LITERACY NARRATIVE

Before one writes, one reads.  A lot.  How did you begin to read?  What did you read?  What did it mean to you?  My college writing-workshop instructor, author Craig Lancaster, asks us to write it down.  Here's mine.

"Come, Martha Jean.  Edith Ann?  Carol Louise, Bud, Sis?  It's time to read before bed," calls Mom.  From different points in the house, we gather in the living room and quietly find a place to sit.  Dad is already seated in his sedate but comfortable chair by the reading lamp.  The Bible is in his lap.  When we're ready, he opens it to a place sometimes marked, sometimes not.  His voice begins quietly, steadily, reverent in every aspect.  When he stops and closes the book, we know it's time to kneel at our place for prayers.

From before my birth, this is the tradition followed by my father's father, and his family of eight:  devotions and prayers before bed.  Nothing interferes, not even an errant mouse.  "William, go get the broom."  Reading is on hold until William captures and eliminates the rodent --after which reading takes up again. 

The Bible is the mainstay, the foundation of our family's reading, my reading.  This is where it begins.  Every day of every year from birth until I leave for college and then marriage, reading the Bible aloud is a basic tradition.  Are there benefits to Bible reading this often, this long?  That never occurs to me until I start writing this narrative (it hits like a thunderbolt!).  This is the framework, the picture so-to-speak, of our family Bible-reading sessions. 

• The setting -- The family is gathered together in the living room in the evening.  It is dark outside but we have light inside.  We are safe.  Each of us sits where we choose, on chairs, on sofa, on piano bench.  The center of attention is a book and everyone listens to the reading of that book.  When prayers are finished, all leave the room and go to bed for the night with language from the book still ringing in our ears.

•  The main character -- The main character in the scene is Dad with the book.  He sets the tone for the Bible-reading just through his own actions.  His voice is still, steadfast, deferential.  And so are we.  It is abundantly clear that Dad is the leader of this family.  He is not always as loving and kind as this scene would imply.  There are multiple facets to his personality.  But in relation to his reading of the Bible, his attitude and actions are impeccable. 

• The supportive characters -- We, including my mother, follow Dad's lead.  More than we know, we are soaking up all the language that the King James version of the Bible provides.  The cadence and rhythm of the narrative; the exceptional vocabulary like "thee", "thou", and "thy" not often used any more except by specific sects similar to Quakers; the flow of the words, phrases, sentences.  These are what stick.

This framework explains that the impact of the Bible-reading sessions has to do with more than just the reading.  It also creates feelings of (1) safety, warmth, and comfort; (2) security that our parents do/will take care of us; and (3) appreciation for the beauty of the language we hear.

No other book has influenced me more, as I am now realizing.  My choices of reading material later on do not include what are considered the classics.  "Mr. Fix-it", "Black Beauty", books by author Grace Livingston Hill are a means by which I can lose myself in the story.  Even biographies and historical fiction serve the purpose of taking me out of my own reality of a too-restrictive life to a place where I can dream. 

The absence of pictures is another benefit of the Bible as a reading foundation.  As I listen, I create pictures in my mind.  To this day, I prefer listening to National Public Radio just as much or moreso than seeing TV or a movie.  Creating my own mind-pictures is one of the most enjoyable aspects of listening to a narrative.

The last benefit of the Bible-reading sessions, but not the least, is a deep appreciation for the book as object.  One of my first acts in exploring a new book is to smell the pages as I flip through them.  Not only seeing the exterior of front and back covers but also feeling them (are they smooth or nubby?) is important.  Icing on the cake comes, however, when I discover the pages are thin as tissue.  Parchment, maybe?  To me, that's the ultimate -- just as Dad's Bible had.

This revelation of the importance and influence of Bible-reading sessions on my literacy inheritance almost blows me away.  As a college student, I reject my early upbringing and choose a much more liberal path, becoming more broad-minded with each passing decade.  What continues to linger, I realize, is not so much the message and content of the readings but the method by which they are delivered.  Language is the thing.  Therein lies its inherent value.  One could do worse than have the Bible as a literary role model.