One descriptive detail from X’s narrative was in the quotation “Much of the big private collection that Parkhurst had willed to the prison was still in crates and boxes in the back of the library- thousands of old books. Some of them looked ancient: covers faded; old-time parchment-looking bindings.” From this quotation, one descriptive detail was “old-time parchment-looking bindings”. This compelled me because it created a visual image in my head of old books falling apart. It lingered in my mind because it made me wonder about the condition of the books he read and related it to the facility where he read them in- prison. It suggested that his changing personal relationship to written literacy was growing. Even though the books were in bad condition and he was locked away, he had a passion to read and learn. He took the worst case scenario and made the best out of it by becoming literate.
While reading Tan’s literacy narrative, one thing I wanted to imitate was how she described speaking to someone not fluent in her language and the awkwardness that followed. It pulled me in after reading it because I experienced something similar to this as a child. I remember trying to speak to my brother when we were around 5 years old. I remember our dog was going crazy and biting my leg. I was screaming for my brother to help me and call our mom, but he had no idea what I was saying. It was almost as if his body was present in the event, but not him. I would use this example to utilize Tan’s style of writing.