In this biography I annotated three different texts, Mike Rose’s “I Just Wanna Be Average.”, Ana Castillo’s “We Would Like You to Know.”, and Malcolm X’s “Coming to an Awareness of Language.” I chose “I Wanna Be Average.” because he explains his experience in high school, and how he was able to overcome challenges to become successful. This is important to me because many of the situations brought up in the story are very relatable to my high school experiences. “We Would Like You to Know” has descriptions that are connected to current day. It focuses on some of the main problems that are still going on today. The reason for annotating “Coming to an Awareness of Language.” was because of how obtaining the skills of reading and writing were
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No matter who they are or what they look like some sort of judgement comes to mind.”We do not all carry zip guns, hot pistols, steal cars.” (Castillo 37) With this line, Castillo tries to explain how even though we don’t carry these things, we are still the same and end up in the same place. Everyone comes from so many different backgrounds, but society forces us to be the same and follow its “dominant discourses.” A strong line that Castillo wrote was, “We never claimed to be a homogeneous race.” This means that everyone wants to be the same, or follow the same trends. Castillo wants everyone to be different in their own kind of way. In life, there is always doubt. “We would like to give a thousand excuses” (Castillo 38). For every problem there is an excuse. This is something we are so used to hearing. Castillo explains how we are “caught with our pants down.” She means we are so caught up in the routine of doing the same things over and over again that we sometimes forget the purpose of …show more content…
In Malcolm X’s “Coming to an Awareness of Language.” he talks about his time in the Norfolk Prison Colony. In the prison he would write letters to people and he says how strongly he felt about writing letters. He said he “became increasingly frustrated” at not understanding language that well. This was why he was so intrigued to learn. His purpose of this story was to tell us how important and meaningful reading and writing can be. In the past not everyone was educated enough to read and write. Unlike today everyone is forced to go to school through the eighth grade. Malcolm didn’t have that though. He ended up teaching himself the language while in prison by writing letters and reading them back to himself. “I never got a single reply.” (X 143) When he said this he explained that everyone he wrote a letter to didn’t have enough knowledge to write back and some the ability to read. While in prison there was really nothing for him to do other than learn on his own. He said, “the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary-to study, to learn some words.” The way Malcolm explains his time in prison makes it feel like he enjoyed his time behind bars because he obtained something he never thought he would. Reading and writing are everywhere. “Anyone who has read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened.” (X 145) If there isn’t knowledge to understand it there is so much that is missed out. When Malcolm finally understood how to read and
No matter who they are or what they look like some sort of judgement comes to mind.”We do not all carry zip guns, hot pistols, steal cars.” (Castillo 37) With this line, Castillo tries to explain how even though we don’t carry these things, we are still the same and end up in the same place. Everyone comes from so many different backgrounds, but society forces us to be the same and follow its “dominant discourses.” A strong line that Castillo wrote was, “We never claimed to be a homogeneous race.” This means that everyone wants to be the same, or follow the same trends. Castillo wants everyone to be different in their own kind of way. In life, there is always doubt. “We would like to give a thousand excuses” (Castillo 38). For every problem there is an excuse. This is something we are so used to hearing. Castillo explains how we are “caught with our pants down.” She means we are so caught up in the routine of doing the same things over and over again that we sometimes forget the purpose of …show more content…
In Malcolm X’s “Coming to an Awareness of Language.” he talks about his time in the Norfolk Prison Colony. In the prison he would write letters to people and he says how strongly he felt about writing letters. He said he “became increasingly frustrated” at not understanding language that well. This was why he was so intrigued to learn. His purpose of this story was to tell us how important and meaningful reading and writing can be. In the past not everyone was educated enough to read and write. Unlike today everyone is forced to go to school through the eighth grade. Malcolm didn’t have that though. He ended up teaching himself the language while in prison by writing letters and reading them back to himself. “I never got a single reply.” (X 143) When he said this he explained that everyone he wrote a letter to didn’t have enough knowledge to write back and some the ability to read. While in prison there was really nothing for him to do other than learn on his own. He said, “the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary-to study, to learn some words.” The way Malcolm explains his time in prison makes it feel like he enjoyed his time behind bars because he obtained something he never thought he would. Reading and writing are everywhere. “Anyone who has read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened.” (X 145) If there isn’t knowledge to understand it there is so much that is missed out. When Malcolm finally understood how to read and