Who is Jeslie Malena?

Jeslie Malena, a student at City College, in her narrative, “Literacy Narrative”, published on Blackboard, writes about her experiences with reading and how encouragement empowered her. She starts off by writing about her insecurities by reading in front of a large group of people. She perfectly expressed the feeling of being under the spotlight in a class setting; as well as the feelings of doubt and comparison that come with it. It is a feeling most of us would understand, one where it seems as if you are the only one falling behind while everyone else seems to do it effortlessly. She then goes on to talk about how reading was not the only problem she encountered; how there was another even bigger hurdle to overcome. This obstacle being comprehension. Fortunately, she recounts practicing with a lady in the office, and finally she grows to become confident in what she can do.

Malena’s purpose is to communicate the idea that we can all be afraid/anxious about a subject but with practice and encouragement we can develop a better understanding, and this is done to motivate others and show that the reader is not alone in their struggles. She establishes an informal and heartening tone with her audience of fellow students who have also had a negative experience with literacy.

Malena uses repetition throughout her paper, and this is done when she talks about her feelings throughout the story. She continues to mention a feeling of embarrassment, this idea lingers throughout the paper and is finally resolved at the end providing a satisfactory ending. Through repetition she can convey the importance of her inability to read aloud/comprehend what she is reading and its effect on her. This problem was further complicated by the fact that she “…was a shy kid…”. This was a problem because of her fear of being negatively perceived by her classmates just going to show how prominent this feeling of embarrassment was.

She also describes the process of improving her literacy and comprehension skills. This is interesting because it allows the reader to understand how with time and patience great improvements can be made. She does this again by using repetition inside her explanation, she states how she read again and again and again until she finally understood. It can be noted that literacy was not the only battle she was facing as in an interview she mentioned her struggles with anxiety. This was further expressed in her writing; the idea of repetition and its parallelism to anxiety. Both being repeated ideas/thoughts that can often leave a person feeling as if they are unable to function properly. She states she had gone to therapy for anxiety and was “working through with my therapist to get rid of the social anxiety…”. This, as she exclaimed, had improved how she talked to the people around her. It also shows how no matter how big the issue might seem; it can be resolved with time. Her sessions proved to be a success as she “…became more confident…”. This story of struggle and success shows how Malena had gone through different hardships yet made it out on top.

Works Cited
Ibrohimova, Nazokat. A Dive into Jeslie Malena. Blackboard, 2023. Malena, Jeslie. Literacy Narrative. Blackboard, 2023.