My Personal Literary History

After reading books for my whole life, books have become an essential part of my life. Many books appealed to me greatly. The three literary works that greatly appealed to me were; The Giver by Lois Lowery, The Umbrella Man by Roald Dahl, and Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang.

I first read the book The Giver, by Lois Lowery, when I was in sixth or seventh grade. At that time, I didn't really think of anything. But later in eighth grade, I read the book again, and I understood more about what the story was about and what the author was trying to say. I was deeply impressed by how the author expressed that living in a utopian world cannot provide you happiness, and that the world that the protagonist actually lived in a more dystopian world than a utopian society. Reading this book, my idea of a utopian world changed completely, and I then learnt that a utopian world could never exist. As long as we live, arguments would never end and there would always be times when people are unhappy. In away, I was shocked, since I always admired a utopian society where there are no fights and segregation. I enjoyed this book very much, and also read the other two books from the same series: Gathering Blue and Messenger both by Lois Lowery.

The second book that appealed to me was The Umbrella Man written by Roald Dahl. The Umbrella man is a collection of short stories all written by Roald Dahl. I first read this when I was in sixth grade, but I started to enjoy the humor behind the stories when I read it again in seventh grade. I always enjoy many things about short stories, like how they are simple in the way that they have only a few characters, only has only one plot, and how it all occurs in mainly one place. But what I enjoy most about these sort stories is the surprise endings that no one could probably ever expect, especially the short stories inside The Umbrella Man. I especially enjoyed the story, Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat because of the ironic humor and the surprising plot twist at the very end.

The third book that impressed me was Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang. I read it just last year in Mr. Schreiber’s class as a reading assignment when we were learning about Chinese history in Asian History. Though I could not enjoy it very much since it was a school reading book (I always hate school reading books), it taught me a lot about the Chinese Revolution, and my idea of it changed. I learnt how cruel humans could become, especially the Red Guards, who are the supporters of Mao Zedong. These supporters probably lost control of their selves, thinking that it was all right to do anything they wanted as long as they supported Mao Zedong’s ideas. The scary part about this, though, is that Mao Zedong’s teachings were all just to brainwash the citizen of China, and that this could happen again anytime.

During this year, I would like to read more books, especially those about the natures of humans, like such as Lord of The Flies by William Goldings. I know a bit about the plot, but I have never read the actual book. I am very interested in these kinds of books, and wish to read more books like these in this year. My expectations of this year are to improve my writing and reading skills, especially my reading skills, since I’m not that great at annotating and taking notes on what I read. Also, sometimes when I read, it’s hard to understand what I’m reading. I would wish to fix these points during this year. I am looking forward to have a happy, stress-free year both educational and fun.

I think that the three literary works that appealed to me the most were The Giver by Lois Lowery, The Umbrella Man by Roald Dahl, and Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang. I think that The Giver is one of the significant literary works in my life because it was what changed my idea of a utopian society. I used to think that a utopian society meant a world where everyone was completely happy, with no discomforts, and that it was actually feasible. Reading this book, though, I figured that that was impossible. The Umbrella Man is also a significant literary work in my life. I really enjoyed reading this book because of the short stories with unpredictable endings. Red Scarf Girl was what taught me how cruel humans can become, and how one man, Mao Zedong, can control or brainwash a whole country. These literary works mean very much to me, and I wish to read more books just like these.