The English Major Lens
Written by Hasan B.
In his essay titled “Death of an English Major'', Gary Taylor, a professor at Florida State University, eulogizes murdered English student Maura Blinkley. Maura was murdered by a radical misogynist “...intending to kill women” (189). Traylor examines the particularities of Maura’s life that made her herself, drawing parallels to outline the value of an English degree. English majors are often interrogated regarding what they “can do with a major like that…” (189). The answer to this question isn’t straightforward; rapidly advancing technology sectors make English degrees seem ‘impractical’. This essay was written in 2018, a highly politically divisive time in the US, with large identity groups obscuring human particularity. The descriptors Republican and Democrat were far more powerful than any personal attribute. But Taylor claims this is what an English education does –– honor the intricacies of our world in contrast to broad generalities. His analysis of the particularities that made Maura herself and what it means to be an English major establishes the modern significance of the degree. In doing so, Taylor urges his American readers to adopt the skill English professors teach –– to interpret through the lens of particularities––in order to avoid generalities that simplify the human experience and our understanding of the world.
What Taylor means by particularities is the small details that make someone unique–one’s plethora of attributes that distinguish them from border descriptors. Tragically, Maura’s particularities were eclipsed by the generality that she was a “specimen of the category ‘woman’” (191). Maura’s killer was “trying to kill generalities”, but he didn’t only kill a woman (191). Rather it was the death of her particularities: “the sound of her voice, explaining the relationship between Old English and modern German; her cute cat backpack; her idealistic ambition to get accepted into the Teach For America program”. Being a woman negated the value of all those particularities to her killer.
Taylor identifies this emphasis on particularities as the crux of an English degree. An English degree teaches students to “celebrate and investigate… human particularity”, which explains why English majors “savor specificities of phrasing” or “pounce upon and explore a single word”. Taylor does this himself when he analyzes Shakespeare’s story of King Lear grieving his daughter (190). He allows the specificities of Shakespeare’s King Lear to “tell us something useful about the kind of man capable of murdering…Maura” (190). In this example, Taylor’s hunt for particularities within literature allows him to better interpret Maura’s death and the world at large––simultaneously addressing the value of an English degree. But this idea of particularities extends beyond Maura’s death. Taylor calls on his fellow Americans to “dedicate [themselves] to erasing the ugliness that erased her” (191). This call to action, pleading with Americans to stop thinking in ugly generalities, elaborates on the value of an English major; it forces students to focus on the particularities of the human experience, a skill that allows them to interpret the world’s complexities clearly. This message is especially powerful within the context that it's written, at a time with starkly divided political identity groups under Trump’s presidency. The parallel drawn between the particularities Maura’s killer ignored, and what an English teacher celebrates, honors both her memory and the value of an English degree.
However, I question an exclusive emphasis on particularities. I imagine particularities and generalities on a spectrum. An exclusive focus on generalities, as seen in the case of Maura, murders a “luminous living individual” (191). Her murderer’s fixation on her generality killed her “...before the gun…”. But now imagine the opposite extreme: a focus purely on particularities is a focus on differences. I am Pakistani-American; yet, I have a widely different life experience than the average Pakistani, I can still relish in our shared identity, or generality. Maura being “of the category ‘woman’” killed her, but in some capacity, I am sure being a woman shaped an aspect of her identity (191). Shared passions, interests, beliefs, and origins build human connection and identity. Returning to the spectrum analogy, an extreme focus on generalities kills particularity and glosses over the complexities of our world. However, an extreme focus on particularities inhibits connection and ignores major aspects of identity. Taylor’s piece examines how particularities allow us to interpret the world clearly, but in terms of identity, generalities are equally important.
At first, it wasn’t obvious why this piece, out of all the essays in The Best American Essays 2019, resonated with me. I questioned whether it was because I’ve considered pursuing an English major, or that perhaps I have generalities that can obscure my particularities. Writing has countless purposes: to inform, to advocate, to challenge, to question, and more––all of which I had considered. But the concept of using writing to interpret the world hadn’t occurred to me. It's a skill. The next time I’m asked why I would ever consider an English degree over a STEM major that is more ‘practical’, the ability to interpret the world’s complexities is what I will cite first. The skill to interpret our world that an English degree develops is just as relevant in 2023 as it was in 2018. With the upcoming 2024 election, we’re beginning to see those same broad political affiliations entrench themselves, as they were under Trump’s presidency. Next November, it is important for Americans to remember who we are and the complexities of society, and to not smother ourselves and our world in generalities that ignore our particularities.
If you’d like to read the original essay that Hasan responds to here, please click here.
