How Do I Connect to Others?

               In movies, I’ve seen people connect to others by telepathy. In real life, that never works. Telepathy is just one of the supernatural powers movie directors have created just to make money. I connect to people by sharing my opinions and listening to theirs whether it is about a political subject or about real life.

               In books or essay, the author tries to build a relationship with the readers to convey their message more effectively. Sometimes, they try to establish a persona by sharing their personal experience of something. By reading about a little bit of authors life, the readers are able to better understand the thoughts of the author and are then able to comprehend the message the author is trying to convey, or the thesis of the book. Establishing a personal relationship also makes the book more fun, because it feels like the readers are able to connect with the author. As people who read bits about the author, the readers feel as if they have known them personally. I think that the author wrote a good book or an essay when they are able to connect with the readers through their writing.

               I, as a reader, could better understand what the book was about when I could connect with the main character. Jane Eyre was one of the classics I could read without getting bored in the first ten pages of the book. Most classics like Pride and Prejudice and Emma (I know..they are both by the same author, Jane Austen) really bored me. Maybe it was because they only dealt with romance, but even the Adventure of the Tom Sawyer was kind of boring to me. I could read through the whole book without getting bored, because I could connect with Jane Eyre. She had to move to different places and adjust to that environment and get used to new people. I felt like she was in the same situation as I was when I first came to Saipan 8 years ago. The environment was totally different, and everyone spoke in a different language. Going through this adversity was really hard for me, and Jane faced the same troubles. Knowing how it is like to live in a totally different place, I could sympathize with her throughout the novel and understand how she felt.

               I think that building connection improves the relationship between two people. When I was discussing a topic with my friend, we had the same opinion. I think it was about the time of presidential election in Korea, and we both were hugely against the candidate, who is now president of Korea. She was the first woman president in Korea, but this was not what drove us mad. She was ultraconservative, and she was the daughter of President Park, who was almost like a dictator in Korea. Although he did improve Korea’s economy, the way he treated the nation and his own people were brutal and unfair. Also, we were generally against the idea of conservatism. Since she was the extreme kind, we abhorred her a lot. We would share our views about her and agree with each other. Because our opinions matched, we could talk on and on about this issue for couple of hours. After this talk, I felt like I was closer to her than before because I not only knew her personal side but her political side.