This week I am touching again on the idea of power in writing, this time in contrast to that of reading. Literacy in American Lives by Deborah Brandt sparked this thought in me, as she highlighted the different ways that reading is encouraged in comparison to writing. As this article is relatively dated (published in 2001, but discussing research from 1895-1975), it is interesting to analyze the perceptions that society used to hold about reading and writing. Overwhelmingly, reading was encouraged from a young age- in the home, in schools, at church. It was thought that reading made you smarter, helped you understand important events, and internalize widespread beliefs. Reading developed the ideal consumer- one that would comprehend ideas without engaging with or challenging them. Writing, on the other hand, meant that anyone could become the producer and distributor of ideas. It allowed for deep analysis of content and encouraged critical thinking. In the eyes of the powerful back then, this was incredibly unappealing. Analysis and critical thinking meant challenging ideas- ideas that enabled those in power to continue doing what benefitted them.
Another element of the reading-writing dichotomy that Brandt touches on is the idea of expression. Writing allows for the expression of emotions and thoughts in an easily accessible format, something that many people could benefit from. I was also thinking about how subjects in Brandt’s study recalled their early writing experiences as typically on their own, dealing with feelings like loneliness and disagreement. The whole experience was regarded as taboo. I am curious how this taboo perspective on expression might play in to our societal norms which inhibit the expression of emotions publicly. If we were encouraged when we were little to write down and about our emotions, and share that with others instead of hide it away, how would that impact our abilities to express and handle our emotions in a healthy way? How interrelated is written expression and emotional expression?
One Paige At a Time 
Hi Paige,
You raise a very interesting point about the liberating aspects of writing in contrast to reading. Writing is definitely a very powerful tool that can (and has been!) used divisively for centuries. As for your question about the correlation between written expression and emotional expression…
At least for me, writing functions as my primary emotional outlet. I find that I can often express my feelings better through written word than I can through spoken word. I’m not sure if writing has helped me handle my emotions in a healthier way, but it has certainly helped me to articulate them at times when even I couldn’t make sense of them myself! I think that writing definitely can facilitate emotional expression, but also that this can be achieved through visual art, music, physical exertion, or whatever each person’s personal preference is!
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It’s not ideal that writing for oneself seems to be such a taboo thing, but that’s the reality. For example, writing poems seem like an “emo” thing to do. My family understands it when I read for fun, but it’s such a weird thing when I write a journal or a short story for myself. I think one thing that attributes to this phenomenon is that with writing, you have to work harder to create new ideas or to generate thoughts whereas with reading, you just need to know the words to understand what’s happening. So maybe in that sense, many people don’t really understand why we would go that extra mile for the sake of entertainment. Schools teach us to read and write for the purpose of academics, and so they never properly teach us how to write our feelings. They only promote academic writing and force us to neglect our individualism and feelings. So I do think that if we were encouraged to express ourselves through writing at a young age, we would be able to understand ourselves better in adulthood.
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I think you ask a really interesting question in this blog post. When I was in second grade my teacher asked us to keep a journal. It was kind of like a diary that was less personal because we had to share it with a teacher. I loved writing in that journal and I still have it today. This past summer I was reading over it again and I found an entry about 9/11. I guess my teacher had asked us to write about it after we had learned about it. It was so interesting to see my thought processes as I learned about such a traumatic event at age 7. I think writing is incredibly powerful and also empowering. I think writing at a young age can empower younger children to embrace what they are feeling and find a way to make sense of it. I also agree with Lisa. Very few times in my early education do I remember having writing assignments like that journal. All of my writing in school has been a way to learn academically, and it always involves a strict rubric or grading system that you have to utilize in order to get a good grade. I think incorporating more individualized writing activities and less strict academic writing can help kids appreciate writing outside of the classroom.
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Paige, that’s a great point that writing could help with young children’s emotional literacy too. I know in preschool, kids are taught to identify their feelings and then to put them into words. However, this could transfer to writing in first and second grade. I wonder if it would help students to enjoy writing more if they saw it as an emotional, personal outlet too — and not just something to be graded and critiqued.
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