Andrew Tilley

Mrs. Thomas

UWRT-1103

9/28/15

I hope that my audience is able to look back at my early childhood and see what sculpted

my mind to become who I am today.

The Texts of My Life

` Ever since I can remember I hated reading. Whether it be short graphic novels, to long

narratives about hero’s saving a damsel in distress, it was not for me. This is why I find that the

texts that have shaped my life have been from television shows, magazines, or movies. I am just

able to follow a visual display of a story better than trying to read words off a page, and visualize

it that way. I believe I just didn’t have that creative spark of imagination that would suck me into

a book until I read it for hours on end. Have you ever been reading a book, and finally realize

after reading an entire page you don’t remember what you just read? This happens to me all the

time, and for some reason, no matter how hard I tried, I could not focus. But let’s not dwell on

this topic, but get to the reason of this paper, to display what sculpted who I am today.

Even though, as previously stated, I did not like to read, that didn’t mean books did not

play an integral part in shaping who I am today. A lot of children’s books have deeper meanings

to them, usually ethical or moral, nevertheless a deeper meaning. I remember two texts in

particular however that demonstrated this profound effect on me. Dr. Seuss was a very clever

author that figured out if you could keep the book basic, add appealing visuals, and rhyme the

words together, you could produce a very successful book that stuck in kid’s memories

potentially forever. Dr. Seuss’s book Green Eggs and Ham did just that for me. I can remember I

always asked my mother to read it to me when I was going to sleep, and after a while I would

recite the words while she read it. Not even realizing it then but I was learning a very important

moral lesson, to not judge a book by its cover. In the story the main character Sam, a tall

yellowish bear with a top hat, is trying to get other characters to taste his green eggs and ham that

he made. However no one is willing to try it because it is green in color and they believe it is

rotten. However some eventually try them and they turn out to be quite tasty. I did not even

realize it as a kid but I was being taught a lesson that would stay with me for a life time.

The second text that played a vital role in my upbringing was one that I’m almost positive

everyone has at least read, or had read to them was Favorite Nursery Rhymes from Mother

Goose. Be it that it may not have been that exact version, everyone has heard of the stories of

Humpty Dumpty, Little Bo Pea, or Jack and the Bean Stalk. They are famous, and again all have

their own meanings behind what is written. For instances a personal favorite of mine was the

story of Humpty Dumpty.

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.”

Even though it was a morbid story of an egg climbing a wall and falling to his death, it taught me

another lesson. Sometimes it takes a fall, whether it be a fall in your course work, life, or even a

physical fall, one must bounce back and not let it bring you down, as it did to Humpty who

ultimately died in the end.

Yet again a shorter story, that rhymed helped me in modeling who I am today. Even

though there are hundreds of other books that have the same meanings behind them these two

texts in particular were where I remember learning these ideas.

Going back to when I was an adolescent, I have always loved the outdoors, nature, and

animals. Whether it was exploring behind my house, deer hunting on my property, or going over

to my buddy Eric’s house to fish, it has always had a place in my heart. A way that I was able to

feed this hunger for exploration was by watching the Animal Planet network on the television.

One show in particular that I watched every time it was airing was the Crocodile Hunter

featuring Steve Irwin. Whether it was his charming Australian accent, or him wrestling with ten

foot crocodiles, he grasped my attention at an early age. He would pull off the most amazing

stunts with animals that could have killed him ten times over, but he just did not care. He loved

the outdoors, and he impacted me in the same way.

This is why I loved programs like Animal Planet, or the Discovery Channel. I could sit in

the comfort of my own home and watch a man, say in Africa, come face to face with a Lion

while he told me traits, and knowledgeable information about the creature, without the danger of

being there. This is why I felt television played a vital role in my development of who I am

today.

Another memory I had as a young child was waking up Saturday morning and watching

Looney Tunes focused solely on the cartoons themselves. They were very entertaining to a child,

and they always made me laugh however they were also teaching me moral and life lessons. I

learned how to act around women via, the smelly skunk, Pépé LePew’s various failed attempts at

getting one. One must keep clean, and don’t smother them. Another lesson was even someone

who is as gentle as a bird can have a hidden side that can turn them into a big scary monster. Try

not to provoke them. This being the case when Tweety Bird is constantly chased, and

antagonized by Putty Cat, until Tweety Bird turned into a large apish beast. Even though you

would not even think of these cartoons as being capable to teach lessons to kids they actually

could, and be quite impactful. I could listen to a teacher try to drill an ethical idea, such as the

golden rule, into my head, however it usually would go in one ear and out the other. However if

Bugs Bunny was doing it I would listen to him. In my opinion some of my best teachers were

some of these fictional characters. I was in the comfort of my own home, with these characters

teaching me in a less stressful environment, and in the comfort of my pajamas. Who wouldn’t

prefer to learn that way?

In closing I have found that through several medians I have been taught vital knowledge

that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Whether it be through whimsical plays on words, or

television shows, such as the Animal Planet and Discovery Channel, that I watched as an

adolescent, they molded me into the person I am today. However this isn’t the end. I am still

learning every day from professors, peers, and new textual sources vital lessons that will stick

with me until my time is up.