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(2015
midterm assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2015 #2b: Short Essay (Favorite Term) |
LITR 4328 |
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Dawn Iven
A Little Bit of Sentiment
During our class discussion on
The Wide, Wide
World, and The
Lamplighter, Dr. White asked if we thought
the texts were sentimental or sentimentality, and then he went further asking
whether they were classic literature or popular literature.
Several people gave their opinions in class,
but I kept thinking about these questions after I got home.
First, we have to understand what these terms mean
before we can answer these questions.
Classic literature is able to stand the test of
time and is read over and over again.
It is a text with substance, and is not solely
for entertainment, but instead used to teach something of importance.
Classic literature tends to not have sequels,
but instead stand on their own merit.
An example of classic literature that comes to
mind, although not studied in this class, is
To Kill a
Mockingbird.
On the other hand, popular literature is
widely exposed to the public.
It becomes extremely popular for a period of
time, a fad if you will, and then the public moves on to something new.
An example of popular literature right now is
50
Shades of Grey.
It is a fad, and once Hollywood has made
movies of all three books in the series it will fade away and something new will
take its place.
When looking at the two texts used in class,
The Wide, Wide
World and
The Lamplighter
they were both quite popular when first released, but for me
The Wide, Wide
World is more classic literature because it
seems to have something to say instead of just entertaining the reader.
It is more real, something believable, and is a
story that many people could relate to then, and even now.
As for
The
Lamplighter, I see it more as
entertainment, albeit more disturbing than
The Wide, Wide
World.
It is less believable because especially in
today’s society because no one wants to believe that someone would or could
throw a young child out into the cold much less without shoes or proper
clothing.
The next part of the question is if the texts are
sentimental or sentimentality, and to answer this question we first have to know
what the difference is between the two.
Sentiment is
"a thought or reflection coloured by or proceeding from emotion” and
sentimentality is an exaggeration of emotions, and the text plays on the readers
emotions as well. In
both texts, the author uses a cute, fluffy kitten, which is a significant play
on the reader’s emotions.
Who can resist the sweet little animal?
Additionally, both texts use a young child to capture
the heart of the reader.
Gerty, in
The
Lamplighter, has lost her mother and is
living with the shockingly horrible Nan Grant.
The reader sympathizes with Gerty because of
the terrible way she is treated, but her crying “fits” are not exaggerated or
sappily overdone.
Therefore,
The Lamplighter
falls more to sentimental.
On the other hand, Ellen, in
The Wide, Wide
World, is sent away because of her mother’s
illness to live with her Aunt Fortune, who is not immensely kind, but is also
not abusive as Nan Grant in
The Lamplighter.
Ellen is also prone to crying “fits,” but
her fits tend to be nauseatingly, over exaggerated and because of this,
The Wide, Wide
World is more sentimentality.
Whether
The Wide, Wide World,
and
The Lamplighter
are considered classic or popular literature, or whether they are seen as
sentimental or sentimentality is up to how the reader responds to the text.
In class, there were different opinions for
each text.
The reader will decide how they identify with
the text through their own perception.
There is never just one way of viewing
literature; that is what makes literature great, each reader gets what he or she
needs from it at that particular moment.
