And you must read. I mean you could get away with not reading the material and rely on lecture but you'll be missing out on the bigger picture. You'll miss the fun stuff. The cool phrases. The cool quotes. You'll miss the story. I'll be honest. Some literature out there is just way beyond me. It's like reading another language. Some stuff is just plain boring. When a reading assignment sucks or puts me to sleep I like to call it "the cure to insomnia." You must be patient because English literature is not always easy to understand; especially some of the earlier British stuff. But you just have to re-read or not read and find summaries online to guide you. But you won't always find spark notes (just ask my fellow Ben Johnson classmates). And there can be hundreds of different interpretations. So reading is key.
My father says, "who cares about literature." And I can't explain to him how amazing the class lectures are. Whenever my father and I talk about stuff like religion, the universe, anatomy, capitalism, finance, greed, and why people are the way the are I tell him, "you see dad! this is exactly what goes on in an english class. We think. We investigate. We research. We analyze. We persuade. And we try to find the meaning behind what's being said." It's no wonder many pre-law students have English degrees.
Another cool thing about being an English major...there is no right answer. So long as you support your argument with evidence and well thought-out explanations, you've made a legitimate case. Unless of course you try and prove something that's obviously impossible. Like arguing that Frankenstein was a monkey because he grunted and walked on all fours. Nope. Definitely won't win you're professor over.
The problem. What the hell am I going to do when I graduate. People say that English majors can go into all sorts of fields. I believe that a lot can be done with the degree; but, the ultimate question is...will they hire me? I guess I will have to find out when it's all over and I'm out on the job market.