It never occurred to me that people may not know what an English major studies, or does. Let me clarify: An English major studies English literature. S/he reads books, novels, and poems, and talks about their relevance in the society that it was written in. S/he talks about the book in its cultural context.
It's actually very interesting and fun. Novels are often used by the author to comment on something he or she is discontent about, like politics or social issues. Sometimes more popular novels (as opposed to literary novels) become icons of a particular time period, as representations of "typical" life. To me, reading a novel is about studying a society, or reading history, except without the "factual" information. You learn about the way people dressed and behaved, and you're also able to get a good sense of the social and political climate of the time.
As an English major, you are part-philosopher, part-historian, part-sociologist, and part-reader/writer. Quite a good mix, don't you think?
1 comment:
A lot of people don't know what "Communications" is either. It's so multi-disciplinary, sometimes even I have trouble describing it.
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