Sharon Cho's Positives To Reading

In the text "Why I Read" by John Dufresne, I learned that reading opens up new worlds to an individual. Reading allows one to learn new things and to become a more knowledgeable and understanding person. It is much easier to be more understanding of people and their actions when you have more knowledge to be able to understand. The reading from my past that I most identify with is "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen. This novel taught me that when times are tough and the odds are against you, perseverance and ingenuity are the key to success.

As black women always conform under patriarchal principles, women are generally silenced and deprived of rights because men are entitled to control everything. Women are silenced in a way that they lose their confidence and hesitate to speak up due to the norms present in the society they live in. Hence, even if women have the confidence to try to speak, men wouldn’t bother to listen since men ought to believe that they are superior to women. In addition to that, women often live in a life cycle of repetitions due to patriarchal principles since women are established to fulfill the roles the society had given them. It is evidenced by Celie as she struggles to survive and to define oneself apart from the controlling, manipulative, and abusive men in her life.

Science has proven that reading can provoke positive changes in us as human beings. Annie Murphy Paul is the author of the article ‘Your Brain on Fiction’ published on March 17, 2012. Annie explains how researchers have discovered that reading can initiate different parts of the brain, this is the reason why sometimes literature can make the reader so engaged and attached to a piece of writing. Research also explains how reading has the ability to produce activity in our brain’s motor cortex. Finally, Annie explains how reading fictional pieces can change how you interact with other individuals.

Ella Josephine Baker was known to be an unsung hero during the trials and tribulations of the Civil Rights Movement. She was one of the women who contributed in achieving civil and human rights for minority people. She cooperated with many organizations to establish her goal, such as motivating the discriminated into standing up for themselves. Ella Baker’s childhood, political activism, and the influences of her actions all contributed in ending discrimination against African Americans and other minority groups during the Civil Rights Movement.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, born on September 24, 1825, was a leading African American poet, author, teacher and political activist. Although she was born to “free” parents in Baltimore, Maryland, she still experienced her share of hardships. She lost her mother at the tender age of three, was raised by her aunt and uncle, and fully employed by thirteen. Though all odds seemed against her, she triumphed over her obstacles, publishing her first book of poetry at the of age twenty and her first novel at the age of sixty-seven. Outside of writing books, she was a civil rights leader and a public speaker in the Anti-Slavery Society. She became widely recognized for her speech, “Education and the Elevation of the Colored Race”, participated in the underground railroad (helping slaves escape to Canada), and fought African American’s and women’s rights. Harper is a cofounder/ vice president of the National Association of Colored Women is known as the, “Mother of African American Journalism” and. Decades after her passing (February 22,1911),

Imagine losing everything you had, your house, your dad, and all your possessions all of that at the age of 12. Ghastly isn’t it? Well in the story, Esperanza Rising by: Pam Munoz Ryan, Esperanza had to go through all that and shift to America during the Great Depression, and even if you don’t know what that is, you probably know by the looks of it that it is not the most marvelous thing. And you would be right, it’s not. When Esperanza goes to work in America to earn money, there are strikes going on about how people don’t get paid enough for working. Esperanza takes the job because she needs the money to help her mom who is sick and in the hospital and to earn money, so that her grandma can come to America. Esperanza is a brave 12 year-old

Clarissa Harlowe Barton was an important woman figure in the time of the Civil War. She was every soldiers’ angel in their time of suffering. She was even given the nickname “Angel of the Battlefield”, but let’s start off with getting to know Clara a little bit more before I tell you about how great she was.

In “Longing to Belong”, Saira Shah gives you a look into the life of a 17 year old girl longing to understand her parents heritage and trying to fit into a culture that is so much different from what she knows. Having a father who originates from Afghanistan and a mother who originates from India. Saira wants to learn the culture of her father’s afghan routes. The author feels the only way in to learning is by being betrothed into an arranged marriage. The author states that her uncle in seeing “two unmarried” daughters in the company of a chaperone visiting his home, concludes that they were sent to be married. (38) The author shows that she is in favor of this when she says, “I was taken aback by the visceral longing I felt to be a part of

Joseph Brodsky once said, “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” In an interview concerning his science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury echoed these words because his novel displays such a crime. Although Fahrenheit 451 classifies as fiction, the book points out several problems that now take on the body of reality. Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 exhibits how technology possesses the capability of affecting people negatively through the characters’ actions and the story’s made-up creations.

The history of my literacy has been a long road of a frustration and learned lessons. As a child, I was a bit of a loner so reading and writing were the closest thing to a social life for me. The things that I bottled up inside came out through my writing and it became somewhat of a pass time for me. As long I could remember literacy as has been an important value for me in my life because from very young age I got express my true self without being judged by the outside. Even though in my later years I would deal with some heartaches and set back that lead me to give up on my love for reading. I would always come back to my real first love.

When reading books, people should build character, gain courage and acquire curiosity. People get to know the good choices from the bad ones, they stand up for what is right, and they ask more questions. Reading books helps a person in more than one

My highs of reading are I get to have down time, I get to interact with my characters,and I love the book I am reading right now, “Auggie and Me”, it’s the sequel to my favorite book. I like down time because I get to relax and chill while I’m reading. I interact with my characters by really reading beyond the lines, I learned this with my book because there is more to my book than just the words on the page it’s behind the words that counts. I love the book I am reading because it’s a sequel to my favorite book of all times.

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster teaches readers the meanings behind commonly used symbols, themes, and motifs. Many readers of all ages use this book as a guide to understanding messages and deeper meanings hidden in novels. The deeper literary meanings of various symbols in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale are explained in How to Read Literature Like a Professor. By using Foster’s book, readers can better understand the symbols in The Handmaid’s Tale. In Atwood’s novel, symbolisms of sex, flowers, and color add to the development of the novel and the deeper meaning of the plot.

The American Civil Rights movement was started to give all Americans, regardless of their race or gender, a chance to vote and live equally. Many men and woman, black and white, fought for this civil rights reform, putting their lives at risk. Lucretia Mott was a brave white women who gave her all to the women’s and colored cause for civil rights.

First of all, reading gives you a wonderful opportunity to learn about other cultures and places of interest in the world. It gives you an insight into the diversity of our world and the chance to visualize it. It is like this that books expand our knowledge, conception and consciousness of the world around us. You may say that nowadays there are other ways to do that, like the TV or Google, but books allow you to experience the same story form your own perspective, values, ideas and from your own feelings. Through reading, you introduce yourself to new things, new information, and even new ways to solve a problem.