(This was for my final paper in Lit 3, and I thought I’d put it up here because I liked how it turned out. and also because I’m cool. I’m allowed to post this now.. since it’s been a year since I took this subject.)

I. How is the individual presented in the selections we took up in class? Discuss your answer by giving examples from the selections.

Barbara W. Tuchman, an American popular historian and writer, once said: “Books are humanity in print.” It is amusing how well Tuchman has captured the essence of how literature means to man in just a few words. Literature reflects life and life reflects literature. Even more, it delves into our souls and exposes who we are, no matter how we hide it.
In the selections that we have discussed, we see a great deal of characters discussed. We see man as innocent and childlike (the little prince in The Little Prince); man as impatient and impulsive (the young waiter in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place); and man as a humble lover, realizing his place in life (the protagonist in Bread of Salt). Through the different characters, we see how well an individual can be described, and we relate our experiences to these stories. We see, if not ourselves, our neighbors, cousins, sisters, grandparents, and other people in our lives in these characters, and it makes it all the more an interesting read. The fact that we are able to simply smile as we read of the characters’ adventures in each literary piece is sign enough that we see humanity through the words of the story, and this is a good thing, because that’s how literature works and that’s exactly how it is supposed to be.
Let us take for example the story A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. The story starts with a peculiar creature with gigantic wings of which they think to be an angel. Its rugged features make them doubt, but then, the couple who find him- Pelayo and Elisenda- use him to make themselves bags and bags of money. The “angel” keeps quiet, does not reply nor complain, even when the people who have paid to visit him must be annoying him to the highest of levels. They poke his wings, grab his feathers and light candles that make the cage he stays in too hot at times. I imagine it must be darkened with soot, with the number of candles lit at one time. Then comes along another weird character- a spider with a lady’s head- and the people are no longer interested in the “angel”. They flock to the spider instead. The story ends with the “angel” taking to flight as Elisenda watches him disappear past the houses and higher into the clouds.
Here we find several kinds of people portrayed in the story. Pelayo and Elisenda portray the more abusive and money-hungry side to our nature. They use the “angel” making people pay to see him and upgrade their house and everything they own. We see how man sometimes is tempted by the more material things. We strive to get what we want, and sometimes we don’t realize that we are stepping on others in the process. The crowds that come to visit the “angel” day by day symbolize our curious selves and sometimes insatiable nature. We are never satisfied with what we see and thus go and flock to other things that spark our interest, as portrayed when they no longer visit the angel after seeing the spider with a lady’s head. Then, the “angel” depicts our martyr selves, sometimes giving in to other people’s desires and not thinking of our own welfare. We do not complain nor fight back, and only leave when we feel we have done all we can (sometimes even more).
It is oftentimes amusing to see ourselves in certain pieces of literature, and I am glad that I have come to see literature under such a positive light, instead of just seeing it as a bunch of sentences stringed together to form a story to which I will have never engaged myself in, if it were not for this class.

II. Literature is any significant experience that seeks to arouse emotional and intellectual pleasure. Discuss this line vis-à-vis the selections.

With a wide range of selections discussed throughout the whole semester as my witness, I can attest that Literature truly serves to entice the mind and soul. It’s like a testimony to life and to fantasy at the same time, and it’s entertaining, because you feel like you know what’ll happen but it stops you just when you think you have. It leaves you hanging, and you want more, but there isn’t anymore, because the words have stopped and you realize that you’re at the end of the story. I salute every writer who has managed to fit his work into that description of literature, and I do believe that to be able to create literature takes heart and soul. Without these, I bet the work would be plain and uninteresting.
I’d like to use a few of my favorites in the selections we used in class.
N. V. M. Gonzales’ Bread of Salt is a charming story of a young boy, having “fallen in love” with a young mestiza girl named Aida living in the neighborhood. He sees her everyday as he goes off to buy pan de sal from the nearby bakery for breakfast. Then, the climax arrives at the time of a celebration in Aida’s house where the young protagonist and his friends play for the occasion. An embarrassing encounter with Aida leads him to realize that she thinks no more of him but a lower class boy, and quickly gets over his obsession.
The young protagonist of the story appeals to me the most, because more than just once, I have found myself admiring a person that I later realize I cannot come to similar levels with. It is a despairing experience at first, but then you come to terms with yourself and you realize where you really are. You come to appreciate yourself and say: “I don’t need that person to be happy”. It is a wonderful thing to admire someone, and an even more amazing thing to realize that you can live even without the admiration of that person as well.
In the selection A Clean Well Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway, we see the description of what a haven is for the old waiter. I see myself in him, the way he values what a “secret haven” is for each person. He understands that every person has this one place where he can simply sit back and enjoy life, forget about the tangles and troubles of the times, and let himself go with a cup of coffee. Indeed, I have my own secret place where I feel secure and safe- my bed. It’s different when one is lying in one’s own bed, rather than resting in another’s. In my bed, I feel like everything I need is there, and I can lie in any position I want. I can sleep there, read a book, write, sketch, and do most anything I want to- simply because it is mine and nobody else’s. The way the old waiter appreciates these special places is characteristic of his wisdom and experience- things that I someday wish to have for me as well.

III. What insights about the individual and society did you gain after reading the selection?

It would be ridiculous for a person to go through this class and not learn anything about the individual and society. As the earlier quote states, “Books are humanity in print.” Literature is the reflection of our deepest souls, and the more we try to conceal it, the more literature reveals it through its quiet metaphors and silent similes. Even the author is exposed even a little more by his works. It can reveal his most private thoughts and tendencies and even his everyday experiences. Humanity’s anecdotes, essays, and memorabilia are literature, and we should always stand to appreciate these pieces. It is important to do so, for we never know when books will turn obsolete and be replaced by PDF files. We can never tell when simple walks down the road will turn into rides on our hover cars. It is literature that preserves a specific time in history that we can only come back to through the letters, words, phrases and sentences that make up a single poem, story or novel. For that, Literature must be loved for all that it is and for all that it should be.

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