How to Sound Smart When You're Confused

Many students are acknowledging struggles with their books without thinking deeply about the challenges. Here's an excellent example of one of your classmates grappling with a difficult book:

Student's e-mail:

The Mahabharata, abridged and translated by John D. Smith

Pages read: 203

    I'm thoroughly enjoying this book. I am learning a lot of Hinduism and the underlying principles of the religion. I have discovered dharma, adharma, social roles, reincarnation, fate and destiny. The book relates to “true wisdom” as consisting with the “understanding of the essential oneness of the human self with everything else in the universe.” Throughout India there is the superstition that reading The Mahabharata will bring misfortune, but in the beginning of the book is is said that anyone who even listens to this great story will be freed from their sins. This is acquired by reaching Brahma's realm and gaining equality with the gods.

    A great challenge of mine would be the pronunciation of Sanskrit. There's a reference included in the book explaining how to pronounce words, but there are so many characters and words in the book that I simply don't want to take the time to learn how to correctly pronounce everything. With this said, I feel bad and uneducated not knowing how to properly pronounce the names of the main characters. Another challenge I face is the one within my own mind. For example, King Yudhisthira was challenged to gamble with his evil cousin. He feels that he must accept the challenge, and it is apart of dharma, hence there is no way of avoiding it. He loses his kingdom and everything in it, his brothers, himself and his wife. This was all gained through deceit and the king was well aware of that. This section of the book nearly made me lose my mind. He did not have to gamble. Then he was lucky enough to gain everything back, but his family and him were sent into exile after another loss. My brain just couldn't understand his way of thinking.

My Response (with the most helpful part bolded):
I really enjoyed this response, largely because you were so honest and thoughtful about your struggles.


As for the struggles you mention, don't worry about pronunciation - yet. I tend to struggle with oddly spelled names and places, too, particularly when I read science fiction. My strategy is to pronounce the unfamiliar word the same way every time. That way, I can at least remember the character every time he comes up. With a book like this, there will come a time when you do want to pronounce the names and words correctly, but that time should come after you're done reading. Once you process the narrative and the arguments, it is important to go back and master the finer details, but the narrative and the arguments are much more important.

As for understanding the king's motives and choices, try finishing this sentence: I have no idea why he did what he did, but it might have been because ...

By beginning your analysis with that phrase, you give yourself permission to be wrong; once you do that, you're more than likely to be right.