Thoughts on Booth

I always thought of reading as a thing to do when you’re bored, can’t sleep, or as a chore. But as I’ve gotten older reading has become more of a pleasure, eye opener type of an experience than one to do while taking the long road trip to South Dakota( where I use to do all my reading) I started to read to get away, to put myself in a different dimension, to see the world in a different way. I feel as though you can learn more about the civil war by reading a book about someone during that time zone than you can by any old history book. With saying we read to enter a new world, I would also have to say we write to allow others into our own world. Wayne C. Booth says that writers “ feel neglected, misunderstood, useless” (349) I don’t think he means writers are the only people in the world who feel that way, but I do agree with them that many writer do feel only singled out and misunderstood and that is why they write. They write to not to just write but they write with a purpose, they write seeking sense and purpose of themselves and by doing so they allow the readers to understand the them and get a new view of the world. I think that is way reading is so important because it allows you to see the world and view issues in so many different ways. Reading allows you to be someone else for a day, and writing allows you to be yourself without caring what others have to say about it.
Reading the Defense of Poetry, showed me that writers are the only honest, happy with who they are, non ashamed people out there. There are many things I would love to say and share but am to scared to, whether it be because I fear being wrong and laughed at, or because of what others may think of me. But the poems in that book were so stranger, weird, awkward, mind boggling, funny, insightful, open, and full of truth and words that weren’t afraid to be heard. I think writers write to allow themselves to be themselves and to allow others to see them for who they truly are because as Booth says when we read we are “ thinking the thoughts of another”.