Course Reflections: "I don't want comics journalism, I want actual facts"

This was a very exciting and engaging class, and I think that my favorite aspect of the class was our ability to grapple with different perspectives and narratives. Literary analysis has always fascinated me because it presents itself as a mystery waiting to be decoded, and there is always room for new and exciting interpretations. By engaging in the works we read in class, I was able to gain a stronger understanding of a variety of perspectives, and I was able to find ways to critique other perspectives as well. My favorite piece I read this quarter was The Reluctant Fundamentalist because the skills that I have gained throughout the quarter helped me to appreciate it even more. Throughout the book I had to ask myself, "what is unreliable about this novel?" and I was able to avoid some cluelessness (even though there were a few curve ball moments in the novel).

I think that one of the under appreciated aspects of Literature is the "truth value of fiction" that we learned about this quarter, because I am often confronted with people claiming "I don't want the story, I want facts." For example, I was debating with a student on Facebook regrading a recent protest on campus critiquing Israeli checkpoints. The students involved in the protest created a human wall surrounding the entrances of McHenry and asked students to present identification to enter the building, which represented the policing of Palestinians in Israel. While I don't feel like debate on Facebook is the best avenue for social change, I pointed out that the protestors have a right to challenge the system of apartheid in Israel by raising awareness and that we are implicated in the violence of Israel through our tuition money that is invested in companies that profit off of the occupation. In order to avoid further conversation, I offered Joe Sacco's Footnotes In Gaza as a piece of supplementary reading. A pro-Israeli student told me, "I don't want comics journalism, I want actual facts. I have been to Israel before and I know what it's like." The irony in his statement comes from unreliable narration because Sacco admits his story may be unreliable and Sacco questions the power of dominant narratives while the student doesn't question his own unreliability when he is deeply implicated with the conflict. I believe that all students and people in general could benefit from the teachings of this class, and I hope that students in the future will have the same opportunity as we did to question unreliable narration.