Final Reflection!

Throughout this course, one of the main things that has stuck out to me is the relationship between militarism and tourism, or simply militourism. The correlation and symbiotic existence of the two to me emphasizes a rabid undercurrent that's omnipresent through everything we've read in some form, as well as what's occurring outside of class. It's a connection that I wouldn't have been able to blatantly express without taking this class simply because it's hard to prove without the proper mindset and lexicon to do so. Nonetheless, I think the novels and novellas are the things that I will keep with me the most because I'm a traditionalist in regards to approaching literature. Close read, interpret, and analyze with the OED or for other connections is how I thrive. My favorites being a three-way tie between Benito Cereno and A Pale View of the Hills because I am a fan of the Gothic, even in its reworked form in Ishiguro; also, I thoroughly enjoyed Heart of Darkness, which again continues nautical styled Gothic tropes. The function of unreliability in all of these in relation to the obvious racism from colonial and neocolonialism was quite interesting to trace in conjunction with the Gothic conventions scattered within each novel. Yet as the summer approaches, the bikini will never be the same to me! :(