News flash: Marxism.

Lesson of the day: I am not a unique individual with unique thought. I am a socially constructed being.

In my Methods of Literary Study class, we are reading from The Theory Toolbox. Chapter 6: Ideology, explains how the "self" and the "subject" are influenced. We'd like to think that we are all our own unique individual with individual thoughts and ideas but the truth of the matter is that we cannot escape cultural impact.

So, if you think that you've thought up a wonderfully new and unique idea, you haven't. Everything that you produce is a byproduct of what you have learned from the environment around you. I was slightly depressed this morning after class. It is so heart-wrenching to hear that there are people who believe that you don't really have a unique self. I always like to think that I am an individual with feelings and ideas that are just mine.

Argh...onto a lighter note though.

My Writing Fiction teacher gave me props today for my short story that I've been working on. She told me it is "a great skeleton" and "you have good momentum throughout the story." Essentially, she told me I am on my way to being a writer. After my draft conference I was filled with ideas for my story. I realized that I started my story in the "middle" of the story. I have so many ideas for a real beginning to my story.

Readers may want to know more about the characters and their relationship before the real juicy stuff happens. I still don't know if it will be my favorite story that I write or even make a top five list. It will be the first short story that I do more than one draft of, so that is exciting. Well, to me anyways. I feel like it makes me a better writer to go through a story multiple times. I guess it makes you think more about how you write and how you can say things.

I was going to work on it tonight but I ended up not having the motivation to do it since The Theory Toolbox interrupted me. I hate reading about being a socially constructed being with no unique or new thoughts.