LITerature - the study of the self by Maria

LITerature - the study of the self by Maria - April 2025 Scholarship Essay

Life is full of unexpected transitions, but adaptability is the best ability! My collegiate dreams have definitely been a rollercoaster of events. I initially wanted to major in pre-nursing. I wanted to be a nurse and help people because I had firsthand witnessed people in the hospitals who did not have loved ones to visit them, and I never wanted someone to feel like they were dying alone and unloved. As noble as this pursuit is, it just was not for me! I switched my major to literature because it suited my natural abilities and cultivated them into real skills. It is also a very useful major because it is applicable in so many fields after college! Literature is practically as opposite as one can get from pre-nursing. While pre-nursing requires analytical intelligence, literature employs creative intelligence. In a typical college literature class, one will attain the skill of reading and comprehending challenging texts, synthesizing the themes of these texts with other texts, and writing one's own poetry, short story, lyrics, etc. One truly thrilling thing about studying literature is that paper topics are generally very vague so that one may write about what they feel passionate about and incorporate different books as influences or inspirations for that passion. When writing a paper for a literature class, one does not simply end up citing simply works of literature, but also philosophy, history, psychology, theology, etc. Be warned, though, if you enroll into a literature class, because the narrator or hero is often venturing to discern the meaning of life or to discover oneself. Literature is designed to impact not only your intellect, but also your emotions and your very soul. You will likely begin questioning your own values, but that will only lead you to becoming a more profound human being. As the Oracle of Delphi instructed, "Know thyself." Studying literature will definitely influence your personal search of self-knowledge.