Ava Duckhorn
Mrs. Ely
AP Lang.
28 August 2017
Essay Summaries
“You’ve Got Rapture” by Nora Ephron In Nora Ephron’s essay, “You’ve Got Rapture,” originally published by O, the Oprah Magazine in June 2002, Ephron reflects on her lifelong love of great books and their ability to capture a reader for days at a time and leave the reader speechless for days after, examining the details and considering the epiphanies found within dog-eared pages. According to Ephron, books have been the only constant throughout a life filled with years of love, sorrow, and new couches; she recalls times of personal upheaval and the specific books that first comforted her with their dazzling plots and dreamy characters, then prompted her discovery of unhappy or exhausted…show more content… He describes his childhood home on the Spokane Indian Reservation, where he was introduced to literature by his father, an avid book collector, and a Superman comic book, both of which played important parts in the development of Alexie’s obsession with reading and knowledge. Alexie explains that in his mixed-heritage school, Indian children were expected to be quiet and simple, and give no indication of their intelligence and skills in non-academic ventures; however, Alexie defied these expectations by quickly becoming a rebel among his community, known for his refusal to be a quietly mediocre student. He believes that his love of books empowered him to lead a fulfilling life as an author of poetry, short stories, and novels, and enables him to fiercely advocate for the fair education of Indian youth and encouragement of their suppressed…show more content… She relates her own journey of self-discovery and assuredness in her passion for writing, beginning with her childhood love for books and stretching through years of high school analyses of classic plays and undergraduate studies of new critical theory. Prose claims that the best way to develop clear, intelligent writing skills is to first learn how to close read: pay careful attention to every word choice, examine syntax, and ponder implications and explications of the text. She maintains her college-borne belief that the best way to read literature is as the author writes it, seeing the words for what they are and what the author intended them to mean, not as pieces subject to convoluting theories that overshadow a truer interpretation. Her advice to readers is to constantly close read other works, even those by the most celebrated authors and those that seem to highlight one’s individual weaknesses, when writing their own pieces, because other works serve to remind writers that all authors, with all their different styles and passions, have a place to be
