Cox, 1

CJ Cox
UWRT 1101- 28
Victoria Hamby
26 August 2014

Like it or Not

Literature is a part of any successful person's life. Basically, if you can't read, then you
likely will miss out on many opportunities in life. To anyone who thinks otherwise, I would advise
picking up a book and reading it through. Reading and writing are skills that allow you to better
understand the world, and with a better understanding of the world, you are able to do bigger and
better things. In addition to reading, I would strongly advise traveling to other countries, because
there is no better way to understand the world than to experience it first-hand. Luckily, I am one of
the people who understands the importance of reading and writing, and am happy to share with
you why I think it matters so much.
My first notable interest in literature took place in kindergarten. There was a series
of tiny books, each with titles like Mr. Happy, Mrs. Chatterbox, Ms Lovely, Mr. Tall, All written
by Roger Hargreaves. My teacher read one or two of these stories to the class. For some reason
these books intrigued me, and I asked if i could borrow one to read. I finished one, and then two,
and then finally somewhere around ten of these little books. The accomplishment of finishing a
book, even one so short, invoked such a sense of accomplishment within me. I still don't know

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what inclined me to read them, initially, but I think these simple books were a crucial stepping
stone in my literary future.
It's hard to remember any other event of interest regarding books or reading until I reached
middle school. Every year my teacher would give me some sort of writing format to follow, that
could be remembered by some witty acronym that some stranger on the board of education decided
I should use. Every year I would, instead, write just the way I wanted to write. Unfortunately, my
grades sometimes reflected my inability to conform. I couldn't help but to avoid these boundaries
placed on my writing by my teachers. I would stay on topic, communicate my point properly, and
makes connections that I thought were important. Teacher's, however, are given a curriculum to
follow, and their students are tested only on the things in this curriculum. This is a huge limitation
on the imagination of students, and their ability to understand why they are writing, instead of how
some person with a fancy degree says they should write. Perhaps there is room for some sort of
justification by the Board of Education so students and parents can have a better understanding of
how the chosen writings are expected to progress a student's communicative skills.
When I reached high school, this was still present. The focus of my freshman year was
writing format and citation. We spent weeks harping on MLA style writing, which is something
that easily can be learned in ten minutes. Though I am understanding of a consistent format's
purpose to a teacher, it serves the students very little. It simply gives students more guidelines to
follow, and more opportunities to get points deducted from a paper that is likely focused on
something far more important than formatting.
In some years of high school, my teachers would have a brief unit on poetry. The beauty of
poetry is that so much of the interpretation is left up to the reader. I would be lying to myself if I

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were to say that I enjoyed reading poetry. Poetry is too indirect for my liking, and where I can
appreciate analogical writing, I would much prefer it in smaller doses. Instead, most poets give
every single word they write down a different meaning. Readers interpret these words differently,
and often-times come away from a reading with completely different messages. I think that is the
beauty of poetry. Of course in high school, the curriculum wouldn't allow for such a thing. A
teacher would dissect each line of the poem, and tell the class exactly what the poem meant. Of
course, when we were to evaluate each poem on our own, there would be a strict rubric to evaluate
whether or not we were reading it correctly.
A crucial part of literacy in general that has yet to have been addressed is travel. Travel is
an absolutely imperative aspect of understanding language. Most people would assume that travel
is used, at least in regards to literacy, for learning other languages. What many people fail to
realize is that even within one language, there are an infinite amount of dialects and small
differences that completely effect the perception of a person. I'll expound upon my blabbing with
an example.
This past summer I traveled to Europe with my girlfriend and her family. Our destinations
were Ireland, France, and Spain. I'll start with Ireland. I felt like Ireland would be an excellent
place to begin because, like myself, they all speak English-- or so I thought. Of course I've heard of
Gaelic, but I had no idea it was still a commonly spoken language. Every street sign in Ireland is in
Gaelic with an English translation written beneath it. The crowded streets of Dublin were filled
with words of a language that I had no idea was even spoken. When I did manage to seek the
common shelter of English, it wasn't as comforting as I had hoped.

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Words, especially involving foods, had completely different meanings abroad. I remember
thinking, "What the hell are bangers and mash?". Luckily my girlfriend, Eva, prevented me from
ordering Black Pudding, which is far from the sweet treat I expected it to be (it is literally pig's
blood). "Trash cans" became "rubbish bins", "chips" became "crisps", and a "bus" became a
"coach". Though seemingly insignificant, these tiny semantic differences can reveal so much
about you. Here I am, a fluent English speaker who can write exceptionally and read at the college
level, yet ordering off of a simple breakfast menu became such a mind-boggling chore; a perfect
display of a cocky American not knowing his own language to the extent that he initially thought.
I digress.
Next stop: Paris, France. It was an experience that provided little expansion of my
knowledge of language. It did, however, provide an appreciation for the communicative abilities I
had developed. It is easy to take for granted the ability to express your gratitude, or your capacity
to laugh in response to a joke that you actually thought was funny. Instead I was forced to repeat
the same few phrases in French, that were far from expressive of how I truly felt. The food I ate
was just "good". It was fantastic! Incredible! Delicious! Amazing! I was chained to "good" and
"thanks". It was that frustration of not being able to express myself to the extent that I wanted to
that helped me realize just how important language is.
Onward to Spain! With a limited but adequate background in Spanish, I was a little more
confident in my ability to communicate in this new country. What I wasn't taught in Spanish class
was that there are regions of Spain that don't even speak Spanish! With my luck, that's exactly
where we ended up. Just outside of Barcelona, about an hour from the French-Spanish border, the
language of prominence was called Catalan. Catalan is what would happen if the Spanish and

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French languages were to have a really confused, messed-up sounding baby. Once again, I was an
English speaker surrounded by that which I could not understand in the slightest. This is a great
example of
What does any of this nonsense have to do with my own personal literacy? Everything. No
matter how much you think you understand a language, there is always more knowledge waiting to
be obtained. How many words do you use that were taught by a teacher? Surely, it isn't something
anyone would give too much thought. Knowledge of other languages is limited to what your
teachers are willing to teach you. From my experience, though, that is inadequate. While one can
try to give a blanket understanding of a language, it is simply impossible to speak another language
unless you are immersed in the culture as well. Even then you can only understand that language as
it is spoken in that culture. Every language is so dynamic and open-ended.
If you get anything from this paper make sure it is this: there isn't a "PEMDAS" equivalent
in English. It is an open field, with no formula. A writer's organization is part of the way he or she
writes. It is part of what makes each author unique. Dr. Seuss isn't famous for his amazing sentence
structure, or his incredible organization. It is the feeling he creates within his readers, and the
themes he presents clearly throughout his books, even though the majority of the words he uses are
completely made up. Being a good reader, writer, and ultimately a good person, requires one to
simply think for themselves. Get what you want out of reading a story. Write what you want
people to see. Talk how you want to talk to get your message across. Most importantly, though,
remember that there is always more to learn.