Haunting America

2 Pages 523 Words

“Reading is not simple a matter of hanging back and waiting for a piece, or its
author, to tell you what the writing has to say. In fact, one of the difficult things about reading is that the pages before you will begin to speak only when the authors are silent and you begin to speak in their place, sometimes for them-doing their work, continuing their projects-and sometimes for yourself, following your own agenda.”




I believe that one of the main goals of reading a work of writing for a reader,

would have to be comprehension. Think about reading something, with the sole purpose

of not being able to understand it. You’d be wasting your time reading it. So why is it,

that essays, stories, and all other writings seem so hard to comprehend these days? I doubt

its some sick ploy by writers to make papers impossible to understand. To make reading

all for not. My opinion is that people don’t, without any better phrase, “know how to

read.” And the exploration essay I will present for you today will explain why my opinion

is as such.

I’m going to break down the excerpt I have chosen. in hopes of explaining it. Its

complication proves why reading comprehension in itself is so complicated.


Throughout my life, I’ve learned how I shouldn’t read. Always being told, “You

can just skip the preface.” When the preface would help me understand what I am about

to read. So why should I skip it? Because it takes time? Isn’t reading supposed to take

time?



I’ve been taught that I could just skim through essays, rather than read the whole

thing. How can I fully understand something, if I don’t read the whole thing? Once again,

teaching me short cuts.


So, to fully be able to comprehend things I read, I feel that I need to teach myself

to read again. This is where the excerpt comes in. Think back to when you were a child.

All the book...