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I feel as though the English major should be viewed more as a social science major than an art major. It is true that English majors must work through thematic elements and deconstruct plots in order to derive meaning, but more than that English majors are responsible for knowing the history of author's, time periods and movements. English majors have to implement knowledge from the fields of psychology, sociology, history, philosophy and even computer science, biology and genetics. Knowledge from these fields is used to analyze character development, apply meaning to behavior and predict behavior that will occur in the future. I have argued that English majors are the psychologists of the "art" world and I stand by that. I have gained as much insight by analyzing Dr. Moreau, Ophelia, Benito Cereno, Amory Blaine, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, etc. as I have from being a psych major. I think that people often forget that we write about what we know and what we know best is ourselves, even when we know nothing about ourselves.

I think it is a lot tougher to tear apart a character that reveals truths about yourself than it is to tear apart a cellular body. Don't get me wrong. I think that sciences are invaluable in the world of academia, but I have to admit that I get defensive when I hear comments like, "English is the biggest joke major in the world."

I posit that the joke is on them.