Lesson #3

Alright, let's just get right into this. As I said last week, this week I'm going to show how lit is relevant to relationships. To be perfectly honest, I didn't do a whole lot of prep for this week's post, but I'm gonna try to make up for it in the 90ish minutes I have for this.

1)

K, so this bit is relevant in specific cases, and within context, it makes perfect sense. Allow me to explain....

So, in the book, two friends, Charlotte and Lizzie, are discussing the budding relationship between Lizzie's extremely shy sister Jane and a wealthy neighborhood man by the name of Bingley. Charlotte is advising Lizzie to advise Jane to be more outgoing and encouraging in the relationship, so Bingley will understand how Jane feels as opposed to thinking her indifferent and not pursuing her (which would be a tragedy, as Jane and Lizzie's family is not rich and Bingley is very much so. Marrying into wealth is what we call success in classic lit.)

So, now back to the present day, this quote may hold true for individuals who are really shy (for extroverts, not so much. That might be a little weird and overdoing it). Introverts may want to show more affection than they normally would in order to keep their partner interested and happy. Don't show more than you feel, and don't be fake (that's worse than showing more than you feel), but definitely try to make an effort. If you really like the person, this effort will be worth it.

2) We're gonna shake it up and go with poetry (Shakespeare) for this one:

Can you read that?

This is an excerpt from Shakespeare's Sonnet 116.

So, let's analyze this a little: "Love is not/ Which alters when it alteration finds". Pretty self-explanatory: real  love (I don't want to say 'true love' that seems too fairy-tale-esque) will not change if you find some change in the other person's feelings. It shouldn't matter what the other person thinks or feels, its what YOU feel. 

Next bit: "Or bends with the remover to remove"---a bit trickier, I'm gonna go with "love won't change or die if someone tries to prevent it from happening". Then, the emphatic "O, no! It is an ever-fixed mark, / That looks on tempests and is never shaken;". Here Shakespeare is saying that real love does not change; even in the face of adversity or hardship, it remains solid.

3) This next one is about 

I had to.....

Here you go: (This is from the end of "The Secret Adversary" by Agatha Christie; Tommy and Tuppence just simultaneously came to the conclusion that they should get married.)

Part of the reason I chose this one is because up until this point, I'd been practically screaming for Tommy and Tuppence to just get married already and now they're there! YAY! And also, I think it's amusing. Tuppence is such a funny character :)

To discuss the quote, I agree with Tuppence: marriage is called a lot of things (including bondage, a sleepover with your best friend for your life, a refuge, a mutual agreement for non-romantic reasons, etc)

Her interpretation of it is a bit harder to think about, as "sport" could take on different meanings. I think (in context, given their previous relationship) that she means the kind of sport you play: something you always want to win, but its friendly banter and competition instead of blood-thirsty fighting. :)

That's all folks!

Next week I think I'll do a continuation of how to live an enjoyable life: I just found some more general life is good quotes that I'd like to post.

Until next time then,

Claire

Lesson #2

Hi there......I told you last week that I'd do a post about virtues/vices etc this week, and as promised, here it is! I found two quotes (both Jane Austen this time, though I tried to go for a bit more diversity) on the topic at hand....

So, this quote is pretty self explanatory, but I wanted to include it because it struck me when I read it. It points out our common misconceptions of vanity and pride, despite the fact that the quote itself is about 200 years old. Vanity and pride are definitely related, but often confused, or as Austen says, used synonymously.

Continuing in the same vein as pride and vanity, the next quote (also from Austen's Pride and Prejudice) is about humility.

 This one is a bit more complex than the first quote......The first bit I agree with---nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility---and I agree for one important reason: think about people who are humble: you are more likely to trust them, you know you can depend on them, and they do their best to make you feel your best, regardless of their own feelings; in short, they are amazing individuals in whom you trust. But then think about someone you know is a liar: they are not someone you trust, they often annoy and irritate those around them, etc. What if your supposedly humble, trustworthy friend turned out to be an untrustworthy liar. Obviously you would be furious, because you trusted this person and thought they were a good friend. All in agreement? Good, moving on. The next part "It is often only carelessness of opinion..." is much harder to decipher. By "carelessness of opinion" I think Darcy is referring to a carelessness of opinion of their own accomplishments, which is not humility, but instead indifference. This can be considered rude, because if one seriously doesn't care about the things they've done, they are diminishing the similar accomplishments of others, and essentially telling them they have nothing to be proud of. The last part, "sometimes an indirect boast" comes easily enough after having considered the previous portion. If not humility or carelessness of opinion, the feeling toward one's own accomplishments is either a) blatantly boastful ("Look what I've done!!"--not even an attempt to be humble) or b) indirectly boastful (Darcy's point: "Oh, that's no big matter, I've done better"/fishing for attention). This, for me anyway, is the worst kind of false humility. Those who fish for attention are not only keeping an appearance of humility, but are also inwardly consumed with pride and vanity (See first quote).

I hope you enjoyed this weeks post (if you even got through it?). Next week I'll being pulling quotes on relationships (there are TONS so this should be fun and easy).

Thanks! If you have any suggestions, comment please!

Claire

Lesson #1

As this is the first post, I'm going to begin with a very general topic. As I said in my introductory post, I'm endeavoring to show that classic lit isn't obsolete---it has real life applications and can be interesting and even (dare I say it) exciting (crazy idea, right?!!). Without further ado, here are some tips from classic lit on

Living an Enjoyable Life

Our first quote with regard to "Living an Enjoyable Life" is from Mansfield Park, a novel by one of my favorite authors, Jane Austen. 

Alright, so breaking this down a bit, we find there are two parts: the first, "Run mad as often as you choose" tells the reader to enjoy their life (the extent to which is up to your own discretion), and the second half is more cautionary. The piece, "...but do not faint" warns the reader against going overboard, having too much fun, or being too wild. In Austen's time, an overabundance of fun resulted in a tired and broke individual, with a bad reputation of wildness that prevented them from finding work and thus climbing out of their debt. In today's time, the situation isn't as drastic, as we seem to care less reputation, so a new job would be more easily found. Today, if someone were to have "too much fun" and become burdened with debt, the results are still devastating---a large amount of debt can ultimately result in extreme poverty. In both today's modern consequences and Austen's time, the results of having "too much fun", the "faint" as the quote puts it, leave the individual in an uncomfortable, if not miserable state.

In researching this topic and finding the above quote, I stumbled across another one of my favorites, and after finding that it didn't fit any of the categories I wanted to address, decided I'd include it in this post. This particular quote addresses how we speak, and how others speak. This quote really struck me; I found it relevant to many real life situations and so here it is:

Just think about that for a minute. Let it process for a bit..........Alright, if you're done processing, here's what I thought about it: Think about what happens when a politician or celebrity says something that is offensive or surprising (in a bad way). (Think of events such as this and this) The incident gets blown up and is all over the news, radio, TV, etc. As Collins points out, our words become "giants". However, when we say something to our credit, the media shrugs as if to say, "Yeah, I guess that was nice. But its not juicy, its not important, its not BIG. Can you get me something more.....scandalous?". Collins' lesson here is to watch what you say---think before you speak---so that you aren't hurt by the giants you create.

I hope these "lessons" were helpful for you; I tried to find a few really basic, general, and yet thought provoking quotes to ease into this. Next week, I'm planning on talking about how classic lit is relevant with regard to virtues, vices, and other characteristics. I have a few quotes already picked out and I'm sure I can find a few more. If, at any time, you think of a suggestion for me---something you want me to find, something you want me to relate to real life or explain, PLEASE comment it somewhere or email me. That'd be great :) I'm doing this to help you and to come to a greater realization of the importance of classic lit. Hopefully, others will see this and help make classic lit interesting for their friends and students as well.

Thanks and Enjoy!

Claire

Introductory Post

Hello! My name is Claire, and I'm doing an informational blog about classic lit. I find that many people tell me they don't read older literature on the basis that it is bland, boring, irrelevant, and slow. This blog has been created to disprove that argument. I hope to show any readers that classic lit can be exciting, thrilling, adventurous, humorous, and above all, relevant to every day life. Hopefully we'll all be the better for it! I first decided to do this project when it was suggested to me. The idea started a wild fire of possibilities and now, here I am. Each week I plan to post with a few quotes of excerpts from some of my favorite classic lit books, demonstrating their relevance, humor, and interesting content.

PLAN FOR NEXT WEEK:
So next week, I'm going to be doing my first post. I don't know exactly what the "moral" of next week's post is, but this week I'm going to scour my favorite books looking for quotes and their potential relevance. Check in next week!

Thanks and Enjoy!
Claire