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| An excerpt from Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar |
Sounds romantic, right? Romantic as in completely and utterly depressing, which is an emotion which teens have come to have romanticised at late. Sorry, that's a dig; not teenagers, people in general.
But the thing is, words aren't stains. At least not to me.
'Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me.' But they do hurt, and language is an all encompassing thing in every single persons life, and if that's not amazing I don't know what is. The fact is, authors have been able to manipulate the same 26 letters into hundred-page novels which made people feel something.
The Clockwork Orange caused outrage as did Lolita, The Grapes of Wrath angered people and The Fault in Our Stars made us cry. If these are mere stains, then I don't want them being washed out.
Of course I think Beckett is speaking about words spoken to family or friends or just people in general in their day to day lives, which I can agree with. Having angry customers shout at me at my part-time job...some of the words have been 'stains' to put it lightly.
But overall, I love words. And that sounds so lame, but I love literature and the effect it has on people and I want to spend my whole life indulging in it.
So, I want to study English Literature at uni. And I want to win a scholarship, 'cause it'll help with all the debt, and as Callender and Jackson found out, working class kids are more likely to see debt negatively. And I really, really do. The prospect is terrifying for me.
So basically, I can do this. I can motivate myself to get good A Levels and get a scholarship. I CAN DO IT. And so can you.
It's a huge cliché I know, but the only thing stopping you is yourself. I don't want to stop myself any longer. I want to do something!! And if that means buying a ton of stationary to motivate me to study, then so be it. It'll be worth it in the end, my friend. That rhymed. Genius. I told you my writing would improve because of all this practice.
Regards,
The new Dr Suess
