I have always found exhilaration and engagement in the act of writing, whether it is critically approaching another author's work or writing fiction as a means of expression. However, even though writing has always been one of my strengths, it was difficult to take those first steps beyond the five-paragraph essay form of high school that limited my ideas for so long. I have always been a thinker, and through this course and a few others I have experienced so far in my college career, I have expanded and honed my critical analysis skills. I challenged myself to dig deeper into texts than ever before, to realize that there are methods I choose to follow in my analysis, and to realize that there are narrative forms that I have underestimated. text that I had to analyze simply by looking at the superficial content or the most obvious meaning. I wanted to know exactly what the author intended to convey to readers without considering that meaning can be derived without the author intending it. I did what I had to by adding fluff or batting here and there to get the length and didn't bother digging any further. But now I have learned to grasp every possible meaning of a text. There's that unexplored void in the literary world where readers interpret an action in a thousand different ways and I want to explore all of those possibilities. In this course, in particular, I learned not to accept something at face value but rather to ask myself why something is the way it is. As a result, my informal writings began to become more complex and concise as the semester progressed. I stopped looking at the obvious and dug further into a text in a...... middle of paper...... I feel like I have learned so much over the course of my studies, but all it takes is a course like this that helps me identify what needs to be improved in my writing and analytical technique. Not only was I able to expand my thought process because I built on techniques and approaches I was already using, but I also discovered a new technique that will help me decipher the meanings behind literary works. I realized that it is necessary to discover the deepest and most complex meaning of a work and that not everything is simple. As a final thought, I have also learned to appreciate a new form of storytelling that will allow me to expand my horizons in the future. I have benefited greatly from this course, and the proof is in the constant improvement of my informal writing and analysis. I look forward to continuing my studies and becoming the best writer I can be.