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Introduction
In an excerpt from Letters to Friends, Family and Editors, Franz Kafka explains why people read books. He says people read books that wound, stab, and hurt them. Readers find no fun reading books that would make them happy (Popova). Instead, they pick books that affect them like a disaster and make them feel like they lost a loved one or have been banished from their village. Readers want a book that awakens the unexploited energy frozen inside them (Popova). In other words, people read books for awakening, motivation, and to be challenged. In this analysis, three different sources, a poem, a song, and a TEDx Talk speech, are incorporated to elaborate more on the importance of reading books. Reading books is vital because they awaken the reader’s inner spirit, which requires constant motivation to prosper.
I Opened a Book by Julia Donaldson
I opened a book is a poem in which Julia Donaldson narrates her experience reading a book. She confesses that after she opened and started reading the unnamed book, she realized she was in a new world. She went to a place where no one could find her. Donaldson says, “I’ve left my chair, my house, my road, my town and my world behind me (3-4). She shows how she immensely dives into the experience of reading. Her spirit is in the world of this book, and she feels like her body has left her home too. Such an experience is a psychological event from which book readers benefit. Reading a book helps the poet move to another world while in her room.
The poet narrates that as she reads, she is wearing a different clock in which she gains new and strange experiences. That the book gives her magical powers to do the impossible. “I’ve swallowed the magic potion. I’ve fought with a dragon, dined with a king and dived in a bottomless ocean (Ronaldson 7-9). While within the process of reading the book, the writer can do the impossible. Like Kafka mentioned, Donaldson is reading a book that affects her like a disaster. She reads about having magical powers where she fights with dragons and dines with a king. The poet adds that she had a chance to share experiences with the book’s characters by making them her friends. However, when she stops reading the book, she realizes she is still sitting in her chair in her home. Therefore, according to the poet, reading books is essential because it allows readers to be imaginative and consume new experiences.
Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers & Coldplay
Something just like this is a song about an experience reading a book. In the lyrics, the two singers say that they have been reading books of old legends and myths such as Achilles and his gold, Hercules and his gifts, Spiderman’s control, and Batman with his fists (“Something Just Like This”). However, they realize they do not fit such people’s lists. An inspiring female asks them whether they want to take risks because she is not interested in superhumans but in the ungifted selves. Chainsmokers and Coldplay narrate their occurrences in reading books about gifted superhumans. Confirming Kafka’s words that readers want books that destroy them, the singers are hurt by the feeling of being powerless compared to the heroes. They are frustrated by knowing they are nothing like the books’ characters.
As they continue reading, the artists find encouraging voices assuring them of their powers. The occurrences of reading the book allow them to be like the gifted characters. Courageously, the artist says, “I want something just like this (“Something Just Like This”). The two are motivated to be someone beyond who they are in person. In the real world, this is a form of awakening where individuals are pushed to be better than they are. Chainsmokers and Coldplay are ready to accept an offer from the gifter willing to make them superhumans. Individuals move their talents beyond their limits by reading such hurting books.
How Books Can Open Your Mind by Lisa Bu
In a TEDx Talk, Lisa Bu, a Chinese living in America, tells how reading books changed her life. When Bu was in the first grade, the Chinese government wanted to send her to an athletic school, but her mother refused (“How books can open your mind”). Her parents wanted her to become an engineer, just like them. However, Bu had a separate dream to become an opera singer. Therefore, staggering between her parent’s wishes and hers, she developed a habit of reading books. She started reading books about family functionality and being an independent woman. She then realized that being an independent woman but such a role differed from Confucian, which requires obedience (“How books can open your mind”). Therefore, feeling challenged by the demands of an independent role in a Chinese setting dictated by the books, she decided to read expansively. Agreeing with Kafka’s assertion, Bu was challenged by these books to become someone else. The texts revealed that she could become whomever she wished without disrespecting her parents.
When Bu came to the US in 1995, she started reading books banned in China. She read many books, including The Good Earth and the Holy Bible, King James Version (“How books can open your mind”). Upon reading the bible, she learned about the fifth commandment, which says children should honor their parents. Bu felt that honoring was different from obeying, as demanded in Confucian. She used the acquired knowledge as a tool to climb up the Confucian guilt trap and follow her dreams. The speaker decided to be independent while still honoring her parents (“How books can open your mind”). Furthermore, she compared books to weigh authors’ opinions and increase her insights. Bu’s story makes it apparent that she found awakening through reading books. Bu read books that compromised her faith and belief, confirming Kafka’s assertions. These books proved her wrong for wanting to become an independent woman in a land where she should be humble and obedient. Feeling challenged, she read books that gave her alternative insight into her belief. Therefore, from Bu’s experience, reading books is critical for insights into different ideas.
Conclusion
Book readers are interested in reading books that challenge them to be awakened. Reading books that leave people happy is no benefit. Ronaldson showed how reading books drives her to a new world and to find life-changing experiences. Chainsmokers and Coldplay say they are motivated to improve their worlds by reading challenging texts. But by reading books that challenge her culture found insights to lean on as she pursues happiness. The selection of these readers’ books confirms that reading books is essential to awaken the inner soul.
Works Cited
Donaldson, Julia. (2004). I Opened a Book. Macmillan
“How books can open your mind.” YouTube, uploaded by TEDx Talks. Web.
Popova, Maria. “Kafka on Books and What Reading Does for the Human Spirit.” The Marginali, Web.
“Something Just Like This.” YouTube, uploaded by The Chainsmokers. Web.
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