When I walked into first period AP literature on the first day of school, I was ready to challenge certain beliefs that I held about myself and the world. However, I held certain preconceptions that I had not thought about, or challenged in years. These include political ideas, my personal outlook on my own life, views of society.

Previously, I found the wealth gap to be very unfair and thought it needed to change. However, I never thought about a solution or truly considered what lower class families go through. Reading King Lear brought me a new perspective by displaying class disparities from centuries ago. Shockingly enough, these disparities exist today as well. As King Lear was thrown into worse, he realized that the worse conditions had existed the entire time. This made me realize that just because I do not actively experience struggles of poverty in the U.S does not mean it is not actively affecting millions of Americans. Obviously I was aware of the issues, but this perspective made me think of it as a human issue, and not just a poverty statistic.

Towards the end of the story, King Lear realizes that he was in a position of power, so ignoring the problem would only make it worse. When I read this, I was forced to acknowledge my own privilege in my life. I want to understand that understanding the issue is not enough, but trying to make a change by volunteering or doing what I can is essential. 

Not only did this story affect my political and societal thought process, It also changed the way I viewed my own choices. One of my biggest takeaways from King Lear was that characters can be so devoted to one path, and so convinced that they are right, but be on the entirely wrong path. This was seen when King Lear banished his loyal servant and genuine daughter at the beginning of the story. Additionally, Edmund was convinced that he needed approval from his father or others. He devoted his entire life to gaining such approval when none of that mattered in reality. Watching these characters devote themselves to the wrong cause made me re assess the time and energy I spent in my life. Now, I spend more time with family and my closest friends, while also getting a job and doing activities that I genuinely enjoy. King Lear helped give me a bit of clarity that has improved my life. 

In the end, King Lear made me like reading Shakespear even more. At the beginning of the year, I was hesitant to throw myself into stories as Mr. Hiedkamp suggested. Fortunately, I slowly entered the universe of literature and allowed Shakespeare’s story to move me.