Your Major Is English?

“Your Major is…English?”

I receive a lot of confused reactions after I reveal what my major is, which is okay—I have gotten fairly used to it. The questions that follow are always the same. What do I intend to do with English? I find it amusing that almost everyone thinks that the only profession for English majors is teaching. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being an educator—it’s highly admirable, actually. But it makes me wonder what they think of their language. They utilize English in every aspect their lives, yet there is only one occupation for the individual who decides to dedicate their four (okay, mine was five), years of college to the language. My replies to these curious individuals vary; sometimes, I decide I’m going to be an editor, maybe a copywriter, quite possibly just a writer. Whatever my answer is, I always, always, always make sure it is presentable before it leaves my lips. I ask myself, “Is this position acceptable? Does it cause more inquiries? Will it seem attainable?” But I do not do this for them. To be quite frank, my concern lays nowhere near them. I have adapted a fairly nonchalant attitude when it comes to other people’s opinions because what I have learned about other people—and society as a whole—is that the focus is more on titles and less on character. which is interesting because I began doubting, and almost switching, my major the first semester of my senior year.

English is one of the languages I speak, obviously. English is, also obviously, what my degree will be in two months from now. For a long time, I limited English in those terms, and by doing so, I failed to grasp the imminent role it has played in shaping my identity. Somewhere along the line, I forgot why I chose this specific field to study in my four (five) years here. Past the literature classes and beyond the grammar courses is where my relationship with English begins because I must say, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I changed my major from Psychology to English in my Sophomore year. But I made the decision because at that time in my life, I was coping with a lot of emotional distress, and my habit of suppressing, denying, avoiding had caught up to me. So it became time to talk, let it out, vent. And write, transcribe, pour my thoughts onto paper. Then read, reread, read once more. Thus, a profound relationship between English and I developed, and I wanted more, much more of it. I desired to learn more about the power this language held— a language which has been present my entire life, and I was just now seeing its beauty. But above all, I wanted to see where else it could take. I felt like English could help shape me into the person I desire to be, so I switched my major, and my first CTW course, Introduction to Rhetoric and Composition, affirmed my academic transition.

Albeit a challenging course, this class taught by Dr. Michael Harker was dedicated to the art and history of rhetoric, which I found to be incredibly fascinating. It influenced me to be seriously conscious of the words I use, whether it is in an argument with my mom, a research paper, or an email to a potential employer. We learn a language when we are small children, but we do not learn how to effectively use it—we are not taught to see the power in our words. We learn the technicalities and the definitions, but do we really emphasize the significance of having an intimate relationship with our language? What intrigued me so much in my Rhetoric course is how the early orators—Cicero, Gorgias, Protagoras—established a connection with their language. Their rhetoric had character; it stood on its own so that each individual in the audience could establish a relationship with the words. The Greek rhetors were not just focused on conveying their messages to their audience; they were determined to make each aspect of their rhetoric hold purpose and strength so that the message as a whole was influential. This perspective on rhetoric has affected me the most; it is what ultimately has influenced a shift in my rhetoric, verbal and written. Overall, the class really helped me better understand and appreciate the English language and the ways in which it can utilize my relationship with the world around me.

During the same semester that I took Introduction to Rhetoric and Composition, I also enrolled in another of Dr. Harker’s courses: 20th Century Composition Theory and Practice. The final assignment for this class resonated with me most and helped me remember why I felt so strongly about changing my major to English. Our objective for the paper was to find multiple literacy narratives in the Digital Archives of Literacy Narratives (DALN), all different from each other, and explain each individual’s relationship with rhetoric. The narrators all reached a place in their lives where they felt trapped, hopeless, stuck. As they began to utilize literacy as an outlet, they started to feel more connected with themselves and the world around them. Each person was a different age, a different race, had an entirely different background, yet they all found hope amidst their struggles through verbal or written rhetoric. The DALN literacy narrative reminded me why I chose to study English—the way that words can trigger a certain emotion or thought and help shape your identity will always be where my passion for rhetoric stems from. Literacy is a significant outlet for self-expression, and Dr. Harker’s Composition class allowed me to see proof of how literacy has positively affected so many people —it was a reinforcement that the language I use to communicate with the outside world does matter and does hold impact.

Spring semesters have never been my favorite. I guess I am so excited to sign up for classes during the summer that I choose the best ones for my Fall schedule, leaving my Spring semester unexciting to say the least. My favorite classes have all been in the Fall—Creative Writing, English 1102, Modern Drama, Editing. I left my Spanish and less interesting literature classes for the following semester—great way to start the new year. But, I am very excited to say that my last Spring semester at Georgia State happens to be one of my favorites in the last four (five) years, and it is largely because of my Senior Seminar course. Since the first week of class, I have discovered that my writing has more character and personality than before, and a big part of that is due to the Stylistics Analysis assignment.

I selected Elizabeth Wurtzel’s personal essay, published in The Atlantic, as the subject of the analysis research paper. What was so captivating to me about her style of writing was how each sentence said so much, not just in the words, but in the way that she utilized certain words, punctuation, and figures of speech. It was her style that gave the piece so much personality—it also captured her personality and voice very effectively. By the end of the essay, I felt like I personally knew Wurtzel, not because of what she revealed in her text, but because of how she presented her information to me. Emphasizing the importance of style is, in my opinion, crucial, and I think students would enjoy academic writing a lot more if they felt secure with adding their personalities to the text. There is more to writing than just putting words on a page; those words are coming from you, you’ve obviously chosen them for a reason, so then they should resemble, to some degree, your character and your voice.

The second English course I took during the Spring semester is Visual Rhetoric with Dr. Hocks. This class thrilled me because I wanted to understand how rhetoric’s visualization can influence the audience’s perception. I began working with my uncle’s distribution company in October as the social media director, so understanding digital marketing was crucial for my profession. Early in the semester, we read articles regarding the many aspects of visual rhetoric—the typeface, layout, and the argument itself. These readings prepared us for our midterm assignment, which required us to find a flyer that broke all the rules—a visually, non-appealing advertisement.

Once we had a designated flyer, we noted all the issues and then revised the flyer in order to make it more engaging to the audience. I selected a flyer in which the entire text aligned in the center and was illustrated in the same font and color. This poses an issue because the information jumbles together so that none of the important points stick out, such as the date and time of the event or the fact there will be free food. In my revision, I changed the typography—it was in script, which we learned in class is a typeface that should be used frugally and should never be in all caps. The address of the event was the only part that was not capitalized in the flyer. The one I created consisted of four distinct typefaces—the name and address of the event illustrated in red and the lounge name and nightly specials were in white. Also, the text of the initial flyer was placed on a background that made it almost impossible to read. The text was white, while the background colors were neon blue and yellow. In my alteration, I changed the background to black and incorporated a picture of a woman blowing smoke because the event was at a hookah lounge. Pleased with my final revision and my grade (100), this assignment helped me appreciate the impact of visualizations and how it enhances the rhetoric.

I think people really underestimate an English degree. I’m constantly hounded with jokes about how I will most likely end up as a secretary at some chiropractic office, questioning daily why I chose this degree. Not to mention I used to always receive emails from relatives with links to articles that listed English as one of the worst majors to study.. But I did not choose English out of confidence; it was more from my intuition, and anytime I listen to my gut, I second, third, quadruple guess myself until my head is just about to explode. Not one of my best qualities. But I chose it out of gut, and the many English courses I have taken, even all the literature ones, have each reinforced my confidence in this field and have really made me proud to have a strong relationship with my language.