The Underlying Individuality of Writing

Writing has consistently been an important form of communication in the history of civilization. It has undergone shifts as cultures around the world changed. An example of this is how over time, writing began in forms like papyrus and with the help of technology, transformed to how modern writing is today. The transformations in writing also play a part in individuals. After reading “Writing the Mind” by Bolter, it has expanded my perspective on the impact that writing has on shaping a  person into who they are today. The first few letters I wrote when I first began learning how to write is still considered writing, just like how I am currently typing sentences on a computer. It is now apparent that also my thought processes in writing have changed as I have grown throughout my life. When I first began learning how to write, I probably didn’t truly understand the importance of the letters I was tracing. However, I developed those skills and transformed my written form of language from letters to words and words to sentences. The difference between these changes is that I gained understanding and value for my writing, learning how to communicate my thoughts and ideas in another form of language. With the capability to read and write, people can interpret other perspectives in writing and compare it to their own. This deep analysis varies from person to person, depending on how they were raised or the culture that they grew up in. Their critical frame can be directly manifested into what they write, displaying the importance of writing in communicating and interpreting. Coming from an Asian American background, my culture would obviously be different than cultures around the world,  and I can portray this with my writing. This process of categorizing my thoughts and organizing them onto paper is very personal, almost to where I am what I write. Writing is very vulnerable because what someone spills onto paper is about the individual, including their culture and their upbringing. My grandparents and parents have dealt with war through much of their lives and that is a part of my background that I can write about and relate to with many other people. I find that there are many benefits of having writing because even though you can have language with out writing, it fosters analysis, editing, forwarding, and categorization, things that aren’t easy with verbal speaking.