Reflection

What a pleasant surprise. Never would have I expected just how exhilarating this Independent Study Project would be. Granted, I admit that on that first fateful day of English 4U I had my doubts about it: “Not another one of these Tapestry projects,” I remember myself saying, “No wonder everyone has said this class is so torturous!” In hindsight though I should never have raced to such a judgement. After all, I have learned a lot from this project and I truly do cherish the process.

In fear of sounding cliché, I will be honest: I never have really been into reading fiction. I’ve always seen it as a waste of time, why read a story when I could learn something of use. Hence, I have spent countless hours reading books on economics and conspiracy theories. However, through this project I seem to have rehashed a love for the magic of plot and character. “Life of Pi” has taught me that I can read a story and still take something away. Fiction is not a waste of time, it passes time.

As far as writing goes I am not so sure I have learned or improved very much, although I do use colons on a regular basis now. I have tended to stick to a particular writing style for quite some time now and I seem to have only developed a slight flare since then. If anything my thought process when writing a piece has evolved quite extensively, but that seems to be more subconscious and hard to describe. Incidentally, if I have become a stronger writer since the start of this class then please applaud me, however it does not seem to have made writing this much easier.

To be frank, an Anarchist generally does not exhibit any sense of national pride nor can they appreciate some sort of Canadian identity. Consequently, I cannot say that my love of the Canadian culture has been at all affected by this novel. On the other hand though I have learned much about Canadian literature as a genre, and do look forward to reading some other books by Canadian authors.

To sum up, this ISU has inspired me to actually read Canadian fiction and as I have explained in previous posts has taught me much about the meaning of life, and of God.