A PERSONAL VIEW ON: “In The Lonely, Good Company of Books” by Richard Rodriguez

                     

The piece of literature brings out efforts and struggles in reading tough or difficult books. From Rodriguez’s experience which tells us that reading difficult books for a sense of self-achievement is not a good way to read. On his part, Rodriguez just reads for a sense of accomplishment as it brings him confidence after helping him to conquer the awkward silence during reading time. The idea that “books will make [him] ‘educated’” helps him “to overcome [his] fear of silence” while reading. He never knew what kinds of books were most interesting to him. He blindly followed the book list without even realizing what he needed. What Rodriguez was enthusiastic about was never the content of the book but the ability to claim that he had finished it. He mocks the experience by ironically describing his feeling after reading with “in a ceremony of great pride”.

The writer drew our attention to the fact that, when reading, we must read for knowledge and understanding. We should focus on the content rather than rushing to finish without any knowledge or making any meaning. Sadly, that has become the attribute of many readers, especially students. Reading is accomplishing when it is done to acquire more knowledge than to show off that we know. One must be active in reading and being an active reader helps you to raise arguments and contribute more effectively.

Also, the ideal of “it is not good to write in books” implanted in us which sometimes limits our understanding was perfectly portrayed by the writer. He was told to “consider books your best friend” and “don’t write in [his] books” when he was young. This according to Rodriguez does not help in understanding what we read because we just read without making any mark or reference. At least marking in a book helps one to easily make references and this has contributed to the development of poor reading attitude of most people.

In matching Rodriguez’s argument to that of Adler’s claim in “How to Mark a Book” claiming that the best way to have the “full ownership” of a book is to “write in it” seems convincing. It is true that readers are more likely to be observers just looking for what is going on in the content of books without enough critical thinking. As explicitly said by Rodriguez, It seems that books need respect, not understanding, which is a totally wrong conception with respect to learning. This goes to develop the theory that people who base on the completion of books reading as achievement or accomplishment are less knowledgeable than those who focus on the content. Marking or writing in a book helps one to break the content down for understanding.

I could not have agreed less with Rodriguez; however, it is also important to note that not all books are easy to comprehend no matter how attentive you are to the content. This is relatable to some course books; you do not have a choice. I share in Rodriguez believe that, books “were crucial for [his] academic success” after he failed to understand tough books in a deeper sense. It actually took me some years after reading some books before I could understand them despite several reads. Haha! I don’t want to refer to some of my course books like “Jurisprudence”, so funny how I struggled to pass my exams.

Rodriguez was so critic about the educational system. The system has contradicted itself with the same metaphorical adage used to advice students to “make their books their best friend” because if one reads a book and does not understand, he or she turns to ignore and dislike the book. At the end of it all, most students only read for academic achievement so that student just passes out of school with little knowledge. In addition, the system does not care for understanding but how much has been covered at the end of a semester, quantity over quality.

Rodriguez made us understand that the only way to make a book your friend is to read for understanding. If one understands a book, whenever you see it, it reminds you of something interesting and makes you feel happy about the book. In Rodriguez case, the tension with his “friend” the book started first and then they became better “friends” later on.

This is to say, we cannot just give up on a “friend” (a book) due to its difficult nature, but strive to become better “friends”. Good luck on your readings. 

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