The Reading Experience

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the reading experience and how readers can feel connected to a writer even though they may not have experienced exactly what the writer has written about. The paper suggests that a good writer can captivate an audience regardless of the topic of the book. The paper specifically analyzes "She's Not There," by Jennifer Finney Boylan, "Autobiography of a Face," by Lucy Grealy and "Close to the Bone," by Laurie Stone.

From the Paper:

"Another part of the book in which I felt an identification with the writer was when Grealy wrote about her efforts to concoct various methods of becoming ill in order to be permitted to miss school. Granted, Grealy's reasons for wanting to stay home were far more intense than my own, or those of most other elementary school children, the general feelings are the same for everyone. She describes a deep want to stay home, hiding her face from the taunting children at school allowing her to feel protected. Throughout childhood, kids experience feelings of segregation from certain other children and may be teased or laughed at for such things as their looks which are beyond their control. This sort of persecution causes many children to fear attending school, attempting to reject the pain they feel is caused by their presence in the company of others. Grealy was one of those children and, having been the outcast myself at some points in life, I could relate to her desire to withdraw from society. It may not have necessarily been to hide physical afflictions, but I too have spent mornings pretending to be sick, trying some of her techniques with the hopes that my mother would allow me to sleep in, and miss another day of class. As she says, she "sought out different ways of getting sick", "experimenting with dishwashing liquid" or "inhaling water." These different experiments show a child's severe determination to miss school and protect herself from what she sees as guaranteed suffering more painful than those of her self inflicted illnesses."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Jennifer Finney Boylan. She's Not There. Random House Inc, 2003, Page 102
• Lucy Grealy. Autobiography of a Face. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. Page 157.
• Laurie Stone. Close to the Bone. "Hump". New York: Grove Press, 1997. Page 163

More papers on The Reading Experience:

• Book Review # 107931 : "The Unnameable"
• Essay # 85921 : "Reading Aloud"
• Creative Essay # 5667 : "Reading"

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