O, the Sweetness of Reading :: Literacy Illiterate Education Texas Essays

O, the Sweetness of Reading Works Cited Missing Deep in the wilderness of Texas, the untamed, open fields provide a vast space for imagination to run free. Tales of adventure, cattle ranches, gamblers, rogues, and scoundrels abound. In the book Raising Sweetness, author Diane Stanley contrasts the stereotype of uncivilized lawlessness with a story of eight Texas orphans and the sheriff in their town who adopted them. The contrast of a sheriff of the wild west and orphans provides a unique juxtaposition. Despite this contrast of the stereotypical Texas sheriff, a more realistic problem provides the major conflict of the story—the sheriff and the orphans can not read. Although illiteracy was a common problem in the west it is not a respected method of killing off bad guys. Therefore, modern depictions of the wild west overlook illiteracy. Because illiteracy is the main hindrance to the characters’ quest of being able to read a letter, the illustrations to the book become even more important than just providing interest to the reader. The pictures provide a medium in which not only actions and key information, but also emotions are portrayed. These illustrations become an integral part in adding depth to the story. Through the use of coloring, style, details not described in the text, and perspective the illustrations make the story more effective. The coloring in the pictures makes the story more effective because it portrays the emotion that correlates to the text. For example, one illustration has only the colors brown, black, and white. The corresponding text is a flashback of how the sheriff’s â€Å"darlin’ done broke† his heart (4). Thus, the coloring effectively portrays the sad emotion because dark, neutral colors have a depressing connotation associated with them. Another picture that uses dark coloring portrays the orphanage and the mean caretaker who made the orphans scrub floors with toothbrushes. This illustration uses different shades of brown as the only colors. The picture represents a flashback to a previous book in which the sheriff adopts all the children to save them from the horrid caretaker. The brown tones give the appearance of an old, faded picture. The tones also lack warmth or brightness thus, they correspond to the emotion of dislike for the caretaker. This portrays that the actions took place in the past, and emphasizes the unpleasantness of the memory. Conversely, the illustrator uses light pastel colors whenever the sheriff’s sweetheart, Miss Lucy, is shown.