The Importance of Reading

Surprisingly, our society today has a lot of literary references. The lack of intelligence you see everyday alludes to people's inability to read. However, if you look closely, there are some people who have the capabilities [of reading]! The vast majority of our society is too illiterate to realise, but there are references to literature in so many things, just as you see Greek and Roman mythology everywhere. Not only are there literary references in movies for those with a more mature mentality, but they're also in childish ones as well. Quest for Camelot, exempli gratia, has a quote that is taken almost exactly from a Shakespearian play; "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well," says the two-headed dragon in the mists of danger whilst holding a skull ("HEEEY-THAT'S FROM HAMLET!" we declared triumphantly in the dead of the night, feeling quite intelligent). And though just being literate cannot save you from having your brain cells disintegrate at an incomparable speed when standing next to Nanny's favourite doll-faced niece, it can help you in so many other ways.

Like your own imagination (which literature can invoke), you can learn a lot from books.

First, there are factbooks. Reading these books will tell you the truths-just straight out yes or no answers. There are so many of these, and reading them will fill your head with necessary (or quite unnecessary) answers. (And, for those of you who don't know, how to derive the Quadratic Formula is a necessary answer, as it's just so damn sexy.)

Theorybooks discuss various subjects in depth, and basically answer you with a "maybe yes, maybe no" answer (which is hardly an answer at all!); this is closer to sounding like a scientific journal of sorts, instead of a story. These books are essentially babble, going on about something theoretically, but giving no proper answers, as none of us know them. And, some answers, none of us will ever know. But there are those intellectuals that like to go on like this anyway: "OH MY GAWD-WHAT IF THIS WAS THE ANSWER TO LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING?!" (Not that they need to go on about that; we know the answer is forty-two.)

Storybooks tell stories, obviously, and are the books that bring out the imagination best (depending on which books, I suppose, as some just downright suck massive, unwashed male genitalia). These are the books that help best, giving answers to hard choices, or [they] just help show potential consequences to our actions. Some are more in depth than others, some read easier than others-there are so many of these books feeding you so many different answers and aspects to life, so many different opinions, that you can't just ignore their existence!

Children's books are a fantastical example of storybooks. Most children's books are wild to play with a child's imagination, and some are almost completely nonsensical, such as Dr. Seuss stories. His stories seem totally out of whack-but, really, are they?

Oh, the Places You'll Go!, a famous poem storybook by Dr. Seuss, talks of being on your own and the ups and downs of life. Little kids read this book and think it's fun, particularly because it rhymes, but it has meaning behind it that is so true. You'll go the right places, and sometimes you won't; you'll make the right choices, and sometimes you won't-but you have to be optimistic, you have to keep going, and you have to not get yourself stuck in The Waiting Place.

Another Dr. Seuss poem storybook is My Many Colored Days. This book is simple. In words, that is, for in depth it talks about people's many emotions (which is really not all that simple!): Happy, sad, alone, crazy... It says that you'll feel this way or that, but in the end you'll be okay, you'll find yourself, and you'll be you.

Now, depending on what age the child is, they cannot necessarily read the books themselves. Sometimes parents have to read the books to their children, because the child is illiterate (for the time being, I hope). When a child first starts reading and writing it isn't always very good, is it? No, it's not. And that's how a lot of people nowadays read and write. Like children. If people read more, and got their children to read more, then their spelling and grammar wouldn't be so horrid. Not only that, but their mental capacity wouldn't be so absurdly miniscule.

People can learn all sorts of things from reading storybooks, whether they agree with the ideas presented in the story or not (it just requires a wee bit of thinking). All stories have their author's ideals in them; it's an inseparable representation of the author ("You'll be with me /Like a handprint on my heart," Elphaba sings). Some stories are written to intentionally express the author's opinion on things, such as The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, The Stranger by Albert Camus, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. And, let's face it, if you couldn't read, you wouldn't be able to read this beautifully composed essay that thoroughly expresses the wonderful author's opinions on how ridiculously painful it is to be surrounded by a society made mostly of shallow, ignorant, nincompoops. Now, wouldn't that be sad?

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Note from the author: This has to do with people in school that are not reading, et cetera. This hasn't got to do with those that cannot afford an education (completely different topic).