Reflection for First Writing Project
Reflection:
When I was first asked the question what is the significance of reading and how has it shaped me as a reader, I had no clue what to say. However, after thinking about reading experiences as a child and into my teenage years I came across a common trait; I felt that reading was a competition. Believe it or not, I never had thought of that before, but as I looked deeper and deeper into personal experiences the competition aspect of reading just kept popping up.
Although I did not quote anything from either of the readings that we have completed thus far, I did find that I had a connection with Sven Birkerts while reading the Gutenberg Elegies. However, it wasn’t that I connected to him, it was that a connected to people he talked about. For example, in my paper I talked about an experience that I had had with one of my eleventh grade teachers. When I raised my hand to talk about The Scarlet Letter, my teacher made me feel like I didn’t know what I was talking about. My teacher commented about symbolism this and symbolism that and how powerful this book is; she didn’t even let me finish what I was saying. I actually thought of that experience when I was reading the Gutenberg Elegies, page 17. Here, Birkerts was talking about a class he had taught called the “American Short Story.” Birkerts commented that he couldn’t understand why his students did not enjoy the reading he had picked up for them. I felt like I was one of those students that voiced my opinion and was “shut down.” I feel as if Birkerts could have butter coated his reaction a little. I could totally see him standing in front of the class and being really pissed that his students didn’t like the books he had picked out. Many of his students could have experienced what I went through with my eleventh grade teacher, which really hurts.
Although I didn’t touch a lot on my opinion of how technology is affecting people reading I do agree with Birkerts in some ways. After just reading the fist couple of pages of The Gutenberg Elegies, Birkerts thesis that today’s society is living in too much of an electronic culture, became evident. I really wanted to go back and reflect on this because I think that in many ways this is very true. I have a little cousin Alma, who is four years old and probably the most intelligent child I have ever met in my life. Her parents never let her watched television until she was about three years old. Alma love to read play with maps and draw. She has hundreds of books that she has collected over the years and that is all the family gives her for presents when holidays come around. She can read very good for her age and the most incredible thing is she that she can comprehend what she is reading. For example, one of her favorite books is one that talks about plants and vegetables (a know this may sound strange for someone that age). The day after she got the book I came over and she took my hand and went outside with me and showed me her parents vegetable garden. She talked about what the plants and vegetables were and what she learned from reading the book. I found this so amazing. So, yes I do believe that because her parents were so keen or her reading and not watching television she is such a smart girl. However, I do believe that even if parents do all these things like Almas parents as well as my parents, it not a guarantee that the child is going be a genius or love to read. I feel that in some ways Birkerts stresses that if it wasn’t for technology everyone would be a reader but that is not so much the case.
