I wrote my literacy narrative in the subway. I can’t focus in quiet places since I always found silence so distracting, so I did it in a place with lots of people. Seeing all those different types of people made me realize that the more differences we have, the more we have in common. And I took a look at the images again, and I noticed some similarities between the two. Although the circumstances behind the two were different- Rockwell’s to convey a message about racism and another to portray a rich woman as a victim- I saw that the message was the same: restriction of free speech.

The Betsy DeVos image was made after she went to make a speech in a school and people were restricting her from entering the building, which reminded me of how white people spat, threw rocks and insulted Ruby Bridges for going to a previously all-white school. Although it was nowhere near what Ruby Bridges went through, I could see how someone could make the similarity between the two. They both were restricted from speaking their mind. As a result, I wrote about why someone could make the comparison between Ruby Bridges and Betsy DeVos, even though I didn’t completely agree.

I wanted my tone throughout my writing to be informative because I felt that both sides- the side that agreed with the Ruby Bridges comparison and the side that didn’t- had some interesting points and I wanted the audience to be aware of both sides before I discussed my stance. However, because I saw the merit in both sides, I felt somewhat unsure about my stance throughout most of the essay, hence why I wrote about my stance in the last paragraph. I also felt that this was a sensitive topic to talk about and if I expressed myself wrong, people could be offended- which was something I did not want. This uncertainty was what lead me to be so nervous during the drafting period, since I did not know how my audience would react

I had an essay ready to give this morning by 10 in the morning today, but I felt that something was missing from that essay. It was like I had my argument there, but I still felt unsure, uncertain and insecure about my writing, so I decided to write an essay from scratch the morning of, which was this.

Originally, I wanted to write about how displacement and condensation is found in Oates’s story. After getting to the 2^nd body paragraph, I started feeling uncertain about what I was writing. My argument was there, so was my evidence and my thesis was solid. Then, I thought more about the story and felt like what I had was missing a chunk of something; my essay felt shallow. This planted the seeds for uncertainty in me and prompted me to make a new thesis, which was the one I had for this essay. I decided to focus on how displacement and condensation appeared in the story and what the dream said about Connie, as a character, in general.

Personally, I found Connie relatable as a character, which is why I decided to focus more on her and how Freudian concepts bring more of her character to life. I, too, in my adolescence thought of my family as annoying- always restricting what I could and couldn’t do, so I understood that aspect of her character. I also knew that when I was younger, I never liked to be wrong, which is where I drew that conclusion about Connie. Connie is all about appearance over substance and to appear right and perfect in every situation does seem like something someone as vain as her would want, which makes it even more scary when we’re wrong. Perhaps I should’ve had this change of heart earlier…

While writing this paper, I had some trouble while trying to look for sources to support my claim. At first, I couldn’t find any sources to support my claim, but then I decided to narrow down my search and instead of using long phrases like “how does super-Frog show Id, ego and Super-ego”, instead, I searched for “identity and Haruki Murakami” and wouldn’t you know it, I found many articles.  And those articles helped me understand the story more, which was good. They also gave me many ideas on what to write about and how certain elements of the story connected to one another, as well how they tied back to how Murakami wrote characters in general. As I researched more and more and learned about Murakami, I grew more interested in his writings, which prompted me to buy one of his books, so I can experience more of his works.

I really liked the message of the story, as well as how weird and absurd it was, which prompted me to write about it. It was so weird how a giant frog with super powers fighting a giant worm was symbolic for how a guy struggled with finding his place in society and this made me want to unravel more about the story, especially Katagari. I also found Katagari relatable as a character, since I too question my place in society and this relatability was another contributing factor for me wanting to write about this story.