English lit ALEVEL, a bit overwhelemed by all the tragedies

4

I can't drop out of the course so I'm stuck doing it for two years. I'm doing "Love Through the Ages" (edit: love through the ages is specifically poetry, I've done Othello, read The Great Gatsby and will do a streetcar named desire. I have no clue if alevel English gets better gradually but I'm hoping so) and I'm 3 months into English literature and I regret it already. Everything is just romance tragedies, it's all just sad endings and it just leaves me feeling empty and bothered for a few days. I'm about to read "A Streetcar named desire" and I've read a summary of it and I'm not looking forward to reading that either. I really enjoyed doing it in GCSE, all the stories and such but it's such a big switch from that in A-levels and I find it to be more of a burden than anything. It's all just champagne problems but it really agitates me and I'm not sure what to do about it other than sucking it up and getting through those 2 years. any advice? (also curious to know if anyone is going through the same thing)

Reply 1

Kai79498743

4

This is just a little thing but what helps me with Gatsby and Othello is keeping in mind that the authors were being a bit silly about it. Like everything people do in Gatsby is so weird cos they're all so fake? Like Myrtle changing dresses again and again and Nick saying he's an honest man and Gatsby's ugly ass house. Same with Othello, Iago's asides always make me giggle. I've read Streetcar but I didn't do it in lessons - its pretty good and I feel like you can get through it in class pretty quick? It is really sad but they're also doing some odd stuff a lot of the time. I think it helps me to think of the romance not as the main focus, but just one of the ways the author tries to get the message across.

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 2

youthfulrose

OP

4

Original post

by Kai79498743

This is just a little thing but what helps me with Gatsby and Othello is keeping in mind that the authors were being a bit silly about it. Like everything people do in Gatsby is so weird cos they're all so fake? Like Myrtle changing dresses again and again and Nick saying he's an honest man and Gatsby's ugly ass house. Same with Othello, Iago's asides always make me giggle. I've read Streetcar but I didn't do it in lessons - its pretty good and I feel like you can get through it in class pretty quick? It is really sad but they're also doing some odd stuff a lot of the time. I think it helps me to think of the romance not as the main focus, but just one of the ways the author tries to get the message across.

Thankyouu. Sorry, I've just seen this reply now, I've done a bit of each book and it's going smoothly, I suppose. I do agree, most of the stories that I've done are doing the most stupidest things throughout and it's a unique way to look at the book. Thank you for the advice, I'll take it happily, much love!

English lit ALEVEL, a bit overwhelemed by all the tragedies

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