Robbie Wagoner

Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1103-048
16 February 2016
Reflection 3
After meeting with my peers one last time, I must admit that I am finally pleased with my
paper. They read over my essay and only had positive feedback to provide, which seemed to
boost my confidence behind this assignment. I finally came to the decision that I would not
create this work with an informal state of mind, but a formal one. I decided to write what I
believed to be the best example of my background with literature and how it has continued to
affect me.

Reflection 2
After meeting with my peers, I must admit that I was not truly pleased with my paper. I
was not pleased at the fact that my paper was so formal and so long while my peers managed to
create a short and informal essay that captured your attention until the end. Although I did not
receive feedback from all of my peers, the feedback that I did receive was truly helpful. Aside
from a grammatical error or two, it was as if my paper lacked information. Here I was telling
myself that my paper was entirely too long and that I needed to remove over half of it, while my
peers believed that I should actually go more in-depth. After taking some time to review the
comments, I went to work on this second rough draft. While I will admit that not much has
changed, I do believe that I changed enough to make the essay worth reading. The purpose of
this assignment was basically to write your story how you felt it should be written, and it took me
some time to realize that my story just needed to be written formally. I decided to include some

more details about certain aspects of this essay and also decided to remove certain aspects of
this essay. Starting with the removal of the entire first paragraph, I took my time to delicately
read over this entire essay and change what I felt needed to be changed. I must say, I am not one
hundred percent satisfied with its current form, but I am much closer than before.

Reflection 1
After taking an appropriate amount of time to read back over my first draft of this
literary narrative essay, I cant help but think that this is an exact representation of what was
running through Anne Lamotts mind as she was writing Shitty First Drafts. I dont feel as if
this essay could be classified as shitty, but it is certainly close. My opening paragraph was
basically useless and I only seemed to include it because I couldnt think of a more-appropriate
way to open this four-page assignment. Also, I truly believe that I went into way too much detail
when describing the texts that have been impactful throughout my life. I feel as if I spent more
time talking about the texts themselves, rather than explaining their impact on myself. Another
point that must be brought to attention is my title It Begins with History. At the time, I felt that
this was a more than appropriate title, but now I am having my doubts. I feel like I could use the
help of my peers to come up with a more creative title. Finally, I have to say that I am not used to
an informal style of writing. However, this entire work is very informal and I cannot stand it.
It Begins With History
Assuming that I was born just like any other human, I began learning from the second I
opened my eyes. I immediately recognized my surroundings, understood the love of my parents,
and openly accepted the new world. While I cannot remember every single memory of my
childhood, I do remember my parents pushing me to read at a young age. As a matter of fact, my
mother has spoken of the times that she read to me while I was still developing within her womb.

Anyways, as my age and mind progressed, my ability to read progressed as well. With hard work
and overactive parents, I was able to read far sooner than the rest of the kids in my class at
school. While my parents were away at work, my grandmother would often read to me, while
also making me read as well. Her strict teaching habits were completely understandable due to
the fact that she was both a librarian and a teacher at a committed Catholic school. She often read
stories from the little golden back books that portrayed several new Disney characters, however,
she then encouraged me to read books such as Fun with Dick and Jane. While I did enjoy
reading these works, my favorite thing to read was old newspaper articles about historical events.
I read articles with subjects ranging from the deaths of Elvis and John F. Kennedy, to the political
corruption of Richard M. Nixon. I do not resent my parents or my grandmother for pushing me
to read at such a young age, but I do believe that it has led to my inability to find interest in
literary works today.
As I entered grade-school, I not only learned the valuable lesson that nose-picking was
looked down upon by others, but I also learned that some books weighed a lot more than I had
initially thought. One book in particular was The Heritage of Stokes County, North Carolina
(1981). I understand that there is a slim chance that anyone reading this essay would have ever
read this text, so I will explain it briefly. I chose this text, in particular, because it was my first
thought when asked of an inspirational text that had an important impact on the history of my
life. I mean, what text could better explain my history than a book written by my family about
the area I was born and raised? Growing up in Stokes County, North Carolina, everyone is
consistent in that they respect and understand where they came from. It was common for our
ancestors to tell the story of their lives to the next generation, forming a cycle of story-tellers.
The stories of those who resided in Stokes County were often hand-to-mouth stories until finally,

members of the community decided to start writing them down. Eventually, numerous members
of the community, including my family, got together and collaborated all of their writings into
one large book known as The Heritage of Stokes County, North Carolina (1981). The long and
interesting history of Stokes County began in 1789 when the county was formed and established
near the uppermost portion of the North Carolina state line by men looking to recognize the late
John Stokes, an American Revolutionary War captain. Since then, most residents made a living
off of the crop known for its value, tobacco. Tobacco played a large role in the history of Stokes
County and is still appreciated to this day. I can remember reading this book with my parents
while I was young, even though the pictures were my main concern. I am very appreciative that
my community felt the need to create this book so that generations such as mine could learn
about our valued history.
While that massive text about my heritage was indeed important, it was far from the most
important book in my life. The first book that always comes to mind when asked what text
impacts me the most throughout my life is the Bible. Growing up in a Christian home, I attended
church every Sunday. The stories of the Bible and the message that it holds within it have been in
my heart since I was a young boy. This book has been used for several events throughout my life
and referred to numerous times. I find it astonishing that this book has changed the world and the
views of those within this world ever since it was created. I also find it truly amazing that people
are more than willing to die for this book and have done so ever since its creation. The Bible, to
me, obtains a meaning of freedom in that you can be free as long as you accept God. It contains
clear teachings that are worthy of being read by any individual. Not only have I taken the
initiative to read and fully comprehend the Bible, but I find it helpful to read a daily devotional.
Currently, I am reading a devotional directed towards students that was given to me from my

girlfriends mother. The devotional, One God, One Plan, One Life, was written by Max Lucado
and contains 365 days worth of meaningful messages that are meant to help students in their
everyday life. A combination of these two works allows me to keep my strength of faith at an alltime high, even whenever I am feeling low.
Of course the texts that I have mentioned above have been impactful within my life,
however, not all impactful texts have to be in the form of a book. In fact, one of the most
important texts that I have ever come to know was not a book at all, it was a movie. While some
might argue that this film was adapted from a book, I have only witnessed the film, thus meaning
that I can only speak about its impact and not the books. The film that I am talking about is none
other than the 1994 classic, Forrest Gump. As clich as it may seem, Forrest Gump is by far my
favorite movie. Growing up in the South, all of my fellow classmates and I were asked to watch
the film at least once every single year. Although I have seen the film numerous times, I still find
it highly entertaining. The story of Forrest and the obstacles that he was forced to overcome have
inspired many. Although it seemed as if life had given him the worse possible beginning, he
managed to succeed and transgress into a successful human being. While heavily exaggerated,
the storyline of this film does show a decent representation of life in the 1950s and its
progression into the hippie movement of the 1960s. It shows the harshness of the Vietnam War,
while also explaining the importance of friendship and brotherhood. The film then leads into the
1970s, 1980s, and eventually ends sometime in the 1990s. Throughout the film, director Robert
Zemeckis was able to use the novel, written by Winston Groom, to entertain millions and make
them feel several different emotions. Those who viewed the film could truly feel the love
between the main characters and often found it hard to hold in their laughter, much like myself.

While the film is only twenty-two years old, it is already considered a classic by many, including
myself.
As I entered High School and realized that book reports were going to become a common
thing, I assumed that it would be beneficial to truly read the books that I was assigned. By this
point in my life, I was tired of reading. I had read so many things that it just was not fun
anymore. However, I was introduced to a new novel in 2006 that did manage to catch my
interest, simply because it was about more local history! Trudy J. Smith wrote a novel know as
The Meaning of Our Tears. While this novel has only been around for ten years, the story behind
its cover has been out since the 1920s. Growing up in Stokes County, North Carolina, every child
was introduced to the story of the Lawson Family murders. On Christmas morning, 1929,
Charlie Lawson viciously murdered his wife, six of his young children, and then himself. The
true reason behind this massacre died with Charlie, but it is said that the Great Depression was
too much for Charlie to handle, so he made the unwise decision to end his familys suffering
before it ever began. The story of that day shocked the world, and has continued to do so
throughout time. This novel was actually written by the daughter of the man who wrote the first
book about the murders, White Christmas, Bloody Christmas. While the first book was based on
the accounts of what happened that Christmas day, the second was based on the accounts and
memories of those who were there. Local citizens, including my family, were interviewed and
their memories of that day were collaborated into this book. I can remember going with my
grandparents to purchase the book from the writer herself. I can also recall my grandmother
reading the book with me after school on several occasions. It quickly became one of my all-time
favorite books and remains there to this day.

High School introduced a new meaning to the word essay, at least mine did. My
freshman year English teacher felt the need to read, analyze, and write about everything in sight.
While I understand and appreciate that now, it was hard to cope with the idea at first. As we read
and analyzed novel after novel, I had pretty much given up hope. That is, until I was given a
raggedy copy of the text Of Mice and Men. Written by John Steinbeck and became published in
1937, this novella enlightens readers on the fictional story of George Milton and Lennie Small,
two migrant ranch workers who were faced to move around the state of California in search for
new job opportunities during the Great Depression. Once introduced to this story, I could not
stop thinking about it. While the book was initially planned to be read in class for the duration of
several weeks, I found myself finishing it within only a couple days at home. I have since used
this book for numerous projects and analytical essays. This book not only taught me the
importance of friendship and the dedication that must be put forth to achieve a goal or dream,
but it also taught how people lived their lives during the time of despair. My favorite aspect of
this novella was the introduction of the American Dream that both characters attempted to
achieve. Not only have I enjoyed the book itself, but I am have recently watched the adapted
films and found that they are just as entertaining.
Now, I know that you may be wondering how I can say that I dont enjoy reading after
having went through my entire essay. I have went into specific detail about how each of the
above works have impacted my life and how they have changed my views on reading. But, I am
still confident whenever I say that I do not enjoy reading. The texts that I previously spoke of are
exceptions to the rule, only because I truly enjoy reading them. However, most of the assigned
readings that I have encountered within my life have been extremely hard to read and enjoy
because I simply do not find enjoyment within them. Just as my title states, it begins with

history. While looking back over the texts that I have presented to you, I seemed to have found
a common thread of history. All of my texts were, in some form, about events that had taken
place in history or events that have impacted people and societies since their arrival. One text in
particular, The Bible, is a written work from thousands of years ago that has continued to impact
society to this day. Another text, The Meaning of Our Tears, was written about an event that had
taken place in my local history. It also collaborates the ideas and memories of those who had
lived throughout history. While, Forrest Gump, is a movie that introduces us to several decades
throughout history. It makes references to numerous historical events and even allows the
audience to see how people acted and what people thought at that specific point in history. Yet
another text, The Heritage of Stokes County, North Carolina (1981), was simply a collaboration
of stories and pictures from those who had grown up in my local community throughout history.
This book also allows the reader to truly understand what life was like in certain eras of history.
Finally, the text, Of Mice and Men, happens to be another novel that takes place in a past era of
history. The two main characters travel around California in the hopes of achieving the American
Dream, an idea that has emerged throughout history. So once again, my level of engagement with
a text also has to deal with its level of engagement with history. This is a common idea that has
affected my reading since I was young, and will continue to affect my reading in the future.