Chapters of My Life

Anna Alfaro
Aug 31, 2018 · 6 min read

The Story of My Life

Exposition~

Photo my Mom took of my Dad reading to my brother when he was a baby ~

My Dad has always had a passion for literature for as long as anyone can remember. He came to the United States from El Salvador when he was a child, and ever since he was introduced to the language of english he has been utterly in love with literature. When my siblings and I were born my Dad read us just about anything he came across; from magazines, and newspapers to poetry and children’s books. I grew up listening to his rich, reverberant voice seeping through the walls of our quaint home. As a little girl I loved falling asleep enveloped in his voice. I loved drifting off into dreams of the stories he would tell me, and hearing the warmth and tenderness in his voice was music to my ears. I loved the way his voice would make words leap off the page and blend together in images of a bright green tree and a little boy, a dog named Carl, and wild monsters roaring in the night. His voice was the gate into a whole new world of dinosaurs, and princesses that slept on peas, and mischievous red-headed girls, and lost little witches, and a family of bears that could talk. His voice would make me laugh at the silly rhymes in the Dr. Seuss books, and make me shriek in fear of the monsters in Where the Wild Things Are. His voice, as deep as the ocean, never failed to sweep me into a world of wonder. As I grew older and learned to read on my own, I came to love the smooth pages of the books I read, the rasp of a turning page, and the feel of the words rolling of my tongue. When I was old enough my Dad and I would read books together, taking turns, playing different characters, and creating a symphony of words that floated off our lips. My Dad instilled in me his love of literature and it is because of him I became such an avid reader. The same way my Dad taught me how to read, he taught me how to live my life. He taught me to read between the lines of life, to learn from my mistakes and to always try no matter how afraid I am of pronouncing the word wrong, he taught me to look at context to find the meaning of new word. And most importantly he taught me to never lose myself, to always remember where I came from, and never let anybody tell me any different.

Rising Action~

A photo I took last year of my dog next to my copy of Romeo and Juliet and my English homework ~

As I continued to grow, my knowledge, and reading skills grew along with me and now, my Dad asks me for help with spelling and grammar sometimes. As I age so do the books my Dad used to read me. My favorite book was called The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, I keep it on a red shelf above my bed, a guardian to ward off bad dreams, and a reminder of a time of innocence and safety and warmth and imagination. Now the book has creases from dog-eared pages. Now Smudges of food and dirt sprinkle the pages and bright red scribbles cut through the words and drawings. Now wrinkles adorn the cover. At the time, when my sister took pen to paper, when she flipped through the pages with grimey hands, I was absolutely horrified. Now the wrinkles on the cover feel like the rough bark on the trunk of a tree, the creases on the pages feel like the stems of deep green leaves, and the red scribbles are a shock of color like apples against monochromatic leaves. The smudges are symbols of the carelessness of a little boy, and a reminder to always appreciate those who love you. The photo I took is of my dog and my copy of Romeo and Juliet, and my english homework because in this chapter of my life, my focus is school. This chapter of my life is filled with pages of homework and late nights regretting my procrastination.I am in the rising action part of my life, because in school right now I am heading towards the climax; when I become a vet, or when I graduate high school or college, or when I fall in love, or whenever my climax is, I haven’t reached it yet. My love of literature grows each day. When life is too messy and stressful, I turn to books to take me away, to take me to a different world where I become a different person, with different problems and understand the way other people think. Books have always been with me, and as the book of my life grows each day, I learn new lessons and grow into a better person. To this day my Dad occasionally reads me poetry, his voice the steady flow of a river, and his words the swift, slippery fish, I grasp at before they slip between my fingers.

Denouement ~

A Dictionary in front of some family pictures in my living room ~

In this photo the main point of focus is the giant dictionary, with some family pictures in the background. The dictionary is a symbol of what I hope my life will be like in the future. I hope that when I am old I will be teeming with knowledge and experience at the disposal for others. I hope that I am someone that my friends and family will come to for advice, or to consult. I hope to be a reliable person that people trust and love. I hope that with each year new words or lessons will be added to my book and that by the end of my life, when I finally reach my Denouement, I will be happy and proud of what I accomplished in my life and be a long and large book. In the background of the photo are pictures of my family and in the corner there are some soft green leaves. I hope that in the future I will have a large family and that I will be surrounded by those I love in my last days. I hope that my family tree will branch out and continue to grow long after I am gone. I hope that I will not be like the little boy in The Giving Tree; I hope I will always appreciate those who love me. I hope to instill a love of literature in my children the way my Dad did in me. I hope to pass on my copy of The Giving Tree and that whoever receives it will love it’s creased pages and scribbles, and make their own smudges and learn from it. I hope that even at an old age I will continue to read and write and love literature the way I do now, if not more. I hope that my last chapter will be filled with love and happiness, and that when my book finally comes to an end I will have affected lots of people in the best way possible.

    Anna Alfaro

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