In Alexanders article, he discusses the different forms of literacy narratives students write about. Two “little” narratives that interest me are the victim and child prodigy types. Alexander describes the victim narrative by saying “students wrote about negative school-based literacy experiences” (617). This can vary between a bad teacher, being forced to write something, getting heavily critiqued or even just a moment where someone lost their passion for writing. This is common to write about because almost everyone has experienced this and it is interesting to see how one incident changes someone’s attitude towards something. Another “little” narrative that interests me is the child prodigy one. Alexander says, “When students portrayed themselves as child prodigies, they conceived of themselves and their literacy abilities as exceptional, highlighting moments when [they] were put on display to amaze and astonish their audience” (617). These narratives are about children who enjoyed reading and had abundant resources while they were younger. This can also be linked to a specific social class, children from wealthier homes are more apt to write about being a child prodigy they are given more opportunities and their parents are around more to help them learn.

 

Brandt writes about the ideas of sponsorship and sponsorship in the development of an individual’s literacy development. He describes a sponsor as “richer, more knowledgeable, and more entrenched than the sponsored, sponsors nevertheless enter a reciprocal relationship with those they underwrite” (557). Examples of sponsors can be mentors, teachers and anyone that helps enrich a persons knowledge and learning of literacy. He also states that they benefit afterward of the success of the sponsored. A cultural narrative that incorporates this sponsorship is the child prodigy narrative. Alexander states that “Child prodigies were read to by parents, visited libraries and bookstores, had abundant access to texts at home, and could not remember a time when they did not know how to read or write” (619).  In this situation, the parents are the sponsors to the children. They are more knowledgeable, have a reciprocal relationship with their children and gain credit when they succeed later in school because they exposed them early.

 

In Alexander’s article, she distinguishes between master literacy narratives and little literacy narratives. Master narratives are “an overarching story people tell themselves about their experiences in relation to the culture, literature, or history of a society” (610). This narrative is very generic and focuses on larger groups of people and often leaves out other groups. They are not as direct as a little narrative may be. Little literacy narratives focus in more and are more direct. Alexander describes them as “unsanctioned, artistic, and imaginative; they are less generalizable and more individualized and situated” (611). They have multiple levels to them and show literacy is multidimensional. Little narratives also are told by marginalized groups that may not be covered in master narratives. A common master narrative is the success narrative which leaves out marginalized groups and focuses on larger more popular groups. A type of little narrative that exemplifies this is the outsider narrative. This narrative focuses on not feeling like they fit in at home or school, in regards to literacy, the school system or other students. This is a more focused topic and usually something only marginalized groups experience.