A Grief Observed

While reading A Grief Observed I admired the honesty that Lewis expressed. He was experiencing a horrible loss and through dealing with this he asks many questions and states many things that seem to question the intentions of God. When he said “Why should the separation (if nothing else) which so agonizes the lover who is left behind be painless to the lover who departs?” this stood out to me (27). It would be incredibly hard to think about someone you loved so dearly and deeply being happy and not affected by the separation, but at the same time he wouldn’t want to wish the pain and agony he was experiencing on his wife. Dealing with the death of a spouse is a tremendous tragedy and as Lewis deals with this he questions his faith and makes it stronger. As Lewis goes on and on about an idea he comes back the next day and tries to approach it from a different angle that wouldn’t offend Christians. I think it’s important, however, that we do read this and that we ask questions, like these, ourselves. If we simply go on without questioning or ever fully examining our faith then how deep is it? The things that mean the most to us are the things we should study with the most scrutiny. To make sure it’s real. To be sure of is truthfulness and its meaning in our lives.

Tuscana

I really enjoyed discussing literature while in a social setting. It seemed more relevant to our lives and the conversations we had consisted of things from our lives. I liked being able to hear what types of genres the people in my group like to read and the importance of reading to them. We each had different stories of how literature has impacted our lives and how it has played into who we are now. We discussed the stories we have read that we really liked and shared what we learned from them.
Before this session I had only really been interested in mystery stories but now I am curious to read other genres and different authors. I was able to see the types of authors the people in my group liked and now I can try some of those novels. Through discussing literature I was able to get to know a lot more about Jane, Kassi, and Breanna.

1-25

A lot of the literature we’ve been reading for class so far has had something to do with love. Many of the ideas or stories about love that we’ve read seem crazy or absurd but they are all different ways in which people try to express their love. Love is such a powerful thing and I think it can sometimes be scary or intimidating for us because it is so powerful and has such an impact on us. These stories and ideas we’ve heard about happen all the time, all around us and we’ve probably even experienced some of these reactions or some close to it. I think people just get so overwhelmed sometimes with this emotion of love. They know that they don’t want to lose it so oftentimes people will do some very crazy and desperate things in order to make it stay. The people in their lives and outsiders may look at them and ask why they do what they do and the person doing these things might even ask why. But they don’t have an answer. Love has the ability to overcome people and make them do some crazy things. There is so much destruction and darkness in this world and when someone encounters something that makes them happy and good they don’t want to let it go. They will usually fight to keep it even if it means doing some crazy and destructive things. I don’t believe everyone will go as far as some of the people in these stories go but I think we are all desperate to hold on. And some are more willing to fight for what they want; not always in a good way however.

"What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Love?"

While reading this story I found myself in shock and disbelief many times. As I read what these characters thought of love and the actions they said demonstrated this love. After reading this I realized how easy it is for people to distort and confuse the meaning and feeling of love. I believe the only way to know true love and to be able to love someone completely is to first become familiar with and know the love of our Father in heaven. God displayed His love for His people in many ways throughout the Bible and also now in the present. The only way to experience all the fullness and joy that comes from loving someone and being loved is to understand, from the source of life and love, how to properly and completely display this love. When people do not know this love it becomes very easy and very likely that they will distort it just as the characters in this story have done.
When it says in the story “Terri said the man she lived with before she lived with Mel loved her so much he tried to kill her” I was blown away at first to think that the actions she described could be considered love (901). As I read on, however, I realized that in one way or another all people who don’t know the love of the Father distort love in one absurd way or another. The best way to express love is not through words but through actions. If someone is so caught up in the world and all it says then they may think that love is all about them. Their partner should do everything they possibly can to make them happy. We see, however, in the Bible as Christ lived to serve others and serve God that love is about pleasing the other person and serving them.

Literary profile

My earliest literary memories are those of my mother reading Bible stories to me and my sisters each night from a children’s Bible. I also remember that Snot Stew was the first chapter book I ever read in elementary school and I was very proud of myself for finishing it because I didn’t like reading at all then. In middle school I began enjoying reading and I read a lot of the Nancy Drew books. I love reading mystery stories and Mary Higgins Clark is one of my favorite authors. Right now I have been interested in works that better inform and explain the different aspects of Christianity and faith. I enjoy learning this and obtaining a better knowledge of who my God is and what He does for His people. I would have to say the most significant literary text I have read is God’s Will. I read it many years ago and it was one of the first Christian fiction books that I had read. The plot of the story was very interesting and I learned a lot of life lessons from it. Literature is important because it is a great way for others to share their ideas and opinions with many people. It is also a great way for readers to develop and strengthen their own ideas. They can read the ideas and works of other authors and from that build upon or critique their own ideas. For some literature doesn’t matter because they don’t have the desire to practice critical thinking or develop their knowledge. I believe it is very important to always be learning something new and to continually seek more knowledge. Reading different types of literature is the best and most interesting way to do this. You not only get to learn new things but you are often able to see how these ideas have impacted others and how significant they can be.