Journey Through Reflection

A journey is defined as traveling from one place to another. This idea of journey is the one that I’ve believed most of my life, and I thank this class for helping expand my idea of the word. Or English class, named Journey in Literature, led me to believe at first that the course would focus on physical journeys and literature that focused on it. However, as the college trimester started, and I took the English course for the first time, I realized that my idea of a journey would widen and expand to the mental and spiritual realm. Not only did I realize this fact from the literature that we read but from the professor herself, who seemed to see the mental journey as important, not only for the class, but for the development of her students. As this trimester is ending, I have learned that there is more than one kind of journey in this world, and that mental and spiritual journeys are of greater importance than physical journeys.

A mental journey is more important than a physical journey. I define a mental journey as the development of our individual way of thinking that occurs due to our experiences and accumulation of knowledge. This form of mental journey was the focus of the many readings of Jamaica Kincaid in the class. Kincaid, in my opinion, showed the class how her inner journeys throughout her life made her the person that she was by the time she wrote her books. During her early years, Kincaid seemed like a rebellious adolescent who wanted to leave her home and nation of Antigua, which isn’t all different from what many people want to do as they grow up and want to know the world. As time went by, however, you could see that the experiences that shaped Kincaid also shaped the way she viewed the world and her former home. Kincaid ended up feeling nostalgia for her country and she started to understand why things were and are the way they are in Antigua, and why her parents where the way they were. Kincaid’s mental journey is one of knowing oneself and understanding her upbringing as a result.

 Jamaica Kincaid’s mental journey wasn’t much different from my personal growth, in my opinion. By the time I graduated high school, I wanted to leave home and Puerto Rico since I didn’t have a positive attitude to both due to both innocence and ignorance. As I left to the army and time went by, I started to meditate on the reasoning of leaving and I understood that it was due to my lack of knowledge and normal teenage rebellion. After expanding my view of what can be classified as a journey, I have concluded that my experiences were a journey that helped develop my mind, very similar to Kincaid’s mental journey.

The idea of journeys can be both physical and mental, and I feel that mental journeys are more beneficial for people. Jamaica Kincaid’s experiences have proven this, whose journey reflects the journey of many people. I believe that I’m an example of this, since my experiences led me to a mental journey which has made me the person I am today. Thanks to the English course this trimester, I have come to understand the true meaning of a journey.