By Rawan AbuShaban.
OK, so this article may be a little facetious… but you can be the judge of that.
If you’ve taken any college-level English class, there’s a chance that the syllabus included one of these classic titles that coincidentally speak volumes about what college life is actually like.
- Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy.
This Victorian novel was the last that English author Thomas Hardy ever wrote. It’s not hard to figure out why, considering that the book is one of the most depressing things you will ever read. Not to say that college is depressing – however, this novel has a lot to say about getting an education, and a few things in between.
All that our dear naïve protagonist Jude Fawley wants is to become a scholar and attend “Christminster,” a city that is modeled on the real-life university town of Oxford. Like many of us, Jude is infatuated with the concept of learning, and indulges in the classics – Latin, Greek, anything in a book – but he’s held back by his day job in the family bakery. As you might guess, things don’t get much better for Jude.
In the pursuit of an education, he is tricked into marrying the voluptuous and deceptive girl next door, gets dumped, moves to Christminster to work and study on his own, falls in love with his married cousin, hooks up with her anyway, etc. etc. So much drama occurs that by the end of the novel, Jude is the morbid father of three children and still hasn’t enrolled into the university. That’s not even the most depressing part, but if you fancy spoiling one heck of a gloomy ending, you can do so here.
While your scholarly pursuits may (hopefully) have had better outcomes than Jude’s, we can all relate to the struggle that comes with getting an education and dealing with institutes of higher learning. Jude the Obscure is a reminder to the audience that obstacles can be overcome, but Hardy’s novel also serves as a warning to avoid distractions and stay focused, or we may lose control of the path we build for ourselves.
- A Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert.
Everybody gets a little pretentious when they go to college. Why not? You’re a young and successful individual whose charm and wit jumped out of the labyrinthine applicant pool and into the hearts of the admissions committee members, who ordained you to be a part of a selective group of other pretentious individuals at some prestigious establishment. Relax, you earned it… However, A Sentimental Education shows the extremity of pretentious behavior, albeit ironically.
This highly esteemed 19th-century French novel follows the life of Frederic Moreau, a debonair and self-interested young man who is indecisive when it comes to making a career choice, and instead mooches off of his uncle’s inheritance. He also falls in and out of love with a woman who’s way out of his league. There’s also a revolution going on, but hey, that’s all secondary.
Frederic’s perception of himself is perhaps what makes the book, and what puts Gustave Flaubert’s novel on this list. Frederic’s standstill ambition to reach new heights without actually having to do anything reflects our own fantasies – who doesn’t want to make bank and join the elite by performing as little effort as possible? His irresolute behavior and flippant attitude resonate with what we commonly see among the college-aged population, and what we see in ourselves, if we own up to it.
Frederic shares our imagination, but he’s easily demotivated. We’ve all been there before. Frederic gets what he desires, then loses interest; his capricious antics burn out his ambitions and keep him unsettled.
While this obviously flawed character never owns up to the fickleness and failures of his youth in retrospect, audiences can learn a thing or two about the sentimental education that Frederic never actually receives because he’s too blinded by his self-perceived amazing-ness.
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
Is this one a cliché? …Perhaps. Then again, there is no acceptable substitute for accuracy.
Commonly known as Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll’s classic novel sums up the frightful and fantastical journey we affectionately call “freshman year.”
Alice can’t help but find reading books without pictures to be a dull affair (something that has tormented us since the 6th grade) and instead chases a classy-looking rabbit down a rabbit hole. The emotional roller-coaster that ensues parallels our reaction to embarking on the scholastic expedition that is college.
After enthusiastically grabbing some free refreshments, disappointed Alice literally cries a pool of her own tears, something we have done many times (except figuratively). While Alice’s adventures are infused with nonsensicalities like talking rabbits and caterpillars, there are also more relatable aspects, including cliquey tea parties, poor second language skills, sudden changes in size (freshman fifteen, anyone?), ultra-competitive sporting events, and hookah. These mystifying yet endearing episodes are sure to cut to the heart of any current college student or reminiscing graduate.
Alice in Wonderland hosts some of the definitive elements of the college experience, which makes it no wonder that we love the craziness of Alice’s journey as much as we cherish our own.
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Rawan is the principal writer at Bookselves. Follow her on Twitter @obirawankenobi.
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