OOCE 1 - Grade: B PDF

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Corinne Pierson Professor Presuto ENGL 1 - 27175 - ENGL 111 - 34 OOCE 1 Ways to Write Stephen King and Frederick Douglass are both extremely famous authors who both learned to write on their own. In “Learning to Read and Write”, Douglass explains how he overcame obstacles to become a good writer. But in “Reading to Write”, King explains how easy it was for him to become a good writer. Even though King and Douglass both agree that reading books help you become a better writer, Stephen King provides a more convincing argument due to the fact that he was able to read a lot more than Frederick Douglass. In “Reading to Write”, Stephen King illustrates just how important reading is to become a good writer. He emphasizes in this essay that the worst books are often the ones that can teach you the most. Stories that are written badly can be used the most to show you the ways you shouldn’t write. King believed that there were no excuses for not being able to read, he goes tells his readers that “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write” (212). In his essay, Stephen explains that if you are not interested in your own writing, then you shouldn’t even bother. But if you did find that you were quite interested, you would be writing at every available opportunity that you had. At the end of King’s essay he finishes by telling his readers that reading frequently can help you memorize or learn what good writing looks like and sounds like. King states, “The real importance of reading is that it creates an ease and intimacy with the process of writing; one comes to the country of the writer with one’s papers and identification pretty much in order” (214). He believes that someone should be able to write

without self-consciousness and worrying about their work being bad. Frederick Douglass expresses to readers in “Learning to Read and Write”, that learning how to write by another’s sense of knowledge can benefit your own writing. Unlike Stephen King, Douglass wasn’t allowed to read books. He was a slave and his master forbid him to read and write. Douglass didn’t give up, he wanted to read and write and took every opportunity to. Stephen found a book named “The Columbian Orator”, by reading this book he tried to learn the spelling of the words in it and their meanings. He learned to write from other boys writing and him following their every move. Douglass found a specific boy and asked him to teach him the alphabet, leading Frederick to copy a whole book word for word. He states, “After that when I met with any boy who I knew could write, I would tell him I could write as well as he. The next word would be, “I don’t believe you. Let me see you try it” I would then make the letters which I had been so fortunate as to learn, and ask him to beat that” (130). This expresses to his readers that the boys didn’t believe he could do it, he had to prove them wrong. Although Douglass and Stephen both had the same point of view that included you needed to read to be a good writer. Frederick didn’t have the same opportunities as Stephen did and he had to make the most out of the situation he was in. Stephen King addresses to his readers that you cannot become a good writer unless you read, he believed it will help speed the process of becoming a good writer. Throughout his article, King gives several examples to his readers as to why he needed to read to become a good writer. He states, “Constant reading will pull you into a place (a mind-set, if you like the phrase) where you can write eagerly and without self-consciousness” (214). Stephen gives a personal experience to his readers in hope that they comprehend why it is some important to read. King learned how to write from reading stories. He read story after story learning the difference

between good writing and bad writing. King also stated, “The more you read, the less you apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor” (214). The point of King including this was for him to explain that the more you read good stories, the easier it will be to write a story without making a fool out of yourself. Although some writers are born with talents of writing coming naturally to them, Frederick Douglass had to learn to be a good writer over the course of many years without reading. Douglass was a slave who in his free time would try to learn how to read as much as he could, but his owner didn’t want him to learn to read because he thought he would become too smart. Douglass then would read whenever he could get away from his owner. He would give bread to poor local white boys in exchange for reading lessons. Frederick states, “Thus, after a long, tedious effort for years, I finally succeeded in learning how to write,” (130). He includes this because he worked for years and years on becoming a good writer and had several obstacles such as being forbidden to read and having to learn how to write from the local white boys. Although King and Douglass both agree that reading books help you become a better writer, Stephen King provides a more convincing argument due to the fact that he was able to read a lot more than Frederick Douglass. Both authors made several points in both of their articles as to why reading is important in writing, but Douglass shows us that it is not needed to be a good writer if you are willing to work harder and longer to become one....