On Turning Ten By Billy Collins

Have you ever wondered why you truly enjoy reading certain books, while others are quite boring and uninteresting? A vital ingredient that allows a story to leave a powerful impression on its audience lies in the ability to personally connect with the readers. Such an idea was a prevalent theme across many sources read and viewed during a recent study of the power of a story, such as The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, which involves a young man trying to put his life back on track and find out his true purpose. Additionally, in “On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins, a boy has to deal with the pains and struggles of growing up. Furthermore, the short story “Genesis and Catastrophe” by Roald Dahl details a story of a mother and her awkward, …show more content…
When a story includes passages where powerful emotion is present, readers can make a personalized connection to a point in their lives where they felt the same way, or how they would feel if they were in an equivalent situation illustrated by the book. Billy Collins helps to portray that concept in his poem “On Turning Ten”, where a young man attempts to connect with the readers by describing his feelings when referring the fear of growing up. “The whole idea of it makes me feel like I’m coming down with something, something worse than any stomach ache or the headaches I get from reading in bad light. A kind of measles of the spirit, a mumps of the psyche, a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul,” (Collins 1-7). People have a general fear of growing up, so the emotion expressed by the young man is personally relatable to many in this same situation. The particular use of the phrase “disfiguring chicken pox of the soul” gives the readers the general idea of a sickening feeling, which is reinforced by the passage as a whole. “On Turning Ten” is able to connect with the audience in many different ways throughout its entirety, but this particular connection is by far the most impactful because the poem is able to connect to readers through the feelings of the boy. The audience can then relate the same feelings to their own personal lives, which helps to further engage them in the story. Comparatively, readers experience another strong emotional connection in the short story “Genesis and Catastrophe” by Roald Dahl. When a mother finds out that her baby is unfortunately undersized at birth, it is amusingly ironic to later discover that this is how Dahl perceives the birth of the infamous historical figure Adolf Hitler. When she sees her baby for the first time, she is evidently overcome with emotion. “‘Hello Adolfus,’ she whispered. ‘Hello, my little Adolf.’ ‘Ssshh!’ said the