One day when I was fifteen years old, I stole the first piece of literature with which I ever fell in love. I remember it clearly. I was in drama club my freshman year of high school and I was waiting around in the girls' costume room. Bored out of my mind, I looked around the very old room and noticed a paperback book. The book had the face of a man with piercing eyes on the cover. In large yellow letters it read: “F. Scott Fitzgerald: THE GREAT GATSBY." Laughing to myself, I remembered everyone telling me it was one of the worst books they had ever read. Thinking it would be humorous to steal it, I grabbed the book and claimed it as my own.
The book sat in my room for a whole year until I switched schools. I did not know anyone at my new school and I was extremely lonely. I looked at my seemingly vacant bookshelf that had The Great Gatsby shoved into its corner. In order to avoid awkward conversation on the morning school bus, I decided to carry the book and pretend to read it. What happened, though, utterly astounded my fifteen-year-old mind. The opening line of the book hit me like a brick wall. It reads: “In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. 'Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,”' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.'" I was madly in love.
I read and read and read. I had to know as much as Fitzgerald would allow me to know about Gatsby. I wanted to know desperately why he reached out to that green light. I wanted to know why on earth Daisy Buchanan settled for her superficial life. I had to understand the significance of a boat against the current borne back ceaselessly into the past. Prior to this amazing reading adventure, I despised reading. I loathed the idea of sitting around and staring at words. Reading this type of literature was different for me. I fell in love with the language and the way that literature gave me the chance to empathize with others.
Just by reading one book I was lead to a fascination with understanding the lives of others. Reading The Great Gatsby lead to me reading other amazing works of literature such as Slaughterhouse-Five, Of Mice and Men, Frankenstein, and many others. I took journeys to worlds that I never thought existed, places of which I’ve only dreamed, and cities to which I’ve always wanted to go. Reading became my way of traveling to the past and understanding a time that might have been far beyond my understanding. In addition to this, I found that reading has made me a far more confident individual. Prior to my adventure of reading, I found myself unable to talk to people. Reading became my way of relating to others and thus being able to connect with others on a deeper level. Understanding that everyone comes from all different walks allowed me to appreciate what makes us all different.
Overall, falling in love with literature changed my life. Some people go through life hardly ever picking up a book or reading one from start to finish. I hope that anyone who is looking to gain more empathy and a deeper understanding of others will turn to literature. It opens a variety of doors in your life and forces you to look at the words differently than before. Reading is a way of challenging yourself to truly walk in the shoes of others, and even allows you to hear the voices of the dead. So please, go out and find a book you like. Or be like me and find a book you heard sucks. You just might be surprised by how beautiful the results are.
