Literature Question

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>How do you guys approach a novel? My class is reading Crime and Punishment, and I'm supposed to answer very in-depth questions about the themes, characters (with lots of supporting evidence), setting, and plot structure (falling actions, climax, denouement, etc).</p>

<p>Problem is, I don't know how to approach it. How do you guys do it? For instance, for Of Mice and Men, what would you consider the theme, plot structure, description of main characters, symbols etc?</p>

<p>I feel like my thinking is shallow. Actually, that is what I was told. Haha. Like, when I look at Of Mice and Men, I think that Lenny is the innocent one, George the normal ranch hand that had a chance at something great with Lennie, the evil temptress, the fiery jealous husband, the sad old man/colored man that aren't respected as much and pushed around a bit. Symbols are the rabbits, Lennie's puppy, and I can't remember anything else.</p>

<p>When my teacher was explaining a play, she went so in-depth and expects us to do the same with C&P or we get an F, straight out. It was really inspiring to see the way her mind wrapped around the play, though.</p>

<p>(Note: posted in AP forum, also, because it regards an AP class. I thought this forum would provide for more assistance and insight, though)</p>

2

<p>sometimes i look on sparknotes/cliffsnotes online to help me get ideas in case i missed anything</p>

3

<p>for me, analyzing books makes it less exciting of a story. but unfortunately, thats what english class is all about these days. </p>

<p>so what i do to analyze books is take anything that seems normal and try to find meaning in it (you can make up this "meaning," and as long as you make it sound like it makes sense, it's all good). when there is something that pops up everywhere in the book, such as a talisman, find a connection between it and something else, then over-analyze it, and ya got some material.</p>

<p>the thing with most english assignments is that there is no wrong answer. your english teacher was not inside the authors head when he was writing the book, so he/she does not have a definite answer as to what something means. you just have to choose what you think makes most sense, and back it up as much as you can. it is VERY important that you back it up, or else your teacher will just think you just picked it because you felt like it.</p>

<p>be careful of sparknotes/cliffnotes. while they can be very helpful in clarifying the story line, you must not copy the themes and such (unless it is very evident what the theme is just by reading the book). everybody interprets a book a different way, and to copy everything that spark/cliffnotes says is plagerism, which can get you kicked out of ap english in most cases, even if it is unintentional plagerism (you copy an idea without intentionally doing so).</p>

<p>i haven't read mice + men yet, so i can't help you on that, but good luck!</p>

4

<p>Close reading is something that takes practice, and it's easier to learn how to do it with a good teacher.</p>

<p>I'm just going to throw in a couple things that I've been told. When I was a freshman, my English teacher told our class that in fiction, everything's there for a reason. I've also been told to pay attention to particular descriptions like colors and smells. Also, my junior year English teacher hated allegories. (As in, she thought it was too easy to just plug and chug. Like, this character represents <strong><em>, which means this other character represents _</em></strong><strong>, so the colors represent _</strong><strong>, and that tree in the background represents __</strong>.)</p>

<p>I tend to pick up on how many times an author uses a word. Not words like 'and' or 'the', but maybe something like "stormy." Also, I try to pay attention to recurring images. </p>

<p>I don't exactly know what process my mind goes through when I analyze literature, though. For me, the hardest part isn't coming up with evidence usually, but rather with coming up with the "meaning" or significance. (As in, what does this show about the work as a whole?) Somehow, I manage to work things through in my head. </p>

<p>My teacher called "surfing the internet for ideas" cheating, since an idea could become embedded in your mind, and you might unintentionally use it. Also, one of the dangers of using Sparknotes is that your teacher is familiar with the content. I've been given quizzes where I was given the Sparknotes version of things, and I was told to point out what it had missed. (Although, I did occasionally read the Sparknotes summaries to refresh my mind. But I avoided their analyses.)</p>

<p>Whenever I get a short book (like The Awakening, or a Shakespeare play), I read it at least twice. The first time through, I read for plot and try to remember things that sound like they might be important. The second time around, I check to see whether I was right the first time. It's so much easier to make connections when you're doing a second reading.</p>

5

<p>You might want to take notes as you read on anything that seems like it might be important, like things that come up many times. After you find some meaningful stuff, you can find more things that back it up. Also, everyone else who's posted has brilliant ideas that are way better than mine. I haven't read those books, so I can't help, but good luck!</p>

6

<p>Try and find some irony. There's always irony in a book, and English teachers love irony.</p>

7

<p>Well, what I always do is take the initial impression I have of a character and switch it around. If they seem completely good, what could be darker part of their personality? And vice-versa. It doesn't work with every character ever---because some just are what they seem to be---but it might yield some insightful things. Anyway, take Curly's wife, for example: you label her as the evil temptress, but is she really evil? I see her as a neglected woman who is in desperate need of human connection, but goes about it in all the wrong ways. And why doesn't she have a name? It's because she's insignificant---not to the story, but to the world. No one sees her as anything but a whore not even worthy of a title. She strives for significance, but her life is extinguished too quickly for her even to come close. </p>

<p>And why is George normal? Yes, in a sense he's just another migrant worker hung up on dreams during the Depression, but flip his character. What makes him not normal? For me, it's his incredible devotion to Lenny. Lenny is the greatest burden in his life, the biggest source of trouble, but he remains loyal, sacrifices an easier life to help Lenny, and ultimately acts out of love, even though it may not appear that way.</p>

<p>Sorry to go off on a rant, but you see how you can change characters, flip them around so their different facets are revealed? Well-made characters, in my opinion, are ones with many layers. So that's my advice: look for the layers.</p>