, especially, it taught me the real purpose behind literature and art; how both try to make a sense of the complex world we live in for us to have something to relate to when we feel like we are, as I felt, out of place. It taught me to be inquisitive and not just merely walk through life without constantly asking myself the meaning of the things that inhabit it. It taught me the importance of self-acceptance and the challenges that one must go through in order to flourish as a person. Literature is all about the enlightenment of the mind and thanks to this class, I have something that I can turn to to look for answers when nothing else makes sense. As a teenager, when life becomes the more overwhelming, I can find wisdom hidden in forms of ink and paper.
