Literacy In Literature

“People don 't realize how a man 's whole life can be changed by one book” (Malcolm X). Books are beneficial in an individual’s vocabulary, memorization, and perspectives in life. In “On Being 17, Bright, and Unable to Read” by David Raymond, Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez, and “My Alma Mater” from The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X, all the authors struggled with something particular in literacy, but they all had different motives for improving their reading and writing. As seen in the three articles, each author had their own purpose in why literacy can be a good advantage and figured out different strategies to help ameliorate themselves. If you have obstacles which prevent you from reading or writing effectively, finding …show more content…
David Raymond was unable to read because of his learning disorder called dyslexia. Dyslexia, or “reading disability”, is primarily associated with trouble in reading. However, it can also affect an individual’s writing, spelling, and even speaking. Growing up, his reading disorder made him feel dumb. This led him to not having any friends at school. “I just felt dumb. And dumb was how the kids treated me. They’d make fun of me every chance they got,” (Raymond 5). Richard Rodriguez had a difficulty in reading because he came from a bilingual family. His parents read and wrote in both English and Spanish but only used the English language for necessities like letters, recipes, newspapers, and etcetera. To Rodriguez, reading made him feel lonely nor did he have a connection with its literature. Reading also made him feel lifeless and dull. “Reading was, at best, only a chore. I needed to look up whole paragraph of words in a dictionary. Lines of type were dizzying,” (Rodriguez 3). Malcolm X had a hard time with reading and writing because he only had an education up until the eighth grade. He gave up on school to become a hustler on the streets. Becoming a hustler, he believed that he didn’t need to educate himself with book knowledge but street knowledge. Despite this, he ended up in prison. Being uneducated in literacy made him feel “frustrated at not being able to express what I wanted to convey in letters …show more content…
Each individual found their own reason why literacy is important. My input about literacy is that it 's an essential life skill because it can help you develop a more complex vocabulary, become more articulate in speaking and writing, and you’ll receive a lot of respect from people around you. Some struggles I faced with education growing up is the English language. I was proficient in mathematics, however, english was a challenge. Being raised in a bilingual home was one of the primary reasons why it was hard to separate the two languages I knew. What I did to improve my skills was to ask others around me, especially my closest friends. If it was difficult to understand, I started to stay an hour after school with my teacher. My teacher would make me read a book and write down all the words that wasn’t familiar with me. This helped me a lot. Reading then became a hobby until I didn’t have enough time with school and work. Nonetheless, I didn’t forget how important reading and writing was. My purpose for improving literacy skills was to merely just become more intellectual. Becoming just an average reader or writer wasn’t good enough for me. So in my opinion, reading and writing is not only a good advantage in just school but also in