Jeneice Muir
Professor Ding
ENG 2150
25 July 2023
Teachable Moment
When I try to recall other “teachable moments”, I find it quite difficult for myself. Of course, I can easily recall the regular things like learning how to ride a bike, learning how to swim, and learning how to tie a shoe. However, I never seem to notice the small things I learn about myself as I go through life. Although this was the case for quite some time, things changed while I sat in the third row, the fourth seat in the back of classroom 207. This was my 12th-grade honors English class that I, unfortunately, was forced to take so that it looked nice on my transcript. I never enjoyed the subject nor the workload of the class, however, this class is where I learned I have interests I never thought I would have. I learned to love Greek mythology.
Even though, yes, this was an honors English class, which meant I had to somewhat understand the subject, it was the hardest for me years prior. It was my senior year and the last thing I wanted to do was be held down with multiple long writing assignments a week and tons of reading of books I didn’t find interesting. There were so many factors that contributed to the fact that I was the biggest hater in that class. The class was located in the hottest section of the school and had only one air conditioner to cool down a large classroom with 32 students in it. At the beginning of the school year, I would sit there for weeks while my sweaty fingers turned the rough pages of the classic book, Frankenstein. For one of the dreadful assignments, the class had to write an essay on the comparison of two characters. This was one of the hardest assignments I have ever done in my life. The concept was quite easy but I wasn’t able to stay focused because I simply wasn’t interested. To make matters worse, many of my classmates had gym class before English so they would come in and sweat even more in the hot class. Each of them looked like they were candles melting. As I said, these factors made me a hater of the class, so you could imagine the complaining I did and the attitude I had every day. On a brighter note, I had a great group of friends in that class. They always lifted my spirits and pushed me to do well on my assignments.
Time felt different in my English class. Time moved slower. So, after our first two units which is about four months in total, I thought eight months had gone by. In the first unit, we read Frankenstein which to me, was the most boring book in the entire world. I believed the book can put a severe insomniac to sleep within ten minutes. The second unit consisted of what felt like years of Shakespeare. I thought we had read all of his plays, sonnets, and books meanwhile we read two. Getting through this unit felt like a treacherous climb up a mountain. We finally moved on to the third unit which focused on Greek mythology. Now of course I knew what every teenager knew about Greek mythology because of the Percy Jackson movies. But other than those movies I had never dove deeper with the subject. Our first reading for the unit was Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus. It was about a God, Prometheus, who defied Zeus and gave fire to mortals among other things. Because of this act, Prometheus’ punishment was to be bound with chains to a rock and an eagle would come every day to eat his liver.
This story sparked my interest in Greek mythology. I enjoyed the hierarchy and different creatures of the Greek mythological world. I enjoyed the complexities of the characters. To me, Greek stories couldn’t even compare to American fiction. I appreciated how out of the box the stories were. For instance, unlike classic American or English literature, Greek mythology stories had interesting punishments. In American or English literature, someone would be sent to jail, would have to pay money, or could be killed as a punishment for something. However, in Greek literature, as I mentioned before, Prometheus had his liver eaten every day just for helping mankind. Small details like those pushed me to do better and pay more attention in my English class. The unit ended and we finished with the story of Hippolytus by Euripides which, if you can guess, I enjoyed very much. I was having a hard time moving into the next unit. I didn’t want to let go of what I felt was a breakthrough in my interest in Greek literature. I was unhappy I had to leave the characters behind. In Greek mythology, every character is always somehow connected to each other and something about that was comforting to me. The subject was like one big puzzle and I was able to put the pieces together with every mythological book. My sorrow made me realize that I don’t have to use school to continue indulging in Greek mythology. I learned I loved it so much that I decided to start reading Greek books and watching Greek movies on my own time. First, I started by re-watching the Percy Jackson movies, Hercules, and Troy. Later on, I began reading. I googled the best Greek mythology books and ordered the first three I saw: The Song Of Achilles, A Thousand Ships, and Circe. I started with The Song Of Achilles and it immediately became one of my favorite books. I later read the remaining 2 books and enjoyed every second of them.
Now, a year later, I am planning on placing another order for a set of Greek mythology books. I never thought I would’ve learned about this interest of mine from a class I didn’t enjoy. Despite the hot class and deconstructing classmates, this discovery expanded my imagination and appreciation of Greek literature.