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Analysis Of Wendell Berry's In Defense Of Literacy

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Defend What Is Important; Literacy Undoubtedly, we all had a tangled history with education as we strive to become erudite, but often practicality's nature interrupted our chances of becoming literate. Somewhere along the path of education we miss to intercept some content with the concept and begins to pervert from a discipline of language along with literature. Furthermore, being literate has become a mere ornament as the author Wendell Berry describes "In Defense of Literacy". Berry suggests that it is an absurd idea of that we must defend literacy, but he claims that it is a great necessity. In order for a student to become a literate at something, initially a student must become the teacher of the subject. We must challenge our ways of learning, the ways of perceiving information by guiding the importance of being truthful for …show more content…

It is important to understand where the language came from if you want to know its true meaning and value. When you understand a language's true meaning, then you are able to communicate effectively. You are able to persuade the reader into your world of imagination. True intelligence is born from an accurate understanding of language roots, " Such intelligence does not grow by bloating upon the ephemeral information and misinformation of the public media. It grows by returning again and again to the landmarks of its cultural birthright, the works that have proved worthy of devoted attention" (Berry8). When you consider how media are presenting news, they are not really telling the whole truth. They are only telling their version of the truth, they recite their perception of the truth. So when you knew the nature of literacy and its roots, then you are able to decide which word is leading you to believe in something that is illogical. you are able to achieve an understanding by learning its linguistic

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Neil Postman and Wendell Berry state that twentieth-century Americans are losing literacy and the ability to read and write, which weakens our ability to think for ourselves. Reading, writing, and thinking are connected through everyday life and as English speakers, it is our responsibility to preserve and correctly exercise the truth and validity of the English language. With the dependency on technology, relaxed educational standards, and even potential government control, we become stripped of our independence of thinking. With no free will to think, we are vulnerable to dominance and corruption, inability to argue complexly, oversimplification, and conformity. Neil Postman sets the scene of his essay, The Typographic Mind, by opening with an explanation of the famous Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debate.

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Dismemberment, a short story written by Wendell Berry, highlights the physical and emotional hardships of Andy, the protagonist, when he loses his hand to a corn picker. The story follows Andy’s emotions, relationships, and struggles when adjusting to living with one hand. The tone throughout is uncertain, which mirrors Andy’s feelings on changing his lifestyle to fit his new ailment. Wendell Berry himself, a farmer who views industrialization as a threat to the “simple life,” based a lot of this story off of his own personal thoughts on the mechanizing world.

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