The Importance Of Literature In John Williams's Stoner

In John Williams novel Stoner, I found myself feeling a sense of admiration because of the passion and love William Stoner had for literature. Stoner physically touched literature as if it were beyond precious: “he would leaf through the book…fingers careful as they turned the pages, as if in their clumsiness they might tear and destroy what…took years to uncover” (16). That type of care and respect reveals the genuine love he had for literature. Not only did Stoner care about literature, but he also cared about his teaching. At different parts of the novel he would catch and notice the way he was teaching instantly in his thoughts. He would notice when he was not being passionate and enthusiastic in his teaching. In the midst of his teaching

It made me think about how there are professors out there who go home and reflect on the way their teaching their students. That care is so essential and dear to me that I would respect and put more effort into engaging in a class if I knew that much about my professors think and reflect. Moreover, William Stoner was a man that went through intense labor in the farm most of his life and spent the rest laboring in teaching. His sickness only forced him to stand down from his teaching position which I admire so much. He truly loved his position. the only reason he would step down is for forced retirement. Otherwise, no human being on earth could have made William Stoner step down from his position as a literature professor. The type of commitment and dedication that Stoner had, pushed me to reflect on how I treated my studies. The qualities that William Stoner conveyed as I mentioned above are very remarkable and admirable. I felt his love and perseverance for literature through the pages of

The world that still gave him so much joy and hope in the middle of his chaotic life. When reading literature, I reenact what is being read and play it in my mind. So as I was reading Stoner I would reenact the parts where he was either reflecting on his teaching or reading literature that caused him to be consumed. Stoner was focused on learning from his books and he treated reading with urgency, thinking that his life was too short so he desired to read as much as possible. “He realized the little time he had in life to read so much, to learn what he had to know.” (Williams 26), when reading that I realized the reality of what he meant and it was very inspiring. He willingly wanted to learn and know more about his studies. A sense of urgency came upon him and that made him question the amount of time he would have to read all he had. His experience in that moment gave me an epiphany because it was very true. Another day is never promised because anything could happen. Why am I not treating each day in college as if it were my last day to learn? It is honestly a privilege to be able to advance from post-secondary education to higher education. Higher education is nothing compared to any other because of the amount of knowledge that can be learned that no student has known until they have gone to college. College is where unknown knowledge can be found. College is where knowledge is given to