26 Literacy Narrative – Emily Keller

To begin, just like many, I have a multitude of both strengths and weaknesses in writing essays. I find that my weaknesses tend to lean towards my lack of confidence in myself in situations such as new formats or new writing prompts. I find my confidence dwindles in the narrative sense, as I have not written in self-narrative often. I mainly tend to write argumentative essays best or research essays as this is what I am most comfortable with. I do feel now that my development and self-confidence have now risen in the narrative aspect of writing essays, which I would say goes along with one of the course outcomes in which it speaks about celebrating one’s own voice. I would also say that my confidence was lacking with responding to certain texts and developing my own analysis, as in recent years, I had often needed help on how to go about this.  Writing my rhetorical analysis taught me a valuable lesson on really getting into the discussions and big picture that each writer focuses on prompting the readers. I would say that with this, my learning objective — or the course outcome that speaks of summarizing and responding to one’s ideas, has been overcome.

Continuing on, my writing process has been the same for many years and seems to work for me in order to get essays done in an efficient manner. I start by reading all material that is given to me and brainstorming different ideas which I want to place in my essay. After reading this material, I go back and highlight certain quotes or sentences that I want to use to help implement my ideas into the main idea that I am trying to get across. From then on, I start to write my intro which sets up the body from there on. My essay seems to flow and I find that this is the most structured. While this may seem like an essay, this is not to say that I do not run into issues when writing my essays. It appears as if I do struggle with formatting most, especially in my citations. I have submitted some discussion posts and prompted help in regards to the citations and have received much help on how to better these citations.

Furthermore, I chose to add these projects and chose to revise them because I feel as if the feedback that is given is very important to take into mind and change. I do not think that anyone should let feedback go unnoticed or unchanged. It helps most in learning aspects, especially in projects that are most difficult. One of the more difficult essays was the rhetorical analysis essay. I did, however, find that I learned most from this essay as it presented to me the challenges essay writing poses, as well as how one must thoroughly read and research the articles or readings that are being used for rhetorical analysis. Rather too often than not, I found myself not thoroughly reading certain articles or excerpts because of the length or difficulty the articles pose to me, but this class has taught me how important it is in order to write a successful analysis.

To conclude, I learned as a writer both my strengths and weaknesses and how to overcome these in order to help better my writing style. My main weaknesses consist of my lack of confidence in new material, which posed an issue for me for many years. I learned that writing truly is something that comes from imposing questions on others, and further discussing each one’s struggles in order to help better essays. I learned as a reader that it is most important to take into consideration the words of the authors, how to properly pose certain questions, and analyze these writings to develop the basis for my essays. This will help me performatively enhance my essays and help reduce my lack of confidence in new material. I have learned that as a student, I am someone who needs not be afraid of reaching out to others for criticism, both negative and positive to receive feedback that will further help my essays. I have also learned that I am a student who is eager to overcome these difficulties in order to help better my future in education and career.

Unbeknownst to my younger self, my affection towards literature and writing would not begin until a defining factor — or rather, defining literacy sponsors inspired me. Literacy sponsors by way of Deborah Brandt’s definition conclude: “any agents who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress or withhold literacy–and gain advantage of it in some way” (Brandt, 2020, p. 248). Brandt’s ideals definitively exemplify the people and inspirations in my life that proceeded into inspiring my love for reading and writing from earlier on. My childhood lacked much luster in association with personal creativity. Looking back now, I see how truly empty it was before I found my passion for reading and writing. In my once colorless childhood world, a newfound exuberance towards literature was just emerging. I carry this exuberance in my now adult life, in regard to literature and writing mainly as a result of the influences I had in relation to these topics. The three most defining factors of what most inspired me greatly with my reading and writing are as follows: my father who had taken me to historical landmarks, my aunt who had taken me to bookstores to read, as well as films and literature. All of these influences proceeded in guidance, giving me the basis for my future plans and future career goals in law and politics.

Firstly, the most defining factor of my affection towards literature and writing begins with the trips I took with my father to historical landmarks mainly across the South and Midwest region. My father has always been a history buff. Our vacations mainly took place in summer just as the school year would end, and we would find a new historical area to go to each year. I recall a time we visited an area called Hannibal, Missouri one summer. It was only for a few days, and out of those few days, the sun did not shine once. I recall feeling the downcast of the weather reflecting on my own disposition. To cheer up, we took the river ferry that floated along the Mississippi River, which was called the Mark Twain Riverboat. Hannibal, Missouri was the town where author, Mark Twain, resided as a small boy. Riding on this ferry and seeing Mark Twain’s house and life story suddenly spurred an interest in reading for me. I devoured some of Mark Twain’s classics such as: Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. At my young age, I did not comprehend these themes that Twain had displayed, nor did I understand the words that were being used, the dialect, or the narrative of Twain, but it pushed me to read more and more in order to become discernible.

Furthermore, I fell in love with books and literature very quickly, developing a need to fill my bookshelves with as many books as possible. One day my aunt, who had been a teacher at a high school, discovered my affection toward literature. She discovered I had been trying to read some of Mark Twain’s works and decided she would take me to the bookstores. My excitement was rather insurmountable as I walked through the aisles, the smell of the woodsy pulp that emanated from the shelves of the new books waiting to be read. After trying to read some of Mark Twain, I had hoped to improve my reading abilities. My aunt had pointed me in the direction of some of the classics in which she read as a young girl. One of these novels was The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien. I knew this would be rather the challenge for me, even more so than Mark Twain’s novels, but I was eager to learn. I recall the slow turn of the pages of The Hobbit. It must have taken me months just to get through the entire novel for reasons of vocabulary alone. I would read one page and find a word I could not comprehend and proceed to write this word down.

In relation to an autobiography I read about Malcolm X called, Learning to Read, I found the parallel between Malcolm’s own inclination towards bettering his vocabulary through his literacy sponsorships and his self-approval parallel my own experiences with reading. Malcolm X states, “[..] Pretty soon, I would have quit even these motions, unless I had received the motivation that I did. I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary – to study, to learn some words” (X, Malcolm par. 5). I too, like Malcolm, felt discouraged upon my lack of vocabulary. My mother had a very large dictionary that she kept at her office desk, and I would run downstairs and open this monstrous book to find each word. This proceeded all the way until I finished the book. I recall feeling accomplished as I finished those last words. This accomplishment soon carried and further inspired me to read more and more, much like the article I read. In regards to writing, my love for writing only came rather later on in my life as I started to make my way through various advanced English classes. Prior to this appreciation, I had found writing to be quite mundane. I had trouble formulating the words in my head to paper.

I watched a film called Midnight in Paris, a sort of romantic film about a man who hits a plateau when writing his book and cannot seem to finish it no matter how hard he tries. The words are almost foreign to him when they once were so fluid. This man, Gil Pender, decides to take a trip with his fiancée to Paris in hopes to induce some sort of inspiration for his book. Upon leaving his hotel room at midnight, he suddenly gets thrown into an alternative reality where he meets the likes of famous writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Inspired by this movie, I thought I could dissolve my own writing plateau and research some works by these authors in order to help me finish my essay.

My love for writing began as I went to the library to read in hopes to find some inspiration and stylistic approaches toward writing. I believe the quintessential Fitzgerald novel that most know is, of course, The Great Gatsby. No matter how redundant this novel may be, I cannot deny the overall influence it had on my writing. Fitzgerald’s combination of symbolism and irony with the involvement of the societal issues in which were flagrant during the time period struck a chord and developed into my own writing process. Another novel that inspired me in which I researched after watching Midnight in Paris, was the novel The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Oddly enough, the book takes place in Paris and centers around the idea of how the meaning of life is true happiness. This influenced me in many ways in the idea that writing can have much deeper meaning and further implement the ethical ideals that I am interested in and want to pursue in the future. I found the writing style of these two authors very much broadened my approach towards writing. After reading those novels, my essay seemed to flow. I was so proud after finishing this essay. I even went onto writing my own works, and essays started to become rather enjoyable.

Overall, just as many, my appreciation for reading and writing occurred very young and still occurs to this day. With the influence of historical events and landmarks and the implementation of my aunt’s willingness to fulfill my love for reading novels, I found literature to be one of the most essential parts of my life. As writing may not have been an easy hurdle, I found influences such as film and authors to allow writing to hold much more value. Not only in a personal way but rather in a meaningful way whether it be ethical or social. I am most thankful for my literacy sponsors who guided me like so many do, such in the case of Malcolm X, another article that in its current disposition, has inspired me greatly in a political sense. I believe now more than ever, that literature and writing have carried into my future and career plans that mostly involve reading and writing. I hope to be involved in politics and voice my opinions and my ideals in the way these authors and books have been for me at such an influential age. I hope to involve these societal issues just as Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald did. I hope to discover a meaning in my future and career of happiness, in the way Ernest Hemingway so alluded.

Lastly, I am grateful for all of these experiences and my willingness and passion for reading and writing, and I can only hope that it takes me where I most desire to be in the future of politics and law. Without the skills acquired in both reading and writing, not only would my own personal career path cease to exist, I rather believe my life would lack the meaning it has now. Literature is something that can be enjoyed on those dark, solemn days. Days where books can be opened and enjoyed, and minds can wander to different places away from all of the commotion. Writing is critical in the idea that emotions can be shared and spoken without actually having to physically speak. I now enjoy writing with my friends, as we spend much free time writing political arguments and sharing our ideas, which would not be possible without the help of my background in reading. I am now working on a conspiracy novel that delves into the royal family, this is currently in the works and unfinished, but would not be possible without that push in writing I had received in high school. Reading and writing are critical not only in my own career goals and future plans but in the idea of my life’s meaning. It saved not only me but many others on those dreary days and in those times when words were too hard to speak. Therefore, I find reading and writing the epitome of society’s connections to each other and its meaning much deeper than personal education, but rather, personal likeness.