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Katie Nguyen
DerOhanessian
Eng. 115A
2 December 2014
A Whole New World
Literature: A piece of work written by a very smart person who tries to trick
readers with fancy words and long sentences. This was my definition of literature. Yes it
seems a bit harsh but thats how I viewed it. Literature never intrigued me like it did to
many others. When I younger, I pondered at the kids that would check out stacks of
books out of the library. I always gravitated towards the newest comic book or magazine
on the shelf. I did read books like Old Yeller, The Nancy Drew Series, and Judy
Bloom because they were assigned as book reports. I always dreaded the 30-minute
reading that was required by my school every night. I even asked my teacher if I could do
extra math homework instead of read for 30 minutes. Literacy just never interested me.
Even though I struggled with literacy, I had to push myself out of my comfort zone and
forced myself to read more challenging books every year that would guide and improve
my reading and writing.
It wasnt until the 7th grade when I began to read for pleasure. The Twilight
series caught my interest and I gained an addiction to finishing them. I was so fascinated
by them because they were easy to read. There was no complex vocabulary; it was just
straight to the point. I would read for hours and hours until my eyes couldnt stay open.
Vampires and werewolves probably werent the best subject to increase my
comprehension skills but it stimulated my brain and that was all that mattered. I finally

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experienced the pleasure of reading many told me about. To me, literature was about
how the author would tell a story. Words flew from the pages of the book into my eyes
and once there, they became images of what I was reading. I would imagine what each
character looked like as well as predict the scenes to come. I was so captivated by these
books that I every day I could not wait until I opened the book again. Page after page I
read increased my interest in literature and I was fascinated about what else was out in
the world waiting for me to enjoy.
After the Twilight Series I began to venture into the different genres of literature. I
stayed interested in the romantic novels that made me tear up but I also enjoyed the
thrillers that left me cringing. High school also opened up new doors in literature I never
expected to enjoy. I guess that was the point of high school English but I was surprised at
how much I enjoyed the novels I read. For example, I never expected The Catcher in the
Rye to fascinate me and made me see life in a different perspective. Holden, the
protagonist, was not like any character I have ever read. I always thought that books
assigned in school were meant to put you asleep. Although the Catcher in the Rye was a
more challenging book, it still captivated me like other books I read. I learned that every
year would challenge me with new aspects of literature and I had to bring myself up to
that standard. After going through the literature journey in high school and reading novels
that surprised me, I find it easier for me to pick up a book and start reading it without
judging it by its cover first.
Amy Tan is a Chinese-American novelist who writes about her multicultural
challenges while growing up and just like her, I grew up in a bilingual family. My parents
were not able to help me with my English homework so I was on my own for most of my

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life. They sent me to tutors for help with my writing and reading comprehension. But no
amount of tutoring seemed to help me. I believed that literature should not be about how
you write it, but instead about what is being conveyed. The problem wasnt that I
couldnt comprehend and express my ideas; I just didnt have the right understanding of
literature. That is when I started to read analytically. Instead of getting sucked into the
romance or suspense of a novel, I began to search for the moral or main idea of the novel.
It was like I was on a scavenger hunt. I read line-by-line interpreting them and putting
different concepts together until I could grasp what the author was conveying. Because of
this, my writing skills drastically improved. Literature was now a hunt for purpose
instead of a twisted piece of work that left me clueless.
I also struggled with writing throughout my life. Being unable to put my thoughts
into words always had me starring at the computer screen for hours. I would get
frustrated with writing essays and because of that they never got a good grade. I hated
English because of that. My view of English was just like Tans in that I thought English
test were always a judgment call, a matter of opinion and personal experience (Tan 4). I
had to write essays on novels that I could not comprehend. I wanted English to have one
right answer, but instead English tested how I could support my claim. Knowing I had to
write a thesis and have details to support that thesis made me hate writing. I did not know
what to write about or how to support my argument. From then I started to believe that I
could not write and would never know how. But as I began to read more books that
sparked my interest in literature, writing came easier to me. I was able to convey my
thoughts and support them throughout an essay. In class, comprehending a novel was no
longer a struggle because I was reading for pleasure. I was able to understand the writers

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intentions and the message they were conveying. Reading books that were more
challenging like The Scarlet Letter and Shakespeare increased my vocabulary and from
then I was able to incorporate new vocabulary words into my essay writing. I increased
my level of writing because I was reading. I was reading books that I found interesting
and at the same time increasing my understanding of literature.
When higher literature was introduced to me, I found it difficult to locate the
authors main idea. It was hidden by metaphors and similes that made it hard for me to
understand. I was frustrated because after I had finally found a way to understand what I
was reading, but higher works of literature made me confused all over again. I began to
doubt my writing and myself. I asked myself how I could write an essay about a novel
when I could not even comprehend the theme. The works of Twain, Shakespeare, and
Dickens were very difficult for me to understand. So I began to repeat the same routine I
had previously done when I faced difficulty in comprehension. I began to read more
books that included the writing style that was giving me difficulty and I searched for the
themes throughout the novels. For example, in 9th grade when I started to read my first
Shakespeare novel, Romeo and Juliet, the language and writing style of the novel really
challenged me and made comprehension even more difficult. I knew that reading science
fiction novels like Twilight would not help me understand Shakespeares language. So I
started the read Macbeth in order to improve my comprehension skills. I analyzed how
different the writing and language was and practiced interpreting the lines of the novel. It
took longer for me to read and grasp the themes but slowly I improved my matched
comprehension skills to the books that were being given to me. My writing improved
even more and I was able to interpret novels in my own perspective and write my own

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opinions about the novels.
Reading and writing has always been difficult for me. I did not understand the
concept of literature until I ventured out of my comfort zone, reading novels I would have
never imagined I would enjoy. It first started with The Twilight Series when I began
reading for pleasure. It opened up the door to literature and exposed me to the indulgence
of reading. Then I had to read novels of a higher level like the Catcher in the Rye.
Holdens character and the concept of the novel made me experience new and different
types of novels that I was concealed from. And to increase my vocabulary and writing
skills, I read books like The Scarlet Letter and Shakespeare. I knew that I had to read in
order to increase my literacy skills. I stepped up to every challenge I faced throughout my
journey in literature not just to get a good grade in an English class, but also to grasp a
clear understanding of literacy. Looking back, I would not change a thing about my
literacy experience because I learned a lot about persistence and about facing adversities
in life.

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Work Cited
Tan, Amy. The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings. New York: Putnam, 2003. Print.