A comment on Douglas' Paper

I thought Douglas' idea as literature and language as the common integrator of people into society was quite insightful. I began to think about the barriers created by the lack of proper literary knowledge and I believe they encompass more than just simply language barriers created by different languages. I experienced the same utterly helpless feeling as Doug while I traveled overseas to the German and French speaking regions of the alps. However that feeling strikes much more closely to home unless we constantly work to study the most important subject matter of any society...English. Try doing your taxes without first understanding the literature of the tax code. Try building a bridge without knowing the literature of Engineering. Literature even in our own language presents barriers to understanding. Being an English major gives one the natural leg up in the world. By studying the nature of literature we English majors dedicate ourselves to the complexities and nuances of everything we come across and read. We comprehend the nature of literature seamlessly as we spend our entire course of studies practicing the art of language. Our studies create a person infinitely versatile and adaptable to anything the world presents. I don't believe another major or field of study can make that claim. People ask "why are you an English major?" I used to respond "to graduate." Now I realize it's because I'm just plain smarter than students in other majors. Lets pretend a CEO of a huge business asks me the ever probing question above. My new response sounds something like this "How did you become the CEO of your company and learn the finer points of business management, finance, and marketing?" He may know that question or he may not but I would argue that deep seeded reason he earned his position was his finer understanding of the literature and the language in business. Now I would argue that by being an English major, I come to this realization in the importance of literature before any business major. I already have the foundational knowledge and insight into the more subtle reasons in business success (language) and therefore I am much more a asset to a company than a Business major could ever hope to be.

In relation to this class, how could someone read Don Quixote without first knowing the language and literature of the Romantic. That person would obviously laugh at the novel as a fantastic piece of jibberish. Even with my studies of literature, Northrop Frye remains an enigma because I fail to keep up with his constant barrage of references to literature I am unfamiliar with. His understanding reaches even deeper than mine because his internal catalogue of literature seems endless. However, I've spent a better part of my life trying to understand that which confuses me and thanks to that practice and practice in the study of literature I can extract the critical information from even the most elusive of authors.

If the entire purpose of language is to communicate information effectively in all aspects of life, why do people continue to question those who chose to study the very nature of communication. It seems to me the real question to ask is why doesn't someone study English.