Abstract

It is my intent with this essay to demonstrate the influence of external social pressures on literacy. By paralleling Min-Zhan Lu’s “From Silence to Words: Writing as a Struggle” with Stuart and Elizabeth Ewens’ “In the Shadow of the Image” I will elaborate on the impact of continuous exposure to propaganda and peer pressure have not only on a person’s literacy, but also a person’s own identity. Lu’s essay illustrates her internal struggle with literacy and identity while trying to please both her Western cultured family and Chinese communist society. Her difficulty trying to decide her position on various issues under the constant bombarding ideas from her family and her school is similar to the struggle the typical consumers face in the Ewens’ article. The idea that these pressures from our environment can become ingrained into our subconscious is a very applicable concept to everyday life that deserves to be examined more thoroughly.