Five Reasons Why an Arts Degree Isn't Easy
Having previously posted this on another blog that I run, I thought that I would share this on here too—I think there will be many people who can appreciate this.
(Specifically from the perspective of an English Literature major)
People have this opinion that a Bachelor of Arts degree is easy, but I have one thing to say those people: give it a go if you think it’s so easy!
English literature is not as easy people seem to assume. Here are just five reasons why:
1) Reading Workout
I’ll be the first to admit that part of the reason that I chose to study English Literature was because I love to read—I can’t see how anyone would survive the duration of their degree if they didn’t—and I can usually be found with my head in a book. However, literature courses take it to the extreme! The amount of material we are expected to read (and analyse) is bordering on ridiculous (and spare a thought for the idiot behind these words who lumbered herself with THREE lit courses this semester). Each course, depending on how lovely the course convener is, usually expects you to read approximately one novel a week, plus critical sources. Some of the novels I have had to study can take the average reader up to 18 hours to read (shout out to the naturally slow readers, like me; it’s an unfair world); that’s longer than the time we spend in class and the amount of time we will probably spend on assignments.
So if you have ever wondered why the arts students don’t have as many contact hours, spare a thought for the fact that we are probably tucked away in a quiet corner buried beneath a pile of books. Between the reading load, classes, assignments, and jobs… goodbye social life. Please meet my new best friend: The Novel.
2) Physical Workout
Believe it or not, English Literature is a work out. As most university students can appreciate, classes can be spread all over campus—and some campuses are not small—but literature students have to juggle a stack of books on their journey, and some of them aren’t small either! If you never have to see, let alone carry, any of the various Norton Anthology books, consider yourself lucky.
In the long run I may appreciate my newly toned arms, but in the mean time I do not appreciate the effort it takes. Hey, if I wanted a workout I would have taken up sports.
3) It’s a Marriage
If you undertake further studies in English literature you are signing your life away. Literary theories and analysis become a ball and chain that will forever be weighing you down. You might think I am sounding a little dramatic, but like any marriage literature studies becomes a life-long commitment to always reading between the lines. A novel will never simply be a novel again. An author is not simply an author. Words are magic and the writer is a magician. Novels are puzzles that need to be taken apart and pieced together time and time again. They are mazes of intricate designs that lead and mislead; challenge and betray; give and take. Nothing is an accident; everything must always have a purpose because a word cannot be just a word, a bird cannot be just a bird, and red is not a colour but something greater.
A literature student signs away their freedom to enjoy a book simply for being a story. It will always be something more, even when we don’t want it to be.
4) It’s Not All Make Believe—it’s Hard-core!
It is not a book club! The readings are not just physically heavy; they are mentally heavy, too. Take, for example, The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism. Did you know that fiction isn’t just something people read for fun? Apparently there are theories and criticisms (2700 pages of them in this book alone), which are most certainly not fun! We literature students have to read them, close read them, and then analyse the way in which they support argument for the literary works of fiction we have already had to read, close read, and analyse. Try thinking about the theories behind the theories of literature… Sounds like a barrel of laughs, right?
Right?
5) No One Believes Us!
The hardest part about an arts degree is probably the fact that no one believes that this degree is hard. It’s hard work trying to convince people that we don’t have it easy, especially when you know that when you applied for the degree you did so with the same naïve thinking: I like reading, so it’ll be easy. If you had read a post like this you probably would have laughed it off because, no, seriously, I really like reading. I’ll be fine.
Yeah. Right. Good luck with that one and meet my new frenemy: Hindsight.
Still don’t agree with me? That’s fine, but give it a go and then tell me it’s easy.
I dare you.
Shout out to all my fellow literature studies survivors, sympathisers, and lovers. Share your experiences, views, and opinions on studying literature right here!
