Literacy: A Lineage

"It would be impossible to discuss my path to literacy without talking about my literary guardian, the person who inspired and encouraged my love for reading and writing; my father."
Right away, Melanie Luken introduces her father in this moving piece about her passion for literacy. This gives the reader a well informed idea of the background of her story, and how her father was a huge part of her childhood and in shaping her to be the woman that she is today.

Luken later adds an important aspect to her story, the poem that was shared between her father and her on their Sunday bike-rides;
"It was as if an earthquake rent
The Hearth-stones of a continent...".
This poem was cleverly inserted because it gives dimension to her love for writing, and how simple things such as poems with her father were a big part of her life.

In the third paragraph, Luken explains her father's history and how it is important to her in the present; "He has dabbled in almost every art... Continues to this day to work on his art and writing." She also adds a key element in the middle of this paragraph, explaining her father's journey, going from graduate school in hopes of becoming a professor, to being a stay at home dad. Although this doesn't sound like an ideal situation, Luken makes it clear that his passion was more for the arts, and he had a creative and inventive mind. This was a big part for Melanie's childhood, to aspire to her dad in to do what makes you happy.

In paragraph five, Luken makes it vividly clear that she did not have a "normal American childhood", rather "Reading vociferously" and creating stories on her own. Unlike other typical American children, her escape was going to the public library with her siblings. Adding this is important to her main point of this story, that if you grew up doing something you love, you'll have that love forever.

Melanie Luken's last paragraph is truly what "seals the deal". She writes that despite what others have inherited from their fathers, she received something so cherish able that it will last for the rest of her life. That is, she inherited his love for language and literature. In adding these few words in the passage, Melanie grabs the audience' attention in a way that cannot otherwise be perceived. This sentence comes alive and makes it relatable in a different way for each of the readers.