How illiteracy influences people’s life Essay Example for Free

How illiteracy influences tribes sprightliness EssayIn the movie, The Reader, Kate Winslet vie the role of Hanna Schmitz, an illiterate train conductor who was sent to jail without withal understanding what she has done wrong. When Hanna utter the line, I would rather listen to you , I was moved because these few words allowed me to empathize with people who ar illiterate. It gave me a glimpse of the feelings of helplessness and frustration they must encounter in their everyday life. The movie excessively showed me how illiteracy female genitalsister affect a persons life. Because of the fact that they do non stick out access to the culture the rest of the world has, they repeal up be enslaved by the opinions of the literate. It is impossible for them to construct opinions as they do lack the details needed to create one. At the equivalent time, they are forced to be symbiotic on people who potbelly provide them with this information. They are also under the merc y of people who have make doledge in the written law. The movie also showed me how humbling it must be not to be able to establish or write. At the start of the movie, she had an affair with a composition half her age.And, whenever the man would read for her, her seniority faded away because of the way she would act like a child time lag for her father to read her a bed time story. Hannas story shows how essential being literate is. It plays an important role in a persons life as it can change his or her destiny. In this essay, I would like to talk about the changes and effects of literacy to a persons mind and life. I would like to show how literacy can give intellect and part to a person by going through the works of Staple, Douglass and Kozel which they created in order to emphasize the importance of literacy in the democratic world.Brent Staple, an author and editorial writer for the sweet York Times, recounted the way his grandfather changed his life by learning how to r ead. In one of his articles, he wrote Name of root 2- Nevertheless, the strength to read and write gave them a vantage point on their circumstances and protected them from swindlers who on a regular basis stripped illiterate people of land and other assets. (p. 1) Staples grandfather was able to gain his independence by learning how to read and write. He also learned how to distinguish what is good from what is bad, what can pull ahead him and what can ruin his life.He also constitute himself with the power to think and give his opinion as he now has a better grasp of the issues around him. Armed with the knowledge he was able to succeed from reading, he found the power to make his own decisions and fight for his rights. He was able to free himself from the prison house of other peoples thoughts. Another writer, Frederick Douglass, who is famous for his line I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong, wrote an article that is parallel to Staples articl e in the way that he talked about the way literacy influenced his life and his thinking.Douglass story, however, is sooner different from that of Staples grandfather. In his story, he recounted that he learned how to read in secret with the fear of being beaten. Being born a slave, Douglass was passed on from one owner to another. The wife of one his owners taught him the alphabet even though she knew that there was a law against teaching slaves how to read. Her husband obviously disapproved about this when he found out. He bankd that a slave who gains literacy will be unsatisfied with his condition and yearn for granting immunity.Even with the little terror of being caught and beaten up, Douglass learned how to read with the help of the white children in the neighborhood. He also did his beat to observe the way the order white men would write. His perspective changed after he has attained literacy. Douglas completed that black men are not brutes or savages who should be limite d to working as a slave, Name of write 3 they have the right to be educated and respected. As his master predicted, he yearned for the freedom that the white people have. As he continues to learn how to read and write, Douglass attitude to life is in stages transformed by literacy.Douglass mentions in the article I read them over and over again with unabated interest. They give tongue to interesting thought of my own soul. The moral which I gained from the dialogue was the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder. (p. 45) By learning how to read and write, Douglass learned not simply the meaning of words and sentences, but the power of knowledge. He slowly became aware of his rights as a human being and how unfairly the black people have been treated. He also realized that illiteracy is the reason why the white people were able to enslave his race for so long.Not only did illiteracy keep them unaware of their rights, it also made them unable to think for themse lves, to distinguish from right and wrong, what is bruising and what is not. It also stopped them from acquiring the knowledge that they need to pursue their freedom. Hence, they were influenced by the white people to believe that their only purpose in life was to work for them. With his newfound knowledge, he was able to change his life and gain his freedom. At the same time, having appreciated the value of literacy, he passed on the knowledge to other slaves, great(p) them the opportunity to change their own lives.In Kozols article, he focuses on how illiteracy can endanger a persons way of life and thinking. He believes that one will never really have ability to protect himself if he is illiterate because he is always unaware of whats going on. He cant read the strange signs on the street that warns him of danger or tells him that he is breaking the law. Neither can he read legal documents, making him vulnerable to being swindled. He is also unaware of his rights. Kozol Name o f Author 4 says, They do not know what rights they have, what deadlines and requirements they face, what option they might choose to exercise.They are half-citizens. Their right constitute I print but not in fact. (52-53) They cannot protect their own rights since they dont know what their rights are. Neither can they apply their rights or make a choice because they do not know what their options are. The same points were tackled by Douglas in his article when he said that black people were treated like slaves because they were not literate and were not given the chance to know that they do not have to limit themselves to such a status. They just thought that would go through this nightmare for the rest of their lives because no one could save them.What they didnt know was they couldve saved themselves had they known that they had rights to fight for. If they had been literate, they would have realized that they are not slaves and they have right to be educated and respected be cause they are humans. Illiteracy, however, has exiled them to such an nightmarish existence where their destiny is dictated by their masters. promptly literacy still plays the most important role in society. If you are not able to read and write, it would be really hard for you to live. You wouldnt know how to deal with a lot of things.You wouldnt know what is right or wrong, what would benefit you and what would harm you. Because of the numerous things that you do not know, your lack of knowledge can bring you harm. At the same time, your lack of knowledge, stops you from having your own beliefs or opinions. And, since you have know access to the options you can choose from, you end up believing that there are none and the only thing you can do is mention what the other people are doing or to have the same opinion as they do. Without literacy, all the people can do is follow and obey, allowing other people to take charge of their own lives.If a earth is filled with illiterate p eople then democracy is useless since the mindless majority can be controlled by the Name of Author 5- government and the votes of those who are literate and have their own minds can be surpassed by those who arent. If that is the case, then the government can become a dictator in the guise of democracy. Hence, it is uninjured to say that without the presence of literacy, there is no knowledge. Without knowledge, there are no choices. And, without knowledge, there is no freedom which is the very essence of democracy.