Monday, April 20, 2009

AUTO 2

The first book that ever really affected me in some way was The Giver by Lois Lowry. I was in 8th grade and it was one of the books that our class was assigned to read. It was the first book I couldn’t put down, and even though my teacher gave us a span of almost a month to read the novel, I read the whole thing in just three days. I have always loved books that portray a unique pseudo reality. Lowry created a unique world where the people experienced no pain, and the role of the giver was to sacrifice him/herself and indulge all of the communities pain and true reality. Jonah and the Giver’s role in Lowry’s society was take on the real world and cope with a range of emotions and reality. I guess it mattered to me so much because I realized that in reality all people are like Jonah and the Giver, we all feel pain and the affects of the world that surrounds us. It made me realize how we should be thankful for being given the choice to decide on our actions, and understand that sometimes that attribute may be painful at times.

Like I said in the autobiography before, reading books gained a reward in my family, and I was always the little bookworm. Although, my parents were non native English speakers, they knew that books were important for education, so they tried very hard to persuade all of us to read. Since my family is very religious, most of the books read to us when we were children were Bible stories. I enjoyed those stories very much too. I have a big family of seven children including myself, so distractions were always in effect. Those times still remain as a positive memory in my life because we were all together having fun.

The last book that really mattered to me was Ishmael, written by Daniel Quinn. It’s funny thinking about it now because in some way it relates both to The Giver, and the bible stories my mom use to read to us as children. Ishmael reveals another truth about society and the book incorporates many religious aspects. I liked the book because it made me realize it distinguishes two separate types of people in the world, which are the Takers and the Leavers. The takers like to use up all the resources given and feel that they rule over all of the rest of the world. The leavers, who are more primitive feel that they are connected or as equal the world/environment. The problem is that the Takers are persuading the bulk of society, so they use up all of the earth’s resources for their own wellbeing. The book made me realize that the American society as a whole carries the Taker attitude because we feel that we must have control over everything over the world. I guess I really like books that reveal the differences in culture and people.

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