Ink Artist

The brilliance behind creative writing is that it's essentially so easy. Ok, of course there are those with dyslexia or, you know, somebody born without hands or something but the premise remains the same: anyone can tell a story. The fascinating part is that, while anyone can tell a story, with writing there are dozens of ways that you can show it. In many ways, the author's piece of paper can convey as much meaning as an artist's canvas. For example, Las Casas uses the word "Christian" to describe the same people who run innocent children through with their weapons. He could have just as easily said "Spaniards", or even "Men" if he wanted to be simple. But no, he uses the juxtaposes the word "Christian" with such terrible acts of violence to show that the same people who murder pregnant women and kill for no discernible reason consider themselves to be holy, to be just, to be the virtuous. This is the power that a writer has.
It doesn't stop with words either. The way the writing is arranged can convey a great deal as much as any frilly sentence could. Page breaks, indentations, punctuation can all be used to show what the writer is trying to say. Sure, the story may not use proper grammar or the MLA's version of English, but it doesn't matter. A short paragraph could be short for a reason. Words can be misspelled to show the narrator's simplicity. Page format can be twisted and formed into something akin to a Picasso painting and the best part is that it all means something. It's fascinating and I honestly can't see it any other way.
However, to wield this power, first you need to understand the language you're writing in. Before you can twist it and turn it and rearrange it to your will, you need to know how to use it correctly. A lion tamer can't hope to control a feral animal without first understanding it's inner mechanizations. It is the same with English. Without understanding it, all the multi-syllabic words like "demarcated" or "pedagogy" or anything with a "post-" at the front of it could very well eat you alive. Or, at the very least, make you want to burn a dictionary. This is why I became an English major. I want to make the language mine. I don't want to say that I merely understand the language; I want to be able to say that I know it and have conquered it. Maybe someday, with a little help, I will.