The essay “On Becoming a Writer” is written by Russell Baker, an author born in 1925, in Virgina. The excerpt is taken from the article “Growing Up”. “Growing Up” is a Pulitzer-prize winning memoir. The article describes the thoughts and emotions surrounding the moment that he realized his interest in writing.
At the beginning of the story, Russell Bakers speaks about the art of writing and how it intrigues him. He also describes what was uninteresting about the English language, as well. He told how he found grammar to be boring and writing papers were much like completing a chore. Russell stated that reading classic novels were “deadening as chloroform” (Baker, 1982). He explained in the except that he did care to write essays because they seemed tedious to complete and difficult for others to read and comprehend in the manner that the author wrote it. I agree with this feeling because the content is usually presented in a dull manner, which causes students to lose interest in the topic. If teachers allow students to be more creative with their writing, such as writing about personal interests, I think it would make the subject more appealing.
Further along in the story, Baker describes his junior year of high with his English teacher, Mr. Feagles. He tells us that Mr. Feagles was “prim to a fault” (Baker, 1982) and removed from reality with his expectations for the class. One of the course assignments was an informal essay, in which Baker procrastinated on due to his lack of interest. Before the assignments’ due date, he perused the list of available topics, until he settled on “The Art Of Eating Spaghetti”. The title of the topic took his mind back to his childhood when his family would enjoy a dinner where the meal was spaghetti. The overwhelming feeling persuaded Baker to not only complete the assignment but to exceed the expectation by writing two papers.