Final Project
Mallory Blessed
Literature & Composition
12/14/09
The Great Escape
“Reading is something you do because it has been assigned in school, or because all other options have been exhausted—no more chores to do, all other games and activities put away.” (38) At least that is what Sven Birkerts says in The Gutenberg Elegies, and I completely agree with this statement. I have gone through this transition with the reading of books. I, at one point in my life, used to read very frequently for school and for pleasure, but nowadays I do not read at all. I find that reading is something I can only do when I have the perfect environment, and the perfect book, which I do not find very often. But this summer, I read one book, The Song Yet Sung, only because it was assigned for school. But this book soon turned into my favorite and best reading experience of escape and perfection. Birkerts explains that his mother “read for pleasure, for company, and for escape,” (38) and I too found that The Song Yet Sung by James McBride took me to another world, a place to escape. But this feeling of escape does not happen for me all the time. The Song Yet Sung allowed me to escape and it became my best reading experience, but I have found that the influences of technology have changed me into a person that prefers passive and effortless entertainment, which has caused me to become an absent reader.
My best reading experience takes place throughout the first week of August, at the empty beaches of the Outer Banks, North Carolina. The beaches of OBX: the perfect place to start reading a book: that is if I have to. When I wake up Monday morning, I know that today will be my first day at the beach with my family and best friend, so I do not expect to spend my day reading a book. I want a whole day to soak up the sun’s rays, and ride the waves into the shore of the beach on my boogie board. As my friend and I approach the beach, with boogie boards, Frisbees, towels, and chairs in tow, we notice that the sun is not so bright today. Rather it is dim and covered with gray cotton ball-like clouds. We drop our things and immediately walk down the beach to where the dark wet sand awaits our toes. The water quickly submerges our toes and embraces them in icy cold water. I look down at my feet thinking icicles will be hanging off of my toes, but instead the color of my feet have turned blue and the blood has rushed away. So in replacement of swimming in the water, I now have to wait for the sun to outrun the dark gray clouds. While I’m waiting, I suppose the only thing to do is read the book I did not want to crack open on my first beach day. At least the environment I am in is perfect for my reading adventures. It is just like the Zac Brown Band’s song “Toes” when he describes his perfect environment: “I got my toes in the water, feet in the sand / Not a worry in the world.” So, the The Song Yet Sung is started on a cloudy, yet muggy day on the golden sandy beaches with the calming waves crashing at my feet. After reading only the first page of the book I am already skeptical of the plot. How do I always end up reading a book over the summer for school? I always thought with college, there wouldn’t be readings over the summer. Yet here I am, on my vacation, reading a book that I am not invested in at all. The book begins slowly, but as the pages in my left hand increase, and the pages in my right hand decrease, the plot starts to become interesting. It shows its true colors of problems, loyalty, and love between characters. Now the book has engulfed me; the plot and I begin to combine into one person, while I forget turning the remaining pages of the novel. All I can see is the visualization of the characters, the muddy swamps, and my emotions as the characters go about their dilemmas and action moments of almost being caught by Patty Cannon and her accomplices. I am taken away to a new place, a place to escape from the real world and release myself into someone else’s world of mystery and suspense. This type of reading experience doesn’t occur all the time, but when it does it makes reading the most magical and wonderful thing. But of course all good things have to end, and when a reading experience like this ends, I feel saddened because I know that this doesn’t occur all the time.
Like Birkerts’ mother “She read for pleasure, for company, and escape.” (38) I agree that when I read, I love it when I can escape from the world around me and pretend to be in someone else’s shoes for the time being. The Song Yet Sung is one of the few books that I have read in my life that I truly became emotionally invested in. I visualized the characters in the books, and empathized with their problems and tried to guess what their next step or problem-solving technique will be. I read the novel to learn their story, to learn about their problems, and find out what will happen to their love for one another. I read for their despair, for their feelings of love, and compassion. I felt what they felt and became one with the plot and characters. I felt like I was along for the ride with the Dreamer and her decisions of stupidity or compassion. I was there with them, but I could not be seen or heard. But as I describe my best reading experience, I too need to describe exactly why I choose not to read on a usual basis. As one is reading this paper it seems like you would question why I am not an avid reader anymore. This would be because when I begin reading a book for personal enjoyment or for school, I usually end up reading a book I really do not enjoy or like. This constant threat to my reading causes me to not want to read for pleasure. Rather it brings me to another reason why reading has become a lost art for me. Just like Birkerts states: “Reading is something you do because it has been assigned in school, or because all other options have been exhausted—no more chores to do, all other games and activities put away.” (38) The idea of me reading one hundred pages to soon find out that I do not enjoy a book makes me feel like my time has been wasted. So technology and the ability to easily do something passive and with less effort has become a sad realization for me. I now only read when I am assigned a novel in school because I would like to do well in my classes. Reading has become something I do not enjoy anymore because I feel like it is not something passive rather it is something that takes more work and energy than watching television or “surfing the internet.” Reading takes thinking, imagining, and allowing the book to evolve on its own, and hope that the plot becomes really appealing and enthralling. This is a definite problem with my wanting to read, because I hate reading dreadful books. Especially when television or the Internet allows me to watch something, and then easily change it if I become bored or uninterested. Technology gives me a summary of topics for television, and an ability to shy away from a certain program if my interest doesn’t lie within. Technology has allowed for me to become lazy or passive to what I’m doing. Which is a negative concept because I prefer to not use my own brainpower anymore.
When I was reading The Song Yet Sung, it was assigned by Washington College for a first homework assignment. This homework assignment was the only thing standing in between me and a great summer, or so I thought. But I soon found out that not every book is terrible, and that some books allow an infrequent reader to enjoy something so pure and fundamental for the brain’s enjoyment. This will allow me as a person to grow and become well rounded instead of only enjoying technology and the positive aspects they bring to my life. The Song Yet Sung is one of my favorite reading memories because of the plotline and ability to allow me to escape and be taken to another world. I have become an infrequent reader unless it is for a school assignment. This is a sad realization for me, as I have grown up an avid reader, but have now turned into an absent reader that prefers the luxuries of technology.
