Narrative Essay about My First Experience With Literature

It was a warm autumn day, the kind of day that was too warm for a sweatshirt but too cold without. A young, blonde-haired boy was eagerly waiting in the passenger seat of his mom’s car. He was very excited to get to his homeschool coop.

His mom had to run errands so he would be staying a while. The coop ran from 2-6. He, however, was staying from 2-9 so he had plenty of time to play with his friends.

The first thing he did was assess what kids had shown up. He could see his best friend Parker with the nerd girls he always hangs out with. That was it, so he thought to himself that he must have arrived early. The others would be here soon, he concluded.

Parker had an interesting demeanor to him. He was tall with brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a beanie at the time. He would later reflect that it was Parker’s first time wearing it. He remembered how surprised he had been to see his friend wearing the beanie.

“Hey Parker, what are you guys talking about?” the boy said. They said nothing, perhaps they hadn’t heard him. He repeated his statement, “Hey Parker, what are you guys talking about?” This time, Parker and the girls noticed him. “Oh, we were just talking about Rangers Apprentice. Do you read novels much Quenton?” “Yes, I’ve read some before,” said Quenton. “What’s the book about?” asked Quenton. “It’s about these almost ninja-like archers that go on all sorts of cool missions,” replied Parker. “Oh, I see,” said Quenton.

After the coop, he said goodbye to his friends and left for home. On the way home, he was debating whether he should read a book like that. His philosophy was always that reading such things were a waste of time. He also wanted to make more friends and if he started reading the books, they were reading maybe he could relate more.

DING! Quenton looked up in surprise, it was just his mother opening the car door. They were home and with that came an inert sense of peace and happiness. His house was a warm yellow, with the paint scraped off in places, and with a blue door that made it feel oddly comical. It was a very big house, which should come as no surprise as he had four siblings. It often felt small, with so many people in one house.

He headed to his room which was in the basement. Upon walking in, it feels either incredibly cold or unbearably hot depending on the season. It’s extremely hot in his room today. His dad must have started the wood stove. 

Thinking about the book “Ruins of Gorland,” he decided he would go to the library tomorrow. For now, he would go to bed.

When he woke up, it was cold. It was so cold, his nose felt like ice. “Oh no!” he must have forgotten to put wood in the woodstove last night. He quickly started it and proceeded to warm himself. It felt like stepping into a hot bath.

It was just about time to leave for the library, but he lost the book he had borrowed earlier that week. He quickly searched for it everywhere. After a solid ten minutes of searching, he found the book in his closet. The cover reads: “Prairie Skies the Minnesota Weather Book”. He had finished reading it the day before. With the book in hand, his mom drove him to the library.

The library was a large brick building that resembled a school. It was, perhaps, one of the largest libraries in his area. He also knew that it was much more than a library, as the U of M extension shared the building. Upon entering it he smelled old yet clean at the same time, almost like a museum.

He scoured down the aisles until alas he found it: “The Ruins Gorland,” the first book in the Rangers Apprentice series.

On the trip home, he started reading it. One of the first things that happened, was a major shift in how he viewed fiction. His whole life he had read nonfiction and all the encyclopedias. At this moment, something changed inside of him. He now viewed fiction as a work of art, something worth reading.

The next few months he became obsessed with fiction novels.  In seven months, he read thirty-two novels. He read the entire rangers apprentice series within three of those seven months. He became almost intertwined with the stories themselves.

Quenton’s dad became increasingly annoyed at all his book reading and often said that all this fiction was rotting his brain. Quenton still kept on reading. His obsession could not be stopped, or could it? 

Fast forward a couple of years. He stopped counting the books but kept on reading. His dad had him do a speed-reading test. To his surprise, he could read and comprehend text at a rate of six hundred and eighty-five words per minute, far surpassing what his father could do. This test finally changed his dad’s opinion on his obsessive reading.

Then something happened next year: covid-19. 2020 was the year everything shut down. At first, his mom stopped letting him go to the library because his mom did not want grandpa to get sick, and possibly die. So, this puts a halt to Quenton’s reading. The following months he read almost nothing, as he could get his hands on no books.

Well ok, he could get his hands on one book, the Bible. He started reading the Bible as his next obsession. This greatly improved his happiness, and without it, he would have never made it through to the other side of the pandemic. 

He started reading “Brave New World” when things opened again.

After “Brave New World” ignited his passion for reading, it also changed his perspective on the world. And finally, he realized, that the biggest power of literature is the power of changing one’s perspective. He now uses his analyzing skills and thinks about this revelation. He realizes the reason he is so analytical is because of what he read when he was young. The way he thinks about problems was built on all the science books he read. Fiction has had the effect of shaping the very way he talks. He now realizes, his whole worldview was built on the Bible.

I looked at the time, it was 12:06, time to go. Dad was baling hay and wanted me to go help him at noon. I forgot to set an alarm and had to run out so I could wrap the hay in plastic. It took me roughly 2 hours to complete the job.

I drove the ATV home, from the field. The wind going through my hair was exhilarating. It did not last long though, as it was a short drive from the field.

Upon reaching the house, I ran up the stairs, turned the corner, and sat in one of the chairs facing the window. Looking out the window, it’s hard not to get mesmerized by the sheep peacefully grazing in the pasture and the sun moving across the sky, casting sun rays onto a pond, and giving it a shimmering effect. 

My phone made a ding sound. I look at it. It is not a message, but rather an apple news notification. I typically get one each day so it’s of no surprise. The title reads: “Biden Battles GOP Governors on Vaccine Mandates.” this is from apple news spotlight I stop reading and feel a small sensation on my hand, it's an ant. I fling it off and go back to reading politics for the next hour. 

The article talks about the republican Governors fighting with the democrat president. If you simply replaced the two political parties with countries, you notice little to no difference, like two little children blaming each other. I think, “how could this happen to the USA?” Then I realize the power of literature to shape one’s mind, to indoctrinate people. It starts by identifying with either the right or left. A person then starts to read and watch exclusively biased literature. After that, a person’s mind is molded into believing anything that the preferred news source puts out. A person is now in the echo chamber of politics.

I then question what my views on the world are and how what I read changes my thought process. The first thing I noticed was how fast it all happened. Within two years, I had gone from a person with no political affiliation to a conservative. It happened so fast without me even noticing it.

In conclusion, I must say this has opened my eyes to how literature can change one’s perspective (mine included). I think we would all be better off if we read both right and left publications and watched right-wing films and watched left-wing films. So, to the reader, I challenge you to find which one you belong to and work hard on seeing things from all angles. If you watch CNN all day, I recommend watching Fox for a bit, or if you listen to the Daily Wire, I recommend listening to NPR. Just try and even yourself out a bit. I think it will help each side to not feel that the other side is toxic.