The Man Who Couldn T Read Gary Smith Summary

I really enjoyed the article, The Man Who Couldn’t Read by Gary Smith, as it showcased how a man deceived many people and for many years, without saying anything until he could no longer hold the secret. “’There’s something wrong with him.’ Yes, there is, there is! He wanted to scream” (7). At the same time, I was astonished that John Corcoran could deceive everyone, and he could do this by constantly checking and trying considerably to keep the façade. Smith can illustrate this in the profile, by illustrating many scenarios that John lived and how he could “pretend” that he could read. Overall, these descriptions of the scenarios as well as the examples of what John would state led me to like the article because I kept wanting to know more

This scene helps contribute to the article by indicating that there is something bothering the character. When someone has, trouble sleeping the cause is usually that there is something bothersome happening. In addition, it is shown later in the article about his guilt that he feels toward hiding the fact that he couldn’t read to others. “But any label was better than the dreaded one, the unspeakable one: He can’t even read!” (7). Smith illustrates why he hid for the pain of embarrassment, and the first illustrates how he is haunted by this. In addition, the scene illustrates how this is not John’s first night in which he has trouble sleeping, this is shown by his statement: “Please let it happen tonight” as well as his subtle movements as he got up from the bed, “slowly, so the bed wouldn’t creak” (3). The phrase, allows the audience to allude that John has spent many sleepless nights thinking about whether he will be able to read that night or not. Though the first scene is short, it allows the audience to become aware of issue that the character is

Smith uses John as an example of this, by illustrating how he started deceiving everyone and “manipulating” people that surrounded him. Though in the scene, it states that his wife knew, he still hid it from others (3). Moreover, in the article it refers to John did not expect to graduate college as well as to have a job as a teacher, yet he managed and it only forced him to continue the secret. “A teacher. The perfect inconceivability for an illiterate” (10). What is more, it created an additional excuse for John to continue the deception. Ultimately, at the end of the article we are able to see he sought help, after he was losing everything and couldn’t keep the secret any