In the essay “Writing Is Not Natural” by Dylan B. Dreyer, it is explain how writing is ‘unnatural’ compared to speech. When speaking to a person or an audience, we typically do so with emotion, gestures, expressions, etc. But, when writing you don’t get that same effect. From the standpoint of a reader, we can see someones expression, feel their emotion, or understand their body language. Additionally, it is pointed out that children growing up quickly catch on to their native language when they start to talk. This is very different for writing. When writing it takes years to perfect compared to learning to speak, which takes much less time. In fact, cultures didn’t start inscribing until around 3000 BCE, so writing is a newer technology. Finally, writing is said to be unnatural by Dreyer because writers seem to judge their writing process too harshly by comparing their writing to the ease in which they speak.
I chose to GIF to represent how I feel after reading because I found this topic very interesting. I have never really thought about the fact the writing in unnatural. I think the author made good points, such as how it’s harder to express yourself in writing, we judge ourself too much while going through writing processes, etc.
