As the Quarter Winds Down...

Over the course of this class, I have had mixed feelings about the subject of animals. I often had a hard time maintaining my focus in lecture but despite the occasional drifting off, my eyes were opened to a lot of concepts that I had no idea even existed. I had never wondered about the existence of a different spectrum of emotions that correspond with different animals. Just that idea alone is off-setting about how I previously perceived animals. I already was made conscious of the quantity of meat I eat by this class and have since cut back. I have changed my view of animals as subjugates of humanity and sympathize with many of their situations in life now. Literature-wise, I now recognize animals in a piece with a deeper cognition. While animals are not solidly-general in their symbolism, they usually play a much deeper role than what I had initially seen. They do not just represent a certain quality, but they themselves can be characters in a book. This class helped me recognize that animals are more than just symbols. They are characters.