Why I Didn't Go To Grad School

My last semester of undergrad, I learned about the current practices in the field of English academia. All of the post-contemporary English and American literature is dominated by literary criticism, and I absolutely hated doing that.

Why did the author write about this? Was this work a response to something that was happening in the world? Was the author secretly homosexual or suffering from some post-traumatic psychosis? To what famous thinker in the past can we compare this author's thinking? Do you think this author was trying to communicate his or her personal distaste for society through this minor, minor character's one line in the story?

Every scholar has a different idea, not just about an author, but about the motives behind each individual narrative or poem or pamphlet that the person penned. 2007 English is essentially philosophy, and I didn't become an English major to do that. I love the creative and analytical aspects of literature, as in reading and analyzing style, themes, techniques, and even comparing authors.

Essentially, it's the who, how, and what of literature I love, NOT the why. And that is why I will never go to grad school unless the face of literary academia changes because I am perfectly capable of independent thought. It's obvious that certain themes could mirror an author's personal life, but I don't care and that's not up to me to decide. That's all.