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Ways of Reading

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Ways of Reading
The Dark Night of the Soul The Dark Night of the Soul by Richard E Miller has been written with a main point always in mind, that reading and writing has very powerful influences people and their imagination but, the act of reading and writing is not being utilized as much in the modern world. Richard has created an essay that proves his point by taking five very different short stories and giving each a twist that helps the reader see the power of reading. As the reader is chronologically going through the essay he or she is given many possible meanings of the essay. The meaning and the relationships that the stories share are not revealed until the last page of the essay. The essay begins with the story of two distraught high scholars named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.In this story Miller really shows us the power of imagination. The feeling of being lonely drove them to the point of becoming violent. The boys went on a rampage. Miller also uses the example of Chris McCandless to further prove his point. McCandless threw away his life and went out on a journey to live by himself in the wilderness because of the stories he read. Miller wants to transmit to us that reading and writing have very powerful influences in people and their imagination, but he believes the power of reading and writing is not being utilized as much in the modern world. Through the examples he presents in the Dark Night of the Soul he tries to show different perspectives of reading and writing so that the reader realizes that both are really powerful realities which can have a big influence in someone’s life.

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