That "Aha" Moment

As I read Frances EW Harper’s poem, “Learning to Read”, my understanding of the text didn’t come until the end. I found that as I was reading, I was paying special attention to “read in between the lines” because for some reason I always miss some crucial piece of the reading until it is explained in class. As I got to the end of this poem, however, I realized that this poem is as straight forward as can be. The poem is literally about “Chloe” finally learning how to read, even though she is sixty. As I was reading the last line I caught myself going back and making sure I hadn’t missed something. But my realization of the text was perfectly clear; this poem really is about a slave woman finally being given her right to learn how to read. As I finished the poem I thought to myself, “Wow. Harper does an amazing job of making the message so clear and simple while still using complex texts.”

As I read Charles W. Chesnutt’s story, “The Wife of his Youth”, I was completely shocked when I realized that this story was different than what I expected. I was so overwhelmed when I realized how much of a journey and how much courage that Mr. Ryder’s first wife must have had to travel all that time for her true love. I honestly don’t know if I could be without my true love for that amount of time! I can’t even fathom the extraordinary pain and suffering (emotionally) the women went through. My moment of realization came when I had to put myself in her shoes and ask, “Could I myself do that for someone”. As of right now, the question is still unanswered!