Essays

Essays The Book Thief offered my first insight into a world painted in shades of grey, my first introduction to what would become my quest for understandingâ€"of humanity, of the world around me, of myself. It inspired me as a learner and as a writer to explore and question and, above all, to define my own truth. The Book Thief, in exploring such a profound theme, stood in a stark contrast to the mechanical nature of the public education system through which I’ve journeyed. In my prior schooling, we were taught to accept only one truth as the absolute truth. It changed my perceptions of myself and of the world around me. The tone of each book seemed to have a distinctive resonance; they quickened different parts of my being. I was raised on Roald Dahl, J.D. Salinger, C.S. Lewis, John Steinbeck, and J.R.R Tolkien. The book, or so my dad told me, had been given to him as a gift from a patient, but he had never even opened it. Instead it had been reconciled to a life on the shelf, watching the world but not participating in it. My reaction to literature was largely emotionalâ€"I could sense the tones and vaguely grasp the meanings of the novels. I could not, however, decode them in a way that allowed their import to live on, linguistically, within me. in fact, sometimes that kind of extravagance can be a little off-putting and it doesn’t tell your story. Share personal moments that reveal who you are as a human being. they show admission officers who you will be on their campus and in their community. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. Little, fifth grade me just hoped that maybe the next day in class the boy sitting next to me might profess that he loved me all along. When I finished Pride and Prejudice, I thought it would quickly be replaced by another book and my love for it left behind snug in the worn out pages of my copy. I found more happy endings after that, not all too surprising but none had the same effect as Pride and Prejudice&mash;that feeling of a book leaving its fingerprint on you. They were approachable, easy enough for a child to follow, and yet monumentally more vast, multifaceted, and meaningful than they appeared to me at the time. Even so, from a young age, I could tell a good book from a bad one. It wasn’t until my teenage years, however, that I could tell you what made these books good, or express what they meant in terms of almost anything but plot. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. This is the central part in which you need to explain each thesis, give examples and reflect on life experiences. At this point, each paragraph should focus on a particular idea and be organized appropriately. How to arrange a massive swirl of ideas on a paper to make it look appealing and easily digestible? More pieces of the puzzle left by my forbearers, both Jewish and German, fall into place. My first introduction to The Book Thief came when I plucked it from the bookshelf in my dad’s officeâ€"with permission, for I felt no desire to fulfill the irony of stealing a book about thievery. Fingers fumbling over the smooth cover and crisp spine, I prepared myself for a new journey. It had a distinct new-book smell, fresh and crisp and full of promise. Inside the front cover was scribbled a name, illegible. I picked up the book and read it in a single sitting, almost five consecutive hours enraptured by it. I came across Pride and Prejudice at a cheap bookstore, it was all weathered and yellowed and had the dusty scent of a book that was well worn in. I judged the book by its pretty, lavender cover and just had to buy it. At first read, I was enamoured with Mr. Darcy, yearning for a love story as deep and profound as in the novel. In the seminars I felt an energy of pure passion, every single person shared this love for learning that I had neverexperienced before. I had never been in a classroom where we were so freely allowed to ask questions. I realized that was what learning should be and that is how I want to learn. At the end of my eighth grade year we moved to Texas and as I was packing, I stumbled upon my copy of Pride and Prejudice. It was all bent and worn and it looked longingly at me as if it had been waiting for me.