Salvation in Reading

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Recommended: The importance of books

Salvation in Reading
My love of books began when my mother taught me to read at age four. Throughout the years books have allowed me to take magical journeys to far-away places, taught me priceless life lessons, and offered me an escape from reality when being abused. My passion for books was similarly shared with award winning author, poet, and screenwriter Sherman Alexie. In his 1997 essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me”, he relates his experiences with reading and writing. Furthermore, he describes how his dad’s love of books impacted him to love reading and reveals how that love saved him from a poverty-stricken future on the Spokane Indian Reservation where he lived (45-47). Consequently, due to our parents’ love of reading and their strong influences in our lives both Alexie and I developed a love of books that became lifesaving because it gave us the strength and knowledge to overcome adversity in our lives.
Alexie writes that his dad influenced him to love books; as a result, his dreams and desires to rise above the stereotypes of his culture and achieve success in the non-Indian world were ignited. He fell in love with the books his dad would fill their home with and this motivated him to learn as much as he could by reading at every opportunity (45-47). He observes, “I read books late into the night, until I could barely keep my eyes open....I read anything that had words and paragraphs” (47). His determination to learn and become a great reader was a driving force in his life since he knew the more educated he became he would have a greater chance of a future outside of the world he had been born into. In his essay he tells us that the children on the reservation were expected to be stupid and to beco...

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...hing powerful. Alexie found success as a famous writer, poet, and screenwriter despite the expectations of his culture. He also became a champion for literacy among young Native Americans in the hopes that they see there is a world beyond the failure that is their cultural norm (47). Although I have never found fame, my love of books was a gift from my mother that opened my eyes to magic in the world around me and gave me something to believe in during my most lonely and painful days of being abused. It is a love that has only grown with age and gives me ongoing joy and pleasure in my life. Books truly proved to be our salvation.

Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me.” The Arlington Reader: Context and Connections. 3rd Edition. Eds. Lynn Z Bloom and Louise Z Smith. Boston:
Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2011. 45-47. Print.

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