Final literacy Narrative

Never close your options

I always asked myself, “Why did I have to read?” I would complain to my mother that reading was difficult. When I finished reading a book, I would question myself “What did I just read?” Teachers in elementary and middle school would always give me a book to read for summer break. That book was never to be seen again until I had to open my book bag again for school. The old books would be tossed into the corner of the room and would eventually be thrown out because it was using up space. I now regret these decisions of mine as my interest in reading has grown over time.

When high school began, I started to get lazier in my academics. At freshmen year I discovered a type of animated shows called anime. In class, I would always just daydream about anime, and would always glance at the clock to see how much time was left until I was free from the classroom. Every day, I couldn’t wait to get home as quick as possible to indulge in my anime. I never felt a strong need to try in school, so I would never study, and almost never do my homework at school. My mother would scold me for only playing games and watching anime all night. She would tell me she has never seen me take out a book once, all she ever saw me do was use my computer. I did feel a slight pain of guilt, but I didn’t care enough to try to do anything about it. This all changed at the end of freshmen year in high school. I almost failed half of my classes and that’s when reality hit me like a splash of cold freezing water.

When sophomore year started, I told myself I must change. It was hard, my love for anime was an addiction. I tried to listen to my teachers and would study sometimes at home. But, I would eventually fall back to my old habits. For example, I would pull out my textbook and try to read the pages for my homework, but later I would push my textbook away to start watching a few episodes of my favorite series. One day, I was playing a game together with my best friend and we were talking about anime. While we were laughing and joking around, he mentions how he also enjoys reading manga. I have always heard of the term “manga” as most of my favorite anime shows such as Death Note was also once a manga, which would later be adapted as a TV show. But, I never read the manga version, because I hated reading. However, my friend kept persisting me to read at least one.

During junior year, my passion and love for anime was slowly dying. To explain, I was

Courtesy of myanimelist.net/anime/1535/Death_Note

getting bored because it was like doing the same thing for two to three years. My friend would always praise how good manga is, and that Death note was also very intriguing in the manga version. So, I was feeling adventurous, and I felt like reading it because I also really liked Death note in the anime version. When I started reading the first few chapters, it was tedious but later I couldn’t stop and kept scrolling down to read more. Reading manga was a complete eye-opening experience. The pictures were drawn with so much detail and the stories were told in a pace that was different than the anime and I loved it. I was so obsessed because all I did was read manga until my body would yawn to tell me it was enough. Gradually I would watch less anime and read more manga. This started my path to becoming more productive and suppressed some of my negative habits.

My interest in manga then further branched out into other things. Manga has made me appreciate reading, and made writing easier. For example, I would read the text passages my English teacher would pass out in class. Since I would read the passages, I would also do the homework because the homework would usually be related to the passages. This habit of doing my English homework caused me to finish almost all my homework. At the end of senior year my grade rose moderately, but my English grades rose to become my highest, which made me feel an intense sense of accomplishment. Currently I don’t just read manga, but as well as books online because they really do expand your imaginations. As, manga would always give us a picture and doesn’t allow the reader to imagine as much as he/she could. Manga helped me explore all types of literature and has helped me grow in my academics.

Manga has helped me in so many ways such as increasing my knowledge and expanding the things I enjoy. This world of manga and books helped me see the endless amount of unique styles and stories that were there for me to read. My academics grew because I could enjoy and understand the many passages my English teacher would give out. Also, my interest in manga helped me control some of the negative hobbies that I was unwilling to part with. Manga will always be a part of my life and I will continue to explore other literacy genres to expand my knowledge and passions.