Steven Pereda

Dr. Wiggins

English 110 

September 19, 2022

Cover Letter

This essay, although not intended for any specific audience, is rather intended to relate to the general public; particularly to those who have a dislike of reading, and to those who wonder why some like to read. The words I chose were carefully selected to build a more personal connection with the reader and author, but refrains from being excessively formal so some won’t be turned away from the piece. I dislike reading for work, and if I hate to read it, I hate to write it; keeping it simple, but also refraining from writing too much of something I am passionate about was difficult. That said, I wanted to simply convey what I think to the people who read this piece.

One of the relatively more meaningful things I gained from this phase and this assignment, was a sense of perspective and reasoning. Not everyone related to what I believe, but instead had their own experiences regarding literacy and language, and derived their own beliefs of how meaningful language and literacy is to them; whether it’s personal, or for the benefit of others. People can resonate more with those who have had valuable experience with something they also have had experience with; and the reasons why they found their experience profound is why I believe each experience should be conveyed for people to understand one another.

To keep it short, stories are what impacted me the most, and motivate me to write. As a kid, as well as many other people, I disliked to read; and would rather listen to or watch shows, where I get my entertainment. After a bit of thinking, I believe that no matter its medium, you can deliver a good story for people to enjoy. Literature was a way for me to read a story, but there are also games, shows, comics, and even by word-of-mouth, which can convey a story. At some point, I also wanted to make a story, one that was exciting, have lots of dramatic twists and turns; which is why now I read so much and turned to writing. I read to learn new concepts and words to portray a world within my own writing, which although had varying results, were honestly quite fun.

Doing this assignment helped me practice rhetorical strategies when writing something that I am truly passionate about. Although I have a simple motivation to write this piece, to convey my interests and values in literacy; I composed this essay to deliver my stance on the matter, and gave sufficient reasoning to my claims/thoughts, drafting and revising it to deliver this to whoever reads this.

Language Literacy Narrative Draft 1

I consider myself to be a very active reader. Whenever I leave for an errand, school, or 

just simply taking a stroll, I tend to go through my phone, though not to see posts made on social media. I read so much that I went through several volumes of a particular Light Novel in a few weeks. That said, it was fairly recent when I started to make it a habit of reading, let alone enjoy it as much as I do now. I honestly used to hate reading, enough to completely want to avoid any kind of class or subject topics that require me to read a book, or any form of literature. That was until I started to become preoccupied with a series called Chivalry of a Failed Knight.

Many people, including myself, like to be told a good story; one with, as one person put it, ‘Dramatic twists and turns’. Growing up, I disliked reading for several reasons, but two that stood out to me were being forced to read long and boring texts; and feeling tired of reading texts that don’t excite me, or even try to get someone like me invested in the story. The literature I came across felt like they were targeted at a different audience, something a child wouldn’t normally want to read. Most of what I read was grounded into reality, which I wasn’t too interested in. I wanted something exciting, something that was more interesting than classical texts, something that wasn’t a comic book as the alternative. 

I soon had my wish granted, where a certain show called, Chivalry of a Failed Knight, had found its way to me. When I first watched something like it, I was captivated by the way the story was written. The characters were all unique, and had aspects about them that made me think they were more human, for the lack of a better term. They had aspirations, hopes, fears, emotions, aspects of people that normally wouldn’t be expressed in literature that I read for class. Not to mention that the story took liberties, willing to put more emphasis on the characters than the ‘lesson’ books that I’ve read before contained. There are times where a story is meant to convey a message, but this story; was simply a story, one that gets you invested in the characters.

Looking back, the show as a whole wasn’t particularly incredible, at best, average in story quality. But it was something that I found strange, yet exciting; something special, in fact. I was fond of the characters, and wanted to see what would happen next. I waited for any announcement of another season being aired, but nothing came of it. At some point, I forgot about it, and started to watch other shows, ones that had what I was looking for, a good story. I then came back to it, reminiscing of how I first encountered a story I truly was invested in. After not hearing much about another season, I wondered much about it until I found out the show was adapted from a comic, which stemmed from a light novel. I was hesitant at first, but thought that maybe reading a comic wouldn’t be so bad. To my surprise, illustrations littered each and every page, and the only texts were simply lines of dialogue and internal monologues. It was strange to see something I thought was only good as a show, be better as a comic. Each scene had been drawn beautifully,  exaggerating certain actions that weren’t adapted into the show; expressing how intense the scenes were. 

I was pleasantly surprised by this find. The comic book went a few chapters beyond what the show had covered, and I got to see the characters I thought I knew changed as the story progressed even more. They weren’t always going to be the same, especially with how their environment and journey shaped these characters over time. I wanted to see their journey, I wanted to see who they became, and I wanted to see the results of their hard work at the end of their journey. When I reached the end of the comic, the second to last page was an afterword statement from the author. It was thanks for supporting their work, and that the story is going to continue. Then the final page was a statement from the localizers, people who translated works from their original language. I was soon directed to light novels, where the story I was reading was several volumes ahead. Unlike the comic, the light novel was less focused on scenes being illustrated. There is a greater emphasis on using words to describe, and portray the characters in a more indepth way; along with even more world building than what was presented in other mediums. That said, the author had placed a few illustrations, as a way to help portray certain scenes, and give the reader a sense of what kind of setting the story takes place in. 

All of these mediums used to deliver the same story, all have different results as to how they impact the reader. I used to think a show was one of the better ways to deliver a story, but now I believe that the best way to enjoy it is by reading it. That said, I still won’t like literature that I find boring, and this is where I believe most people tend to prefer anything besides reading a book. Most literature isn’t what people want to read, where shows today tend to do get more viewers for the content they produce. I believe many people can get into reading, as long as they find something that interests them.