Why do humans reading in order to gain knowledge? In this paper I'll explain how a reading of chapters 2-3 in Genesis can be combined with psychological research to partially explain why we may read. The two chapters of Genesis I’ll discuss demonstrates that acquisition of knowledge implies that it is impossible not to acknowledge that you were once ignorant of whatever it is you have learned. The psychological research explains that whenever you read a story (like this story within Genesis), what you feel during the experience is based on the order of your memory, not on the order of the actual experience depicted. I'll then combine these two threads together to show that reading allows us to gather knowledge that augments our consciousness. It does this by surpassing the highest level of consciousness that we are capable of knowing without it.
In Genesis’s second chapter, YHWH shapes Adam from the soil and places him in the Garden of Eden. The narrator mentions that beside the trees which bore fruit is the “tree of knowledge, good and evil” (Genesis pg 8), which Adam is forbidden to eat from. YHWH then builds a woman from one of Adam’s ribs so he has a sustainer beside him. It is important to note that the first instance of human speech is after Adam has someone to respond to. To look at this through the eyes of Adam explains why this is so: he acknowledges his woman to have a sense of self equal to his, which allows him to speak. He knows that she will respond. Because Adam is complacent with his companion, we understand the use of therefore in the sentence “Therefore, does a man leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife and they become one flesh” (Genesis pg 10). Adam is able to live apart from YHWH, allowing him ...
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...that you were once ignorant of whatever it is you have learned, and combine it with the psychological research proposed by Jacques Lacan that explains how micromemories form with a chain of words and how their combination through structure ultimately determines the impact made upon the reader, it should partially answer the question: why do we humans read? It’s partly because reading makes us aware of processes that we were previously were not, augmenting our consciousness, enabling us better experience the world around us once our eyes leave the page. It is also because reading a chain of words whose structure mirrors the implied emotions, impacts us in a way unique to well-crafted prose. It allows for a timeless conversation between author and reader, letting an author show us why a precisely ordered combination of symbols is able to make life that much clearer.
The DeFord Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile, developed in 1985 by Diane DeFord, is a way to measure the philosophy and belief systems associated with instructional practices in the beginning of reading. The three systems include phonics, skills, and whole language (Vacca et al 2006). The bottom-up beliefs systems, associated with Behaviorism, place emphasis on letters, letter-sound relationships, and the understanding that the student, in order to comprehend the selection, must recognize each word in a text. There is importance placed on decoding, and skills are taught in a systematic and sequential format.
It is inherent for man to want to understand more about himself and the universe in which he lives. Galilio Galilei stated, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." However, the pursuit of knowledge has not been easy, for man has endured several obstacles, whether willingly or by chance as presented in Genesis, Dante's "Inferno," and Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat." Since his creation, man has encountered obstacles in his pursuit of knowledge. For instance, in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve are hindered by God's word to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:16-17). However, being tempted by the luscious fruit and the desire to be wise, Adam and Eve willingly disobey God's word and eat the fruit, thus, surmounting their barrier toward obtaining knowledge (Genesis 3:6-7). Unfortunately, this longing for knowledge proved to be Adam and Eve's dow...
“There’s this famous formulation by the French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan, whereby he said, 'Desire exceeds the object. ' And a lot of time I feel like that. I feel that way as a writer, that my desire to use language to capture emotional and psychic states is always outstripping the ability of this sign system to do its thing.” (WALTER KIRN, 2001).
He illustrates the agony of thinking and the burden it places on him. Through his self-reflection, Douglass explains the pain and discomfort his expanding knowledge bears upon him, a young boy exploring his present world to discover that maybe ignorance really is bliss. Through the use of several literary devices such as specified diction, irony, and parallelism, the speaker relays a desperate tone throughout this section of his narrative elaborating on the torment
If you had the choice between your phone and a book,you would probably without thinking grab your phone. But what if you knew that reading is crucial to a future. In “Reading for pleasure Is in Painful Decline” by Stephen L. Carter and “Twilight of the books” by Caleb Crain, both authors argue about the state of reading in The United States. Within both passages they give valid points as to why and how the state of reading are negatively affecting the country. Stephen L. Carter represents how the decline in reading for fun is the main concern, while on the other hand, Caleb Crain shows it’s technology and social media that actually are the main contributors.
In attempting to discriminate between the nature of a "literary" text and a "non-literary" text, a metaphor from Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being comes to mind. Especially in considering this same novel in contrast with a novel such as Danielle Steele's Vanished, the idea of lightness versus heaviness presents itself, and with it, a new way of approaching the decipherment of any high/low dichotomy of "literariness". When the "literary" text is imagined as "heavy" and the "non-literary" as "light", an interesting illumination is cast upon the scene, and parallels emerge alongside ideas originally presented in the writings of A. Easthope and Wolfgang Iser.
Humans, are they Human? The article “How Reading Makes Us More Human” by Karen Swallow Prior is a very well structured and informative article. Prior immediately grasps the reader’s attention by providing a variety of examples to support the purpose of her article.
Through vivid yet subtle symbols, the author weaves a complex web with which to showcase the narrator's oppressive upbringing. Two literary critics whose methods/theories allow us to better comprehend Viramontes. message are Jonathan Culler and Stephen Greenblatt. Culler points out that we read literature differently than we read anything else. According to the intertextual theory of how people read literature, readers make assumptions (based on details) that they would not make in real life.
Frey and Fisher initiated the article by clarifying that reading is not innate, thus each person needs to learn how to read. In fact, “reading occurs only through the intentional appropriation of existing structures within the brain” (Frey & Fisher, 2010, p. 104). Then, they explained the term neuroplasticity. The idea that a teacher’s instruction and actions can alter the brain of a student
Reading involves translating symbols and letters into words or sentences. Anderson defines reading as a process of constructing meaning from a written text. We indulge in reading for many different purposes, be it survival, leisure or occupational. In a way, reading serves as a kind communication between the writer and the reader. The writer encodes what he or she wishes to convey while the reader decodes according to his or her own perception. Johnson quotes “A young man should read five hours in a day, and so may acquire a great deal of knowledge.”
In conclusion, I would say that the power of literature is connoted exactly in this unparalleled symbolic order of language that can never produce or pin down a definite meaning but nevertheless passes on "the desire and curse of meaning”. It is what the transcendent signification of the text that leaves the reader always anticipating and curious and at the same time delighted from the pleasure this play of the authors brings to her/him. On the other hand there is always this uncanny component of meaning that cannot be clarified or rationalized but nevertheless is an intrinsic part to our reading experience.
"A Study of Reading Habits," is Philip Larkin’s poetic warning that escapism and ignoring reality only makes real life less fulfilling. Larkin develops this idea via a narrator who prefers to escape from life rather than deal with it, as well as through changing use of language and subtle irony. Larkin’s most direct expression of his warning comes through the narrator’s experience with escapism through books. The narrator reveals his changing attitudes toward books in three stanzas, representing three stages in his life: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. As a child, reading as an escape enabled the narrator to feel better about "most things short of school" (line 2). As an adolescent, books continued to be a form of escape for him, this time for his unfulfilled sexual desires. However, as an adult "now," the narrator embodies Larkin's warning. He is bitter and resentful that life is less glamorous than books, now only able to relate to the secondary, less important characters. The method he once used to escape now makes reality painfully obvious.
Reading is a complex process that’s difficult to explain linearly. A student’s reading capabilities begin development long before entering the school setting and largely start with exposure (Solley, 2014). The first remnants of what children are able to do in terms of reading are built from their parents and other people and object around them as they’re read to, spoken to, and taken from place to place to see new things (Solley, 2014). As kids are exposed to more and more their noises quickly turn into intentional comprehensible messages and their scribbling begins to take the form of legible text as they attempt to mimic the language(s) they’re exposed to daily.
Being able to analyze literature is a skill that I am very proud of. It has helped me with my ability to read into other’s thoughts as well as organize my own anytime I am unsure of something. Sharing my personal thoughts and expressing my own emotions has always been a challenge. Deciphering various pieces of literature and explaining what I think about them is an outlet for me in that sense, because I can take what I think and share my thoughts with others around me. Over time, I have learned to embrace this ability, and it has benefitted me immensely.
Literature is rarely, if ever, merely a story that the author is trying to tell. It is imperative that the reader digs deep within the story to accurately analyze and understand the message the author is trying to portray. Authors tend to hide themselves in their stories. The reader can learn about the author through literary elements such as symbolism, diction, and structure. A good example of this is Robert Frost’s poems The Road Not Taken and Nothing Gold can Stay in which he uses ordinary language unlike many other poets that became more experimental (Frost, Robert. “1.”).