Gerald Graff: An Analysis Of Disliking Books

Disliking Books by Gerald Graff outlines his growth towards liking books. Graff has received his BA in English from the University of Chicago and his PhD in English and American literature from Stanford University and is currently working as a professor of English and Eduation in the University of Illinois. Graff begins his work with recounting how, as a child, he has an aversion to books regarding history and literature for he cannot find their application to his life. Moreover, students who cultivated these skills are looked down upon and being a Jew, this would put him in danger of being beaten. Observing another side of his argument, he references Lives on the Boundary, in which the author implies that the working class found knowledge as saving grace, however, Graff takes for granted his education as part of the middle class.

As a child, Graff talks about how he shared a hatred for books, but rather a passion for sports. Reading sports magazines was the only thing you’d catch him reading as he became hooked. In the education system, schoolwork isolated you from others whereas in sports, you can reach out to anybody and have conversation. He believed because of high interest in sports, he was a typical anti-intellectual, but he came to the

Even my talkative teacher was reduced to a slack-jawed stare of awe. As my brief embarrassment and their slight shock quickly passed, I was cheered for. I was the reading champion! The hero of literature that would lead our class to victory! I even earned one of Mrs. Fisher’s rarely-given rewards (a Strawberry

Books have a history of impacting the views of the masses, influencing thought and bringing about the most spectacular inventions; the Bible, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Republic, and so many more. With books playing such a role in society, it is hard to imagine a world without literature. This is the goal of Ray Bradbury’s book, Fahrenheit 451: to explore a world where reading is outlawed, and to show how books, or the lack of, change the way people feel and connect. The general people who do not read, including the protagonist, Guy Montag, seem discontent with their lives and derive no real joy. Conversely, the readers and the thinkers are kinder, bolder, and humorous; Faber and Clarise, for example, leave powerful impacts on Montag with their thinking.

Essay The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a story about a young boy who is trying to find who he is during the civil war. In this novel by Mark Twain it speaks about this young boy, named Huck, and how his original morals are beginning to change while he helps free his friend Jim, who is a slave. Though People have argued that this book uses many racial slurs that demoralize the African American race. Though there is solid reasoning why those are not Mark Twain's true intentions.

She looses the reader in her criticism, and it seems now the reader is learning more about Uncle Tom’s Cabin than the racist background of Huckleberry Finn. Smiley’s criticism was so strong and caught so many others’ attention because it had its own controversy against her own. This controversy was written by Justin Kaplan and is a good indication that Smiley got her point across in her own

She stated “I hate exercise…I work out and want to die…I knew I was in love with The Hunger Games when I did not want to get off the treadmill” (138). Her involvement with the text helped Gay to overlook the negative aspect being at the gym, making her a creditable source to encourage the audiences to realize literature can be used as a tool to surpass obstacles. Although Cox Gurdon, a young children book reviewer stated: “Young Adult Fiction has taken too dark a turn,” but Gay appeals to ethos by claiming, teens read book to escape dark aspect of reality (qtd Gay145). She quoted Sherman Alexie an American poet, who is a passionate writer who believes that, “There are millions of teens who read because they are sad and lonely and enraged,” to prove her argument against Gurdon (145). She successfully shapes her argument about kids reading book to escape reality, by telling the reader the reason she read The Hunger Game was because she likes the way the author placed people in their world.

Books are one of humanity’s greatest creations. They are treasures of precious thought. Whenever I hold such beauty in my hands I am amazed by a human being’s ability to write and transform simple letters into words, into stories, into ideas. Throughout my young life so far I have had the pleasure and honour of reading a myriad of novels from many different genres. In the future I hope to further expand my library of knowledge.

In “Why Literature Matters”, the Dana Gioia emphasizes the importance of literature. Using logos and pathos, he justifies his claim on how the waning interest in literature is affecting America’s society in many negative ways.

This statement is disagreeable because although Huck does break the federal law as a moral, he does it for the right reasons. Therefore, making the great American classic not such a radical and darkly bitter book after all. In her essay,

And I want you to teach me to understand what I read." (Bradbury 78) Books to him are a way to communicate with others. He is frustrated that everyone else is blind to that. This expresses the value of the books expanding the way of communicating. He knows he will need help on understanding it and

Her full use of strong language diminishes pieces of literature’s worth and questions their true significance. She claims this in a critical tone by stating, “Like most parents who have, against all odds, preserved a lively and still evolving passion for good books, I find myself, each September, increasingly appalled by the dismal lists of texts that my sons are doomed to waste a school year reading”(Prose, 176). She uses words like dismal to describe the book choices students would have to read according to the curriculum of the educational system. By using words like dismal, she expresses her feeling of disappointment towards the curriculum. She

Some classmates felt that his last shred of hope to keep him alive was his hatred for the party while others agreed that his love for Julia would help him from conforming back to the ideals of the party. When discussing what another classmates have found in class it has helped me to understand other points I might have overlooked in the novels we have read. I have improved from these activities by writing down other points and

Neil Gaiman once wrote, “some books exist between covers that are perfectly people-shaped” (Gaiman xvi). The idea that books can be defined as the sharing of thoughts and information between people reveals a deeper meaning in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist faces a society in which books are censored and, thus, burned. This, according to his definition, means that if books become banned, certain connections between people will, too, be destroyed. Ray Bradbury reveals the theme (the importance of books) through the protagonist’s dynamic character, which comes as a result from his conflicts with society.

The only reading I cared to do or could do was from sports magazines.” (Graff 216). This is his first piece of evidence of his “hidden intellectualism”. Graff states this because he is trying to convey his idea that he would’ve been interested in school reading if it were based around sports or other interests he may have had. Graff also argues that “intellectualism is good, and that schools ought to encourage learners to read, think critically and write about their fields of personal interests like fashion, music, or cars” (217).