What's Your Reason For Becoming An English Major??

What's your reason for becoming an English Major??

I have a love for stories and meaning, and I couldn't see myself doing much else. Going into academia is seemingly the only appealing vocation to me because it seems to be the most ideas-based and the least "repetitive," in the sense that, of course, all jobs have structure and routine, but at least I will still be stimulated and continue to learn or research as time goes on. There is no dead end that I can see. Aside from that, so many other majors end with a set career. Many people go to school for just an end goal of becoming a lawyer or a doctor, to attain something tangible or to benefit the world directly, but with academia, you go to learn and to play with the ideas. In fact, so far, I have begun to see that not everyone appreciates ideas for their own sake. Language and literature never stagnate, and I don't think humanity will ever run out of debates and discoveries. The other interesting aspect to it, is that you can devote your life's work to even just one niche and still never be "finished" with it, or so I've heard. And while I wouldn't say there are new developments emerging every day, most discourse (probably) never dies or is outdated/discarded completely. And, unlike other fields, we can use papers from decades ago because it's literature/literary theory/interpretations, not science!

Thanks—glad it was accurate to you.

Do you have any nationality headcanons for Rafal or others? Mine is vaguely Finnish, purely because I associate its renowned education system and high literacy rate with him although Rafal himself is a terrible educator a lot of the time. Also, the white hair fits.

Slightly niche Modern AU Rafal headcanon (Does anyone agree or have a different take?):

I had a random association and now, I'm almost certain Rafal would enjoy Russian doomer music, even solely for its vibes (assuming he is the fantasy equivalent of a Westerner who only speaks a Germanic language because most fairy tales in SGE are the Germanic ones. Honestly, one thing I wonder about, even if we have evidence of Spanish and other accents' existence, is how the Woods as we've seen them are rather monolingual, probably for plot convenience, but that depiction just strikes me as a little strange, like, too deeply suspect that their world is that unified, all by itself—unless the Storian is to blame as usual—maybe we're not meant to allot it any critical thought...), although I've looked up some English translations of this genre's lyrics and they are rather dark, so that fits him fairly well—unless being silent with his thoughts would be preferable.

Yet, one clarification to make: Even if the music might resonate with him, I think he wouldn't be a fatalist until much later in whatever character progression he'd have. Instead, I see him as a doomsday prepper, in probably a more I-will-live-against-all-odds, Western, literally every-man-for-himself, individualist sense as that might be more in line with his character in canon. He'd be obsessed with survivalism and TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as We Know It) as a concept.

Here is an example of the music I found—I'm not sure if this is actually representative of the whole and I don't know much about it or the historical context though.

Also, here are some English lyrics from various songs under the cut that I just happened to like:

Again the spring has come, And warming rays of sun Are looking in my cell through window-panes Again the heart will ache The feelings will awake And memory recalls auld days

Those days will come to me And I shall feel and see The girl whom I loved so long ago That girl came and left That girl I can’t forget Her image’s always in my soul.

Vladimir prison-house Сold northern wind My transport came from Tver And all my evil deeds Lie on my heart like heavy weights

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Stab me with that stare as i walk by It's like poison in my blood It trips me up just like a stone I'm just sick of people, and they're sick of everything

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My ship is sailing straight ahead, avoiding the land The captain drunk and stubborn He'll protect it till the end Drowning to the right, drowning to the left Not enough lifeboats, there isn't help for everyone Swimming away, I'm swimming away somewhere straight, somewhere away

JAW-DROPPING. It's so dynamic, and I love how his hair sweeps back like that. Also, it looks like he's in the follower position rather than the leader one. Interesting, considering death does claim him by the end of the prequels.

And, idk why, the first thought I had was TLEA necromancer Rafal—probably because he's dressed in black here. Even if it would be a bit out of character, I could see him putting on a musical number to fluster Sophie with because she likes musical theater. And he could use force to get the Old villains to cooperate and perform with him.

wisteria posts sge art???!!1!1!1!?1?! (NOT CLICKBAIT) (REAL!!!!)

so like right before i went on hiatus (to be clear im not fully back yet but i would like to be a little more active) i was working on this and never found the motivation to finish it because i kept finding mistakes and things i had to fix so i just eventually gave up😭 i also don’t want this to just sit in my unfinished wips collecting dust so i felt like i should post it for yall‼️

I agree with the anon that said they want to study Rafal

He is rather peculiar lmao

(Rafal do you hear that)

I agree with you and the anon.

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Rafal: [wonderingly to himself] ...I don't resent that designation.

Rhian: No murderous ideation?

Rafal: [confirms,] No murderous ideation.

Rhian: For once then. You are peculiar.

Rafal: What does that mean from you?

Rhian: [to his audience] And there we have it. What exactly? An enigma? We'll never know.

I think I'm speaking for all of us in saying that we're happy you're impatient since we got this great work of art out of it!

Let's see—my interpretation is that this is TLEA "Rafal" because of the cravat, how his hair seems better coiffed than usual, the black swan being unambiguously Evil, and how his hand is positioned like he's about to grab someone by the shoulders, like that one moment in which Sophie screams, and Rafal quips, "Glad to know I'm still scary" from behind.

Alternatively, I could interpret this Rafal as Fall Rafal attempting to intimidate Midas.

spooky

its up to interpretation which rafal this is

I love this take and the warm/cold juxtaposition. It reminds of some interpretation I once read elsewhere, that when he raised his hand to Sophie at the end of TLEA during his death scene, possibly to kill Sophie out of spite, it could've also been so he wouldn't be alone in death, implying that he wanted to take her down with him, so they'd be united again.

(Also, have you read Fall, or do you just like the old view of canon/continuity better like I oftentimes do?)

Anyway, Sophie and Rafal's TLEA dynamic always reminds me of a very particular genre of painting: "Death and the Maiden." (I have a WIP AU for this concept actually. Even Rhian and other characters have roles too.) Thus, the concept can easily be assigned to their dynamic, considering Rafal's physical coldness in TLEA and elsewhere, and yet, in some cases, Rafal is not in Death's role, like you said, due to his fear, which is interesting in itself, that he can be both.

Inspired by @wisteriaum's "dance with death" piece.

I'd love to hear the explanations or thought processes behind your answers.

And yeah, I guess I'm romanticizing/satirizing all this. What about it? /j