The Psychology Behind Reading
By: Caitlin Carter
English 101 Professor Meehan 9/11/2008
MWF class
Autobiographical literature reveals deep insights into an author’s character. While reading The Gutenberg Elegies, I began to ponder whether one’s childhood experiences shape future behavior and attitudes. Birkerts, the author, expresses his deep emotional attachment towards reading in many of his excerpts. He is a troubled individual I theorize his conflicts evolved from experiences during adolescence. My childhood memories with my mother have indeed shaped my adoration for reading. Therefore, I strongly believe childhood experiences shape one’s attitude towards reading.
Birkerts spent much of his youth reading for “pleasure” (35). He read in “isolation” describing the reading as “a private resonance, a daydream,” and more descriptively “a moveable feast” (35). This deep attachment to reading evolved from his need for “a refuge” (35). The overbearing personality and “strictness” of Birkerts’s father created Birkerts’s complex attitude towards reading. Birkerts’s father’s opinion was that “doing [was] prized over thinking” and reading was considered a “feminine” act (38). Birkerts’s mother, on the other hand, praised reading. Like Birkerts’s “she read for pleasure, company, for escape,” and “there was never a time when she did not have one book going” (38). Birkerts’s attitude towards literature is now disjointed, due to the conflicting attitudes from both guardians.
Birkerts passion for reading grew as he aged. Reading was a “dreamy sensuousness” and the pages he viewed were “tantalizing” (35). His urge to consume every book was a “direct outgrowth of a love of reading” (34). Birkerts uses strong emotional diction to convey his desire to read; this view of literature seems very straightforward. You may not think this man has a conflicted attitude towards reading. I disagree. As I read The Gutenberg Elegies I observed many oddities in Birkerts statements about literature. When Birkerts describes his occupation as “a book reviewer” he describes the job as “that thing [he] so confidently scorned” (33). This is a very strange statement for a literature lover to say; I hypothesize, though Birkerts loves literature, he feels embarrassed to have a literary occupation. Birkerts has an unconscious view that a career in literature is insufficient or even “feminine,” as Birkerts father would put (35).
Birkerts’s troubles with the written word were not rarities. When Birkerts was a young adult he decided to move to Maine with his girlfriend; the plan was for them to live in isolation and become excellent writers. A good idea in theory, but the plan was flawed. Birkerts could not write. Though Birkerts had no trouble “finding joy” in solitude while reading; writing was very challenging (39). Birkerts wrote some “terse openings for what [he] hoped might, with some coaxing, become stories,” but the attempt was futile (54). As Birkerts puts “the soothing futurity at the core of the fantasy was gone” (54). So what happened? It is my belief that Birkerts’s disturbed view of literature affected the way he wrote. Birkerts loved literature but could not have his dream profession; his parents raised him to have conflicting views of literature. Literature cannot fully consume Birkerts’s life because his subconscious replays his father’s voice every time he begins to write; reading and writing are what one does when “all other options have been exhausted” (38).
Like Birkerts, I believe that my personal attitude towards reading was shaped by my childhood experiences with my family. During my formative years, I spent the long summers reading with my mother. On warm days, my mother and I would sunbathe for hours while we consumed literature. We would lay a soft blanket over the crisp grass and lay out all day reading. The environment was soothing and pleasurable. The memories I have of reading are images of warm wonderful sunrays, velvety blankets, cool lemonade, and closeness to my mother. This detailed moment left me with an undeniable passion for reading. The gratifying experience left me with a strong association of literature with nurturing and comfort. An incident from my childhood shaped my attitude towards reading for the rest of my life.
As I grew older my mother constantly pushed books into my view. She believed much the opposite of Birkerts’s father; her opinion was that books were a treasure trove to be discovered. Inside books is the knowledge one needs to grow, survive, and thrive. In today’s technological world literature is pushed to the background, while television, computers, and ipods are cherished. The reason I stuck to literature was the strong positive association I experienced while reading, and my mother forbade most electronic entertainment in the house. Thinking and reading was valued over observing a computer or television screen.
Another moment in my childhood that greatly shaped my attitude towards reading was in kindergarten. I still have the memory clear in my mind. It was any other day at my kindergarten center, Great Expectations; all the kids were sitting on the floor. In the classroom I had noticed very few books in the class, something I was not used to at home. I was sitting reading a Berenstein Bears book, when a classmate came over to tell me the lesson for the day was starting. Our lesson that day was supposed to be about reading; I was excited, considering there were few books in the classroom. We were learning the alphabet. I realized at that moment that I was much farther ahead in my reading abilities than many of the other students. I was proud of my aptitudes and I wanted to greater expand my knowledge that moment on. This was a very significant instant in time because I realized that I was the only one who enjoyed reading; most of the other children struggled to learn just the alphabet. I attributed my abilities to hours spent with my parents reading.
Your childhood molds your attitude toward reading. Birkerts’s passion for reading changed due to the contradictory attitudes of his guardians, while my fervor for reading derived from the time spent bonding with my mother. Parental influence can significantly change a person’s passion for a subject.
This work was completed in accordance of the honor code.
Self Evaluation: I believe in this essay my quotations, from The Gutenberg Elegies, were inserted correctly and used effectively. I also think the thesis of my essay was presented clearly and I had substantial evidence to convince the audience to agree with my point. Although, I think that my conclusion may have been weak because of the broad message inserted at the end. I am also a little unsure of two sentences I have inserted into my paper; the lines “We were learning the alphabet,” “Birkerts could not write,” and “I disagree,” were written deliberately to make these parts of my essay stand out, but I don’t know if this stylistic choice was effect.
Bibliography
Birkerts, Sven. The Gutenberg Elegies. New York: Faber and Faber Inc., 1994
