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Reading Like a Detective/Professor

Reading Like a Detective/Professor. We’ve talked about how reading literature is like looking at an iceberg. We only see the 10% above the water at first, on our first read. But analyzing the text helps us see the other 90% below the surface.

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Reading Like a Detective/Professor

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  1. Reading Like a Detective/Professor We’ve talked about how reading literature is like looking at an iceberg. We only see the 10% above the water at first, on our first read

  2. But analyzing the text helps us see the other 90% below the surface. • If you only read a story once, you will NEVER get the full meaning • Reading like a professor/ detective takes time and multiple reads • It also means that you ask a lot of questions about what you are reading

  3. Symbols in Literature Activity On your slip of paper you have a topic. Your goal is to tell as many people about your topic as possible. The more people you get to, the more people you help. You will have 1:27 to get to as many people as possible Mark how many people you visit with

  4. Everyone Shares Go back to your seats Everyone will share their slip of paper one last time We will start with #1. Say your number, your symbol, and its meaning loud enough for the whole class to hear.

  5. How to Read Literature Like a Professor Review Reading literature is like like playing the part of a detective, or trying to put together all the pieces of a puzzle. When we read books for fun, we read to be entertained, but when we read for English class, we read like detectives. We need to put everything under a magnifying glass and ask questions about everything that’s happening in the text. Why is this happening? What does that mean? Could it mean something other than what it’s saying? Etc. When you read for English class, you have to pay careful attention. Everything could mean something. Your job is to try and figure out what’s important and why. Think of it like a game. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t, but games are fun, just like trying to solve the puzzle inside a text.

  6. Things to watch for

  7. Every Trip is a Quest A quester A place to go A stated reason to go there Challenges and trials en route A real reason to go there

  8. Other famous quests…

  9. The real reason for the quest… Educational; self-knowledge The questers are often young, inexperienced, immature, sheltered

  10. Nice to Eat With You… Whenever people eat or drink together, it’s symbolic of a communion; breaking bread It’s sharing, a sense of community We eat with people we trust. Food= affection One generally invites friends to dinner, not enemies, unless you’re trying to get on the good side of enemies or employers

  11. Where have I seen this before? There’s no such thing as a wholly original work of literature

  12. Intertexuality Stories grow out of other stories, poems out of other poems. When something reminds you of something else, talk about it!

  13. It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow Every story needs a setting; weather is a part of the setting Weather is never just weather – it’s never just rain or snow or sun or warmth or cold... It all means something Water is a part of almost every religion or origin story and always seems to try to reclaim us- think Noah’s Ark Drowning; one of our deepest fears

  14. Seasons Spring: rebirth, childhood, youth Summer: love, adulthood, romance, fulfillment, passion Fall/autumn: change, middle age, decline, tiredness, harvest Winter: old age, anger, resentment, hatred, death Daisy Miller, Frederic Winterbourne

  15. What it means… • Rain is clean—a form of purification, baptism, removing sin or stain. Rain is restorative—can bring a dying earth back to life. Destructive—causes pneumonia, colds, etc.; hurricanes, etc. Rainbows—Promise, hope. • Fog—almost always signals some sort of confusion; mental, ethical, etc. Snow: • Negatively—cold, stark, inhospitable • Positively—clean, pure, playful.

  16. Violence Is everywhere in literature One of the most personal and even intimate acts between human beings When violence happens in the real world, it just is- a punch in the nose at grocery store is just aggression vs. that same punch in the face in literature- one just happens the other is symbolic What does this type of misfortune represent?

  17. Violence Writers kill off characters to make action happen, cause plot complications, end plot complications, put other characters under stress

  18. Violence It’s everywhere…

  19. Symbolism Stands for one thing: allegory Symbols have a range of possible meanings and interpretations River: danger, safety, freedom It’s your job to figure it all out

  20. It’s All Political The story is meant to change us and through us to change society

  21. Illnesses When a character is suffering from some illness, it means something symbolically • Heart disease= bad love, cruelty, loneliness, cowardice, disloyalty • Blindness, Tuberculosis, pneumonia, paralysis… it all means something different

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