Revision process: After rereading my essay, I decided I needed a stronger argument or at least another aspect of my argument. I decided to argue against Birkerts that reading is not merely a private activity, but a social one bringing people together over the love of the same characters. With adding this idea, I added different portions to each of my paragraphs connecting my previous ideas with my new one. I added more examples of how reading is a social aspect as well as addressing Birkerts argument in relation to my new idea. Finally, I added a conclusion to my essay that sums up my ideas and adds a little example at the end to cause the reader to further consider my argument.
Reading is something that is either viewed as fun, intellectual, or tedious. A social activity, or a private one. Ever since I was a child, I viewed reading as something fun and relaxing and a way to escape; however, while the act of reading is private, reading is not merely an individualized activity. Reading provides a way to connect with others over a moving story and to relate to others by falling in love with the same characters. Reading is not work to me, nor is it something I dread as an assignment in school. Reading provides a private escape from the world. Although many assume writing coincides with how someone views reading, in my mind, writing is the ultimate assignment I dread in school. Although reading and writing are closely related, I view reading as one of the most natural enjoyments and social aspects of life whereas writing serves as a job needing to be done.
As a child, I can remember visiting the library every Saturday with my mother and checking out at least twenty picture books that I would read throughout the week. Reading helped me get into my schoolwork more and advance intellectually. It helped me see my education as something that could be fun instead of something merely mandatory to get through life. I remember when I started to read the Magic Tree House books and the first time I read one within two days. To me, that was a huge accomplishment that I was proud of. I was so enthralled with the stories that I couldn’t pull myself away. I can remember going to school and connecting with my friends over the series and who our favorite characters were. These books were a way for me to connect with my classmates and bring me further into my schooling. Days when new books were assigned in English class or what was then called “Reading” class, I would be excited to learn about the world of these new characters rather than the average student who would roll their eyes and dread the thought of having to read for school. Although reading advanced my relationship with my academics, writing drove me away. Some may find it strange that one can love reading so much, but then when it comes to writing it is something they dread. For me, writing is a job I have to work at whereas reading is calming and easygoing for me. Transitioning into high school, my love of reading followed with me and grew even more.
As a teenager in high school, my academics got harder and it took more work to achieve the same grades. After a hard day at school, I would come home and dive into a book and thus into a different world. Finding a new story I loved would allow me to relax and refresh my mind from all the work I had to do for school. While reading helped me escape, it also helped me to connect with my friends. We would all trade books with each other and discuss our favorite characters and wait anxiously together for the next book in a series to come out. Reading assigned books for school was still my favorite assignment and I was excited each time my teacher would introduce a new story to us. While reading followed me into my later years, my troubles with writing followed me as well. In Birkerts’ words, “adolescence is the ideal laboratory for the study of reading and self formation” (89). While I still received mostly good grades on my papers, I still had a hard time writing and analyzing the texts. While reading was my best escape, when it came to analyzing, it was also my greatest fear. I could understand the novels and find the underlying meaning, but when I had to find the figurative language, I struggled in analyzing it. To many, writing comes easily to them, being able to form ideas in their heads and put these ideas together fluently into an essay, while I struggle to even formulate the ideas at times. While many view writing as their escape and way to express themselves and reading as their dreaded enemy, I find reading my freedom and writing to be my flaw.
In Birkerts’ novel, The Gutenberg Elegies, he explains his worries about technology
overtaking the values of literature. He believes that technology has taken the meaning away from literature in that the world of reading and writing has become shallow and is no longer based off of wisdom. He states, “wisdom is a seeing through facts, a penetration to the underlying laws and patterns” (75). In many ways, my experiences with reading are similar to his fears. In reading older books, I find the depth of the stories and characters to be difficult to analyze whereas more modern stories are more shallow and easier to interpret thus allowing teens to relate to each other through more accessible stories. Reading has gone from being an art of wisdom to an art of relaxation a social activity. As many find reading as an escape, Birkerts states, “what made me a reader were the experiences I got from the books themselves” (35). It is not only the story that gives the reader joy but the experiences you get from the actual books. Reading as a child and going to the library was an experience for me that I will always remember not because of the stories themselves, but because of the actual action of going to the library and picking out the physical books. Now when I think about that time, I do not remember the stories. I merely remember the action of picking out the books. Reading a book also inspires some to join activities such as book clubs thus making reading a social aspect. People in book clubs are usually those who appreciate a physical book and mot merely the story on a digital screen. I agree with Birkerts that if literature becomes absorbed in technology, then the magic of the story will not be the same. People will lose the connection between people share the love of the stores they read. The presence of the book itself brings a much better experience along with the story the writer presents. As society progresses into a technological era, so does the art of literature and writing. My experience with reading makes me worry as well of the technological influence on literature. Reading is an art that will never die.
Reading is multiple individualized experiences brought together into one social act. Many people read stories on their own and then come together to share their love for the story and the characters. Reading played a major role in my childhood as I made friends through the common books I read with my peers and had a way to connect with them. As Birkerts fears technology will soon overtake literature, I do as well. Turning books into digital forms takes away from the social aspect of reading and the love of the physical book. While reading is a beloved part of my life, my struggles with writing have followed me through my school years. To me, writing is a weight on me that pushes me constantly until it is finally done. It is a task that is procrastinated while reading is a wonder that calls to me for hours at a time. Reading will always be a major part of my life and will continue to be a social aspect as crowds of people wait together for hours overnight for the release of the next story on the characters these people all share the same love for.
ajayne2 