Journal Review: Literacy in Literature and in Life

Journal Review: Literacy in Literature and in Life

This journal article is very interesting because it uncovers the importance of literacy in literature and how it affects one’s life through a book named The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell, written in 1910. Through this book, many types of literacy are defined. The first one is street literacy (or mass journalism), which is a common way a group of individuals will communicate, like colloquial language. The second type of literacy defined in this book is didactic literacy. This is literacy at an educational level. The last three are working class, primary, and secondary literacy. These literacy are restricted to people in that cohort, for example, the working class people will understand working class literacy and the elementary and high school age students will understand their set of literacy as well.

The journal article excellently defines these forms of literacy through examples in the book. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is primarily made up of street literacy because the author written the book with realism and passion by making himself the key character. The issue throughout this book is to define working class people’s ideologies and attitudes toward skills of literacy and place of schooling. Half of the characters agree that didactic literacy is useless because one will forget it when they start to work; while the other half think it is important. The journal also mentions that the best literacy is associated with one’s background. A working man will not understand literary works of a farmer, and vice versa. After all the disagreements, the characters generally agree that the efficacy of literacy and education was a product of time. This is saying that the immediate effect of being exposed to literacy will not be seen, but only after time and more experience will literacy improve a person’s life.

This makes an instrumental fact that tie in with the Literacy and Literature class. Initially, as a child learns to read, he/she may not know the importance, but after many and different exposure, he/she will see a positive difference in his/her life. One can take the example of two third graders, one who reads well and other who is struggling. Obviously the first child will have an easier way through school. When that child is exposed to several literary works, he/she will be able to read, think, and process his/her thoughts and works without much struggle and in a more in-depth way. This exposure is allowing that child to function on a multifaceted dimension. The previous experience in literacy will become