Conclusion

I can’t believe it’s already the last week. Wow, this semester went by quickly and I will miss this class. I initially took this class to fulfill my literature credits but I did enjoy it, along with the novels! There are very few university classes that I would consider “fun”, but this class would definitely be considered one. If I’m able to, I would definitely take more literature classes in the future. 

When I chose to take this course, the course name is “Romance Studies” I expected our readings to have romance as a major theme, however, this class turned out to be totally different than my initial expectation but in a good way! In fact, only a few of the novels we have read actually had romance in them, but even then it wasn’t a big theme. I think this could be a rare situation where I am glad that this class didn’t live up to my initial expectation, since I’m not a big fan of romance novels. 

I was surprised that this course had a contract where we could essentially choose the grade we wanted, as long as we didn’t break our contract. This also gave us lots of freedom to fill out the contract that would work best with our schedule. I really liked the contracts because of this, since for many of our other classes, we don’t have much of a choice where our grades will fall, and the uncertainty of what our grades may be can be nerve-wracking. But the contract eliminated a lot of the anxious feelings which definitely help make this course more enjoyable!

Nada was definitely my favorite novel I have read in this class, followed by The Society of Reluctant Dreamers, Bonjour Tristesse, and The Shrouded Woman. The complex relationships Andrea have witnessed in her relative’s house, along with some situations I didn’t expect, such as Ena breaking up with her boyfriend to get revenge for her mom on Roman, Roman’s death, how Juan and Roman seemed to hate each other but also can’t live with each other (implied by Juan’s grief that Andrea believed was the worst thing she witnessed). 

Also, thank you so much to Professor Beasley-Murrary, Jennifer, and Patricio for making this class so enjoyable! 

My very last question I have for this class is: do you have any favorite quotes from the novels we have read? If so, which ones are they and why are they your favorite? 

Final- Agualusa’s “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers”

In this final week of class, I have chosen to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers, which I found was an interesting story that ties in dreams, memories, and politics: the rich that benefit, the poor that suffer, and the quiet ones. 

The novel starts out with Daniel Benchimol who was getting a divorce from his wife, Lucrecia because he was “criticizing mistakes made by [their] government” (6) in a newspaper as he “dreamed of a better country” (6). Homero, his father-in-law didn’t like, and Daniel ended up getting fired from his job which led to him being a stay-at-home father for a few months because he couldn’t find a job. However, Armando, who was his friend, saved him from his misery and he lived with him for a while. Daniel “was able to live on almost nothing and be happy” (12) from Armando’s philosophy: “if you have nothing, you have more time for everything that really matters” (10) which is a quote I found quite interesting because I can’t decide whether I agree with it or not. 

I also liked how in Hossi’s perspective, when “Daniel snatched the keys from [his] hand” (18) without answering his question or thanking him, Hossi’s first thought was that “something must have happened to upset him” (19), which I thought was nice because I think most people might’ve been offended by Daniel’s behavior.

Daniel was obsessed with a woman, who he later discovered was Moira Fernandes, because of a camera he found. He eventually visits her in Cape Town, and within their first meeting, he thought that “she seemed fake, … a rather crude copy of the woman from my dreams” (94). Later Moira tells him that “[she’s] not the person [he’s] inventing in [his poems] (we always invent the people we love)” (160), which is a quote I found true, since I think some people like to imagine being with their ideal partner, instead of who their partner really is. 

When Daniel returned, Armando told him Karinguiri was arrested because she was in a group of revolutionaries that protested “against the dictatorship” (115), something that Daniel and Armando “never did out of cowardice and conformism” (114). But Karinguiri’s hunger strike led to more and more people protesting against the government, even Daniel who was considered a coward, eventually did as well. 

“Fear isn’t a choice. There’s no way to avoid feeling fear. And yet we can choose not to give in to it” (217). Karinguiri’s quote, along with her actions and behavior were inspiring. Even though she had been suffering from a hunger strike, to the point Daniel thought her body looked dead, her determination never wavered. 

A question I have for my classmates is: Armando mentions that “people should only be allowed to marry when lucid” (11), do you agree with his belief that marrying someone when you’re in love with them is the same as drunk driving? 

Spam prevention powered by Akismet