Literacy

Sitting, staring at a blank wall inside my Contemporary Literature class was nerve racking and boring. “Where the hell is the teacher'” This question I asked myself every ten to twenty seconds inside my mind. It was a cold, brightly colored room and was filled with twelve other students besides myself. Due to the humidity of the autumn season, the air-conditioner moistened the atmosphere around us. It made the classroom’s environment (especially the air) brisk, cold and furthermore, freezing. My classmates and I were definitely sitting in the “subzero” part of the school. Besides despising the temperature of the class room, I was excited and extremely happy, knowing that today was the day that as a class, we would all receive a book known as The Life of Pi. After hearing fantastic reviews about the book and how my Contemporary Lit final would solemnly be based on it, I was in so much glee to read the book. As my teacher Ms. Woolen went towards the podium and started to speak, I already knew exactly what she was going to say. “Now class, I’ll be passing out your final book, your final reading assignment will be then to finish reading the book and your final will be two essay questions about the book.” “I’ll inform you on what the topics will be, nonetheless, your job will be to finish reading the book and we’ll have seven quizzes in between.” Before she continued, my heart was pumping faster and faster, as if I had just had finished running a lap in gym. “Now, you may go and get your books and give me the number of it,” said Ms. Woolen. At the end of her so called “introduction” of the day, I got up and made my way over to the shelf followed by my entire class. Pretty soon, chaos had emerged. A single file line became four, possibly even six smaller lines with hands flying out everywhere. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who desired to read the book. After picking the book up, I felt its cold hard cover and skimmed through the pages. Not a single fingerprint was visually seen on the book, prior to my fingers grasping it. There were two-hundred and twenty-two pages full of good sized text. My heartbeats had reached their climax as the book that I was dying to read, was in the palm of my hands. “Stop reading and lets go to the mall you bookworm,” said my friend as he called me. “I can’t man! This book is really good and I really wanted to read it ever since I took my Contemporary Lit class,” I replied. “Whatever, let’s just go in a few hours then.” After saying “Bye” to each other, the conversation ended. I didn’t really care what he had to say about my passion for reading book. For the next days, especially while sitting by my fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate, I paced myself and read little by little. Easily I could have finished the book all in one day, but instead, decided savoir the moment by reading small, discrete amounts. This would lead me to have something to do at home over break, enable for me to read in greater detail and end the readings with great cliffhangers. I loved the feeling of reading for hours and reaching a climax, an ending to a chapter whose future events are unknown and leave you with a feeling to forget everything and just read more. Sometimes I had to force myself to do something else productive and not read so that I would not go crazy and read the book all in one day and have nothing to do in the upcoming days. As my break got shorter and eventually ended, believe it or not, my passion for this book had led me to finish it twice! I understood every concept, every character and all of the details others would normally skip. I felt as if a great saga had come to an end. The actually feeling of just finishing the book once was not satisfying, but by reading it again, I felt empowered and compared my life with the story’s main character. There was no way that I could not score lower than an “A” on the quizzes and on the final exam. This was what happened exactly. Ms. Woolen was a very productive woman and always handed back our quizzes within one to two days. Never was I nervous nor “scared” to look at my grades on them, for every one of them was either marked with a “B+” or an “A.” Even the final exam was flawless for me as I earned an easy A without hesitation. With the school year over and the book engraved inside my head, I thought deeper and deeper about what exactly I had done. I wasn’t thinking about the book, but more so on what was the aftermath of reading the book. I realized that by reading The Life of Pi, it gave me the idea of what makes reading so crucial. Part of literacy is not just the ability to read and write, but also to have the determination and motivation to actually read, understand and become “one” with the character(s) of the book. Pi, the young Indian man in the story was in the beginning, a very mean, stubborn and angry individual. His main goal in life was to chase nothing but money and to hurt others in the process. “I’ll do whatever it takes to become rich, then famous, then powerful. I’ll do anything for the success, even if it means breaking your neck or throwing you into the lions’ cage,” stated Pi to Rudy, his fellow classmate. The following year, Pi was on a cruise with his family and many others going from India to the United States. A major typhoon had caused the ship to collapse and it left Pi on an Island with three other individuals, all of whom were poor yet educated. With no money or food, Pi had no idea how save himself and better yet, survive. The other individuals had influenced Pi to spend time reading and eventually, helping them read maps so that they can have a location as to where they were. It is on this Island that Pi forgot about wealth, learned crucial survival skills such as hunting, making sheds, gather fruit and water. However, Pi had learned something else. Prior to landing on the Island he was illiterate and despised books. While being “stranded” on the Island, he picked up reading skills, got the motivation to read more frequently and had an epiphany. He realized that even though he was rich in terms of money, he wasn’t rich in terms of reading, writing and having an overall education. The poor people whom he despised gave him the power of an education. Never again did Pi ever neglect the poor and continued his education and left his “world” of illiteracy and wealth behind. Most other people would laugh at what I’m about so say. They would probably think that their lives are incomplete with the latest video game or latest pair of Nike sneakers. While there is nothing wrong with that, my life wouldn’t be as complete as it should be had I not read The Life of Pi. It taught me not only to improve myself as a person, but also reinforced me to enjoy reading. After reading The Life of Pi, I always hope that the next book(s) will be as amazing as it was. If not, I never get disappointed yet still feel that by reading it, I can still gain knowledge. My Contemporary Literature class laid out the foundation for extraordinary reading and themes of literature, but just by reading The Life of Pi, I had gained new attributes towards my attitude and tolerance towards other books in the sense that even though you may not like a book, you can still gain knowledge. Never can I forget how it made me a different person in terms of actually making myself a better human being towards things I dislike or hate. I’ve gotten the most out of this very book, than most movies and T.V shows. Anyone can share my experience and read The Life of Pi and if not, then its okay, I won’t get mad!