LN- Samantha Martineau: this annotation shows me clarifying what the author was doing.

 

Paragraph I:

An example of a larger overarching influencer on literacy narratives is pressure from the opinions of society.  Influencers that are greater than a sponsor can have a huge impact on a literacy narrative, and example would be the pressure of the economy people place on themselves.  Brandt describes how the economy affects the literate skills of people, “At the same time people’s literate skills have grown vulnerable to unprecedented turbulence in their economic value, as conditions, forms, and standards of literacy achievement seem to shift with almost every new generation of learners” (Brandt 166).  While the economy may be inclusive of a sponsor, such as a teacher teaching for economic success in students, it is more broad than a sponsor. By determining an influencer such as the economy it allows for a much deeper understanding of a literacy narrative. The literacy narrative by Samantha Martinaue demonstrates the idea of an influencer the evokes pressure similar to that of the economy, which is peers, “I knew that I would probably always take longer to read than other students” (Martinaue).  Samantha compares herself to other students throughout her entire narrative. While she never actually has an interaction with her peers where comparisons are made, the pressure being like them is still a driving force for her. Samantha is a victim solely because of the pressures of this influence from her peers.

 

Paragraph II:

Another example of an influencer is the success narrative.  Alexander references the success narrative and explains the cost of the pressure of the success narrative, “Other costs (of aligning oneself with the success narrative) include social, cultural, and personal permanent displacement…” (Alexander 610).  The success narrative pushes people to try and avoid the costs of failure. This effort drives a literacy narrative, and all of the sponsors and little narratives that are contained within that narrative. The pressure of needing to be successful, while not being completely successful can cause students to be a victim of themselves, “Failure was never an option that I ever deemed suitable for any circumstance.  Growing up I was always a straight A student, the first time I got a B+ I cried thinking that my mom would punish me” (Ashley Argerake). The looming pressure of the success narrative is a larger influencer because it is a driving force but never directly tells the student what to do, or what it expected.