The various ways we respond to literature is some of us find it boring to read. We think a book or a good piece of literature is going to be boring, but once we start to read it, we find that this piece of literature is not as bad as we thought. In fact, it shows us a lesson about life, how we think that it should be done if it happens. Once we are interested in that piece, we get sucked in to the story. I remember the first time I read Romeo and Juliet I did not want to read the book but once I started to read more and more of the story, I was sucked in I finished the book in three or four days. There are times when a person might find a book beyond boring, as you read the book many people could say “Oh this book is a good one, it made me cry”. You read the book and your attention is elsewhere. You are not into the book and you read the book but your interest in it is nonsense. Some people including me when I am reading a book that does not grab my attention, I am not paying attention to it. I read the book but I am texting or doing something else so I do not have to read the book. If I was reading a book that my psychology teacher assigned me, I ignore texts and calls from everyone. The reason why I ignore everything and everyone is because psychology grabs my interest in every way. It goes the same for literature.
Our lives can change in so many ways if we read a good piece of literature. The reason why is because there are so many lessons to be learned and it makes you think critically and you can analyze everything. I read a book called the Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. The main character teaches you what love is and how it feels to lose someone you love. It teaches you to stick up for yourself no matter if you are poor person, in the novel, a woman fighting to show she is an educated woman. You read the book and you start to put yourself in the same situation and you think you do not want to be like that. A person wants to live above that, in many ways you begin to understand and put yourself in the position of the character. You start to know the story and the characters experience. People start to notice their emotions in the story and they might have experienced the same situation. The stories teach you an experience and also a new challenged and they make you think outside the box. Once a person starts to critically think a story, they start to get more into the story and then start to put themselves in those situations. Reading good literature could and most likely will teach a new experience and challenge.
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I think you pose an excellent point when you talk about opposition to reading. Often we push reading to the very bottom of any to do lists simply because we are too distracted or busy to care. I also like that you pointed out should you simply give the text a chance it could really be rewarding. Great works are synonymous with hard work, so is the nature of the beast I'm afraid. I constantly meet people who say the only reason they ever read _____ was because a teacher made them. They hated it at first or didn't understand but then after summarizing, analyzing, and doing background work they finally got it and love it! Rising to such an occasion builds our own confidence and makes the next complex work easier. I think "Their Eyes Were Watching God" was a book like that for me. In high school a teacher assigned it and I fought her every step of the way. I did the work but only begrudgingly and didn't think it had any point for me at all. Now looking back I can see the subtle differences that work made in my life and how much richer of a person I am for having read it. For me, sometimes I don't see the value in something until I'm looking back on it so I definitely understand where you're coming from when you say sometimes it's just boring. I think if we can just stick it out, get out of our comfort zones, and really give it a chance though we could appreciate it in the now and like you said, learn a lot from it.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you mean when you say that we think a book or a piece of literature is going to be boring, but when we start to read it, it’s not to bad. I usually have bad experiences with boring or not interesting books when they are assigned by a class and we are required to read it and write about it. When I read a book, I have to be interested in the subject or have the book recommended to me. Recently last semester I was assigned a book that I thought was going to be another boring book. But to my surprise, once I started reading it I actually started to like it. I finished the book well before the due date and was happy to write my papers on it. So I completely agree with what you said.
ReplyDeleteI’m still not to experienced with all the responses people say they get after they read a good book, or how it changed their lives. But after I read yours and other student’s blogs in our class, I further understand how someone could get into a book. I guess I just need to read a great book or piece of literature that will change my life.