tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33876297070647829552024-03-14T01:17:52.547-07:00Critical ReadingCritical Reading course for Undergraduate Students of IBAIS University: Content Prepared By Hasan Zaman Mohd. Reza-E-RabbiUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-38821974867324286462011-01-01T23:11:00.000-08:002011-01-01T23:11:59.241-08:00How to Read a Poem-critical reading<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 34pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How to Read a Poem<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In This Chapter<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Demystifying poetry<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">How subjectivity affects the reader</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">A look at poetic terminology</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">• Understanding the different types of poetry<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">• The structure, form, and style of the poem<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">• Poetic twists and turns<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some people find it difficult to relate to poetry, whereas others delight in it. Think of poetry and visual arts in the same light. Whereas an artist uses a paintbrush to have color, texture, and shape come alive for the viewer, a poet uses a pen to create the same effect.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In this chapter, you learn not only how to read poetry, but why you should read it. If you've never been much of a poetry reader, ask yourself "Why not?" What is it that you are not getting from this kind of writing and how do you find it? You'll learn that here—now—finally. And if you're already a poetry reader, you will learn even more about how poems are put together and how to better absorb them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 19pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Poetry Is Art<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Poetry </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">probably falls through the cracks of English and literature courses so often because it's overlooked as an artistic expression of emotion in the same way that the visual arts are. Poetry is most often not taught in any hands-on kind of way, the way it really should be.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some people may find poetry tricky to read—in fact, many voracious readers tend to pass right by poetry. Why? Is poetry really so mysterious? Is it because people need to be told a story directly without having to put too much of their own thought into it? Is it because it's too abstract?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Poetry can be compared to painting. When you look at a work of art, you first see it for what it is—a</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">depiction of a person, an animal, a place, or a thing. You'll notice the colors and the textures, and maybe how the light shines through a window or highlights a patch of flowers. These are the things you see on the surface. Then you look a little closer at some of the fine details. How did the painter make white paint look silver against blue drapery? How did the artist catch that sad look in the eyes of the child?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How on earth did he actually make an apple look so real you could almost reach out and grab it off the table?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now what about abstract art? What do you see in these paintings? Strange shapes and images are they recognizable? Do they make you feel a certain way? When you look at abstract art, maybe you don't necessary see as much as you are actually feeling.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To some people, poetry is like abstract art. Some people feel that poetry is too subjective to the artist for the reader to be able to fully understand it. How can you make sense of words that don’t necessarily tell a story? To appreciate art, you must first appreciate your own sensibilities, and then you must appreciate form and texture. With poetry, you start with an appreciation of and trust for your own feelings, and then you examine your appreciation of words and the magic they make when they're used together.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 19pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Up Close and Personal<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You do have to know some terminology in order to study poetry, but it shouldn't be the be-all and end-all of your understanding of the subject. You should just have enough information to make understanding the art and form of poetry a little easier.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's really not so important that you be able to analyze the structure of a poem unless you're in school and it's on an upcoming exam. The most important thing is that you can feel the poem. If you can't feel the poem, you need to look closer to find what you might be missing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Understanding the terminology will make this task easier for you, but ultimately the understanding has much more to do with whether you can relate to the poem and find a place for it within your own sensibilities.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Coming to Terms with Poetry<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here are some terms commonly used in the study of poetry and a few examples to help you along:</span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alliteration. </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words: "flags flapping ferociously in the wind" (note the three f's).</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Assonance. </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or within a line of poetry or prose: "I took a look at a book that I found in the nook."</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Couplet. </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A pair of rhyming lines that often separate one stanza from another (But there is no rule that they have to).</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Meter. </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A pattern of rhythm syllabic accents in the lines, verses, and stanzas of poems.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Foot. </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A unit of poetic meter consisting of both stressed and unstressed syllables—usually one unstressed syllable is followed by one stressed syllable.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Read this example aloud from Robert Frost's <i>Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening </i>and as you do, notice the syllabic emphasis form and texture. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With poetry, you start with an appreciation of and trust for your own feelings, and then you examine your appreciation of words and the magic they make when they're used together.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Whose woods these are I think I know.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">His house is in the village though;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He will not see me stopping here<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To watch his woods fill up with snow.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">• <b>Iamb. </b>A metrical foot—one unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable. The adjective is "iambic."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">• <b>Iambic pentameter. </b>Because one iambic foot consists of one unstressed syllable follow by a stressed one, iambic pentameter is a poetic measurement consisting of five iambic feet per line (the unstressed syllables are in bold):</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Was </span></i></b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this <b>the </b>face <b>that </b>launch'd <b>a </b>thousand ships<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And </span></i></b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">burnt <b>the </b>topless towers <b>of </b><st1:place w:st="on">Ilium</st1:place>?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—Christopher Marlowe, <i>Dr. Faustus </i>(sixteenth century)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This piece of Marlowe's poem is also a good example of blank verse, which is iambic pentameter without rhyme.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Closed form. </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A form of poetry where structure is characterized consistently in terms of rhyme, line length, and metric pattern. Robert Frost frequently wrote in closed form.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">• <b>Free verse (open form). </b>We live in an era of free verse, where poetry does not necessarily contain any patterns of meter or rhyme. It is free in that it is not bound by any traditional poetic rules. (We take a closer look at free verse later</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in the chapter.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">• <b>Verse. </b>One line of poetry.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">• <b>Stanza. </b>A poetic paragraph. Note that not all poems are necessarily broken into stanzas.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You don't have to memorize these terms, just be aware that poetry doesn't consist of words thrown together; it's an art form, with guidelines and rules.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Get With the Rhythm<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Most poems have a rhythm that depends on the emphasis on syllables within the lines, verses, and stanzas. Take a look at a few poems and note how important the syllables are to the movement of the poem. The most obvious poems to help you see this are children's rhymes and song lyrics. If so much as one syllable is missing or one too many syllables added, it will throw off the rhythmic pattern of the poem.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Think back to the Dr. Seuss books of your childhood.) Although some types of poems such as limericks and haiku have very strict rules about syllabic use, most poems are pretty free flowing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To understand the rhyming patterns in poetry, a rhyming meter devised of a, b, c is commonly used. The first rhyme at the end of the first verse is given the letter <i>a. </i>If the last word in the second line does not rhyme with the word in the first verse, you give it a <i>b, </i>and so on. When you find a rhyme within the stanza, you give it the letter it matches. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Then you start again with the next stanza.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Note that the ability to format meter by using this method only applies to poems that rhyme. You will have to study other types of poems and poetic terminology to analyze non-rhyming poetic form and structure.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 19pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Types of Poems<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now that you have a handle on some basic poetic terminology and concepts, let's take a look at how these elements are used in various types of poetry.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Poetry, like all art forms, is international: It crosses all borders, language barriers, age groups, and eras. (The British have their sonnets, for example, whereas the Japanese have their haikus, and children have Mother Goose.)The following sections describe some types of poetry and include excerpts from notable poets who wrote within these genres. There are many more types of poems, but these are among the most common.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ballad<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A ballad is a story told as a narrative, rhythmic saga of something that happened in the past. Sometimes the themes are heroic, sometimes satirical, and other times romantic. The ballad almost always has an unhappy ending. Ballad and ballade are two different types of poetry. The ballade is a fourteenth- and fifteenth-century French poem written in verse form consisting of three stanzas written in a particular rhythmic format.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was in and about the Martinmas time, When the green leaves were a-falling, That Sir John Graem, in the West country, Fell in love with Barbara Allen He sent his men down through the town To the place where she was dwelling; "Oh hast and come to my master dear, Gin ye be Barbara Allen."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—Anonymous, <i>Barbara Allen </i>(medieval Scottish ballad, first two stanzas)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cinquain<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Influenced by Japanese poetry, the cinquain was developed by American poet Adelaide Crapsey. It is a short, nonrhyming poem that consists of 22 syllables with a certain number of syllables per line.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Listen ...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“With faint dry sound,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like steps of passing ghosts,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And fall.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—Adelaide Crapsey, <i>November Night </i>(early twentieth-century cinquain)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Elegy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An elegy is a poem that is written to mourn the death of someone. It is a reflection either upon death or some other great sadness. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And leaves the world to darkness and to me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—Thomas Gray, <i>Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard </i>(eighteenth-century elegy, first stanza)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Epic<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This type of poetry has a very broad definition. An epic is a continuous narrative of the life or lives of a heroic person or persons. These heroes can be fictional, historical, or mythical.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So toward that shrine which then in all the realm<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Was richest, Arthur leading, slowly went<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The marshalled Order of their Table Round,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And Lancelot sad beyond his wont, to see<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The maiden buried, not as one unknown,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nor meanly, but with gorgeous obsequies,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And mass, and rolling music, like a queen.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, excerpt from <i>Idylls of the King </i>(nineteenth-century epic poem)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first known epic poem is the Sumerian poem <i>Epic of Gilgamesh. </i>The longest is the great Indian mythical poem <i>Mahabharata, </i>which contains more than 100,000 verses—making it four times the size of the Bible.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Haiku<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the most important Japanese poetic forms is the haiku. This is a short poem that consists of no more than three lines, with the first line consisting of five syllables, the second line consisting of seven syllables, and the third line consisting again of five syllables.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While the traditional Japanese haiku consists of a strict structure of sounds, when written in English the haiku has taken on all sorts of forms. The artistic value of the haiku exists in simplicity of language that creates images or evokes ideas. Both the contemporary and traditional haiku should consist of only three lines with a total of no more than seventeen syllables—or in the case of Japanese, sounds.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Haiku Society of America defines the haiku as "A short poem that uses imagistic language to convey the essence of an experience of nature or the season intuitively linked to the human condition." While this may be the officiai American definition, great liberties have been taken in the art of haiku writing over the years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is an example of a traditional Japanese haiku (translated into English) which was written by one of the most notable Japanese poets of the seventeenth century, Matsuo Basho. Note that the structure, in its English translation, does not follow the 5-7-5 syllable rule—but in its original Japanese it would! Translators predict that 17 sounds in Japanese correlate to about 12 syllables in English.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An old pond!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A frog jumps in<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The sound of water</span></span></i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A traditional Japanese haiku should also contain at least one word that will indicate a season. This word is referred to as the "kigo" in Japanese. In English the "kigo" is often omitted and replaced with the concept of juxtaposing two images or ideas referred to in Japanese as "renso." Other literary techniques commonly omitted from haiku writing is the use of titles, similes, and metaphors.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is contemporary haiku written in English by Amy:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Setting sun<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sandcastles wash away<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A seagull lingers<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><st1:place w:st="on"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Limerick</span></span></b></st1:place><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Limericks are poems that consist of a strict meter. In fact, without the structure of the lines and the rhyming patter, the limerick would simply be just another poem.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There was a Young Person of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Smyrna</st1:place></st1:city><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Whose grandmother threatened to burn her;<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But she seized on the cat, and said, "Granny, burn that!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You incongruous old woman of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Smyrna</st1:place></st1:city>!"<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—Edward Lear (otherwise known as the poet laureate of the limerick), untitled limerick (nineteenth century)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lyric<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we think of the word <i>lyric, </i>we often think of a song, which is where the word originates: A <i>lyre </i>is a Greek musical instrument often used to accompany someone singing a song. The common and academic use of lyric, as a poetic form, means a poem that expresses a subjective point of view.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sylvan historian, who canst thus express<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of deities or mortals, or of both,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In <st1:city w:st="on">Tempe</st1:city> or the dales of <st1:place w:st="on">Arcady</st1:place>?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—John Keats, opening lines of <i>Ode to a Grecian Urn </i>(late nineteenth century) Although an "ode" is most often a love poem, it is also a type of lyric poetry. The actual definition of an ode is the praise of a person or an object in a poetic form that is not subject to any definitive rhyming scheme or iambic line lengths, as is true with this particular ode and lyric poem by Keats.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nonsense Verse<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Often used for comic effect or as children's verse, a nonsense poem can be silly and witty but it can also have a serious meaning beneath the surface.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a beautiful pea-green boat;<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They took some honey, and plenty of money,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wrapped up in a five-pound note.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Owl looked up to the stars above,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And sang to a small guitar,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What a beautiful Pussy you are<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You are,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You are!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What a beautiful Pussy you are!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—Edward Lear, <i>The Owl and the Pussycat </i>(nineteenth-century nonsense poem, first stanza)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 15.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ode<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An ode is a long form poem usually of a serious nature on an exalted subject matter. In Pablo Neruda's <i>Ode to My Socks, </i>he seems to lightheartedly worship a particular pair of socks. While to most people a pair of socks is not worth any exaltation at all, this poem is an ode, not only because of its structure, but, well, because of his heightened appreciation of his new socks!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maru Mori brought me a pair of socks knitted with her own shepherd's hands,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">two socks soft as rabbits. I slipped my feet into them as if into jewel cases woven<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with threads of dusk and sheep's wool.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Audacious socks, my feet became two woolen fish, two long gangly sharks of<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lapis blue shot with a golden thread, two mammoth blackbirds, two cannons,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">thus were my feet honored by these celestial socks. They were so beautiful that<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">for the first time my feet seemed unacceptable to me, two tired old fire fighters<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">not worthy of the woven fire, of those luminous socks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—Pablo Neruda, <i>Ode to My Socks </i>(1950s)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Look a little deeper and you will notice that, despite its title, the poem is a sort of love poem. Neruda is not really worshipping the socks, but rather, the comfort and beauty and everything else a pair of warm socks in winter means to a couple of cold feet. And although it's not stated, maybe Neruda was even worshipping the woman who made the socks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Quatrain<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A quatrain is a poem or stanza of a poem that contains four lines of verse.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tyger! Tyger! burning bright<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the forests of the night,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What immortal hand or eye<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Could frame thy fearful symmetry?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—From William Blake's "The Tyger" (eighteenth century, first stanza)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rondeau<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A form of poetry that makes use of song-type lyricism. It is based on a strict rhythmic meter and contains refrains repeated in a specific style. A good example of a rondeau is Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields." As you read it, notice the sing-song quality in its rhyming pattern:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In <st1:place w:st="on">Flanders</st1:place> fields the poppies blow<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Between the crosses, row on row<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That mark our place; and in the sky<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The larks, still bravely singing, fly<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scarce heard amid the guns below.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We are the Dead. Short days ago<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Loved and were loved, and now we lie<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In <st1:place w:st="on">Flanders</st1:place> fields.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Take up our quarrel with the foe:<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To you from failing hands we throw<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The torch; be yours to hold it high.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If ye break faith with us who die<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We shall not sleep, though poppies grow<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In <st1:place w:st="on">Flanders</st1:place> fields.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, M.D., "In <st1:place w:st="on">Flanders</st1:place> Fields" (1915)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sonnet<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The word <i>sonnet </i>comes from the French word meaning song. It is a poem consisting of fourteen lines within a strict rhyming pattern. One of the most famous sonnet writers was William Shakespeare.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Let me not to the marriage of true minds<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Admit impediments. Love is not love<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Which alters when it alteration finds,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Or bends with the remover to remove:<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">0 no! it is an ever-fixed mark<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That looks on tempests and is never shaken;<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is the star to every wandering bark,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Within his bending sickle's compass come:<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But bears it out even to the edge of doom.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If this be error and upon me proved,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 never writ, nor no man ever loved.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—William Shakespeare, <i>Sonnet 116 </i>(sixteenth century)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Structure and Form<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we think about structure and form in poetry, we look for patterns of meter, lines, and rhymes. You're an expert on all that now, right? Well, it's one thing to understand the terminology and another to put it in context as you read. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Structure and form involve how the poem is actually put together. What kind of poem is it? What kind of rhythmic patterns does it contain? How is punctuation used? Are there stanzas? Does the break in stanza have any kind of reason to it?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These are the questions you must ask yourself after you've read the poem—but not so much while you're reading it. We are firm believers that you should read the poem for pleasure first, then for understanding, and then a third time for an even deeper understanding—to get an up-close-and-personal look at it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 19pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Poet's Purpose<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">William Wordsworth, the English poet whose work spanned from the eighteenth century into the nineteenth century, gave us a definition of poetry that has lived through the ages in the scholarly world. Wordsworth defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" and went on to say that the poem originates from "emotion recollected in tranquility."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wordsworth was particularly concerned that a poem be judged directly by the standard of "the emotional and moral integrity of its language," which basically means that in his time, a poet not only had a responsibility to himself as an artist but to society on the whole. In his <i>Ode: intimations of immortality from recollections of early childhood, </i>it almost seems like he is lost in himself—lost in his own sense of missing something that is gone. That is true—he is—but as he speaks through his own emotion, he implores every adult to reflect on these sentiments of lost youth:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This particular portion of the poem highlights this point:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Then sing, ye Birds, sing, sing a joyous song!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And let the young Lambs bound<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As to the tabor's sound!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We in thought will join your throng,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ye that pipe and ye that play,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ye that through your hearts today<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Feel the gladness of the May!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What though the radiance which was once so bright<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Be now forever taken from my sight ...<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But he brings the sentiments back to the reader by expounding on a bigger message:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Though nothing can bring back the hour<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We will grieve not, rather find<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Strength in what remains behind;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the primal sympathy<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Which having been must ever be;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the soothing thoughts that spring<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Out of human suffering;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the faith that looks through death,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In years that bring the philosophic mind.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is important to read what authors and poets have to say about their own works in order to fully understand what they are trying to say to you through their writing. As with a work of fiction, you need to study the background of the writer, study the times in which he or she lived, and try to get a sense of what the poet wanted to communicate to the audiences. Does the message still hold true for modern-day readers? These are all the factors to consider when reading any piece of literature, but especially poetry, because a poem will never spell its meaning out directly—instead, it calls to you to discover it for yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 19pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Understanding Free Verse<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you read all the poetic definitions earlier in the chapter, you will have noted the reference to "free verse." Simply stated, free verse is poetry that does not ascribe to any set structure. It is a type of poetry that is written without rules pertaining to rhythm, iambic line length, or any set rhyming pattern. Even though free verse (or open form, as it's also called) is popular with contemporary poets, it's not a new idea.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In fact, poet Walt Whitman inaugurated "the free verse movement." Whitman was influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay called <i>The Poet </i>(1844), in which Emerson says:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The poet is the sayer, the namer, and represents beauty. He is a sovereign and stands in the centre... Beauty is the creator of the universe. Therefore the poet is not any permissive potentate but is emperor in his own right ... he writes what will and must be spoken ... he is the true and only doctor; he knows and tells; he is the only teller of news ... he is beholder of ideas and an utterer of the necessary and casual.</span></span></i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Whitman was so moved and inspired by these words that he added to what Emerson had to say and applied it directly to his own society:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yet <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> is a poem in our eyes, its ample geography dazzles the imagination and it will not wait long for metres.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a time when the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region> was in the midst of transition to a freer society, Whitman saw an opportunity to free his verse from convention when he wrote <i>Song of Myself </i>a lyric poem about <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> and the individuals who live there. The poem is considered one of the greatest poems written in the English language, not only for the beauty of the words, but because of its pure subjectivity and introspection:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I celebrate myself;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And what I assume you shall assume;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I loafe and invite my Soul;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Houses and rooms are full of perfumes—the shelves are crowded with perfumes;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The atmosphere is not a perfume—it has no taste of the distillation—it is<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">odorless;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is for my mouth forever—I am in love with it;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I will go to the bank by the wood, and become undisguised and naked;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am mad for it to be in contact with me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What makes the poem so remarkable is that it is so full of mystery (and we mean that in a good way!). The mystery lies in the fact that we have no idea what Whitman's really talking about. Is he remembering something? Is he relishing a moment that is special to him? We may never know the true emotional sources he called upon when creating this poem, but that doesn't mean we can't connect with him in the same kind of introspective way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Poet Speaks to You<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As you know now, lyric poems are known to be particularly subjective, which means that the author is not necessarily writing it with the intention of relaying any specific messages to an audience. By being subjective, it is as though he is painting a picture of a place you may have never seen, smelled, or even imagined, but he writes it so that you share his emotional state of mind.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Whitman tells you this at the beginning of <i>Song of Myself </i>He lets you know that you are invited to experience this emotional state right along with him whether or not the experience is yours. He is sharing it with you. In the very first line of this poem, Whitman is saying:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am the center of my creation as I write this</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">poem, but at the same time I am aware of you, my</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">reader: ... <i>And what I assume you shall assume/For every<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In other</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">words, he is telling you directly that you can easily</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">understand his poem because we all have similarities</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">within our sensibilities. We are separate beings, but</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">we are also alike if we choose to be.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You become immersed in his subjectivity. And when he has your attention, he continues:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i>I</i> <i>loafe and invite my soul,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here he invites you to settle yourself down with him—"loafe" a little yourself and pay attention.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He uses his subjectivity to bring you toward him. Don't forget, he has already told you that everything he is saying about himself is also true of you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What else seems to matter to Whitman in this section of the poem? Well, the senses.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Read this line out loud and listen to it carefully. What does this bring to mind for you?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Houses and rooms are full of perfumes—the shelves are crowded with perfumes;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He enjoys these senses but does not intend to let them overtake his mind.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And here is your first mystery from this section of the poem:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The atmosphere is not a perfume—it has no taste of the distillation—it is<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">odorless;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is for my mouth forever—I am in love with it;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I will go to the bank by the wood, and become undisguised and naked;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am mad for it to be in contact with me<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is where the poem turns more toward the reader—there is really no mystery here, only a small element of surprise as he lets the reader a little further into what he wants to say. What he is telling you here is that we hide ourselves—we don't allow ourselves to dissolve into our own senses. He is telling us to relax and allow our senses to awaken to the world of sounds, smells, tastes, and memories that surround us.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you continue with this poem, we can almost guarantee that you will get to many new places inside of yourself. It will be impossible for you not to gain new understandings and awareness through this poem.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Element of Surprise<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don't take for granted the fact that Whitman is inviting <i>you </i>into his very subjective piece of writing. This is a pleasant surprise and should make you feel like the poet needs you there to experience these feelings with him. You will not get this invitation very often when you read lyric poetry (or any poetry for that matter). But remember, if you are really absorbing a poem, it is impossible to separate yourself from the poet or the poem, even if you are not as blatantly and intimately included as Walt Whitman allows in this particular poem.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Meaningful Twists<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oddly enough (or maybe not so odd given the close-knit circles in which poets travel), poets often write for other poets, despite the reference to <i>you. </i>Poets drop little clues and throw in surprises here and there. What makes a poem wonderful despite the language and the meaning you take from it is that element of surprise.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For example, although this next poem by Rainer Maria Rilke clearly speaks directly to other poets—surprise!—he's also talking to you. He's giving the reader a little insight into what makes a poem and the poet. Rilke had this to say in translated verse form (he wrote his poetic works in German):</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You must construct an image for each feeling<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You wish to give to many strangers;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For one must firmly frame what one imparts;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In children's words or summer lime trees<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There be some likeness that will shape it.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You mustn't 'say' what secretly you 'have',<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your life mustn't trickle out upon your lips,—<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You must bear your blossoms like a bough,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Then all breezes will proclaim you ...<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—Rainer Maria Rilke, from Diaries of a Young Poet (1898)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rilke says that as the poet, you must consider whom you are speaking to and put together clearly what you want to say. Keep it clear and direct the way children do. Use images that frame exactly what you mean, but don't say it all or you will spoil it for the reader: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your life mustn’t trickle out upon your lips<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You must bear your blossoms like a bough<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Then all breezes will proclaim you ....<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What's more wonderful than a pleasant surprise, and what's more dramatic than an unpleasant one? Poetry has the ability to startle as well as to please by taking twists and turns into the unexpected. We sometimes will have preconceived notions shattered when we follow along with the poem—as it builds we fall into its rhythm, its heartbeat, its movement, we begin to think we know where it will take us, when wham! The whole thing changes with a single line of verse, or even a single word. This is what can make the difference to any reader of poetry—when the expected gets flipped on its head, forcing us to see something that we never knew was coming our way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 19pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Perfect Fit<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although we want to believe that every poem will speak volumes to us, open new doors, and open our hearts and minds to new thoughts and feelings, as with fiction and the visual arts, not all poems speak to us. That's okay, though. We all have different tastes, and once again, we have to emphasize that you not get frustrated as you forge ahead with poetry reading. What will probably happen is that you'll find a poet who does speak to you, whether it's a poet from the eighteenth century or someone more contemporary. The important thing is to find the right fit for you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Is bliss, then, such abyss<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I must not put my foot amiss<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For fear I spoil my shoe?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'd rather suit my foot<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Than save my boot,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For yet to buy another pair<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Is possible<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At any fair.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But bliss is sold just once;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The patent lost<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">None buy it any more.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—Emily Dickinson, Poem 340<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Dickinson</st1:place></st1:city> is telling you here, not every poem will suit you or fit just right. You need to keep looking until you find those that do. There are poems that tickle with laughter, and ones that draw us close to the universe. There are those that ponder and contemplate, and those that float like the breeze. There is no "one size fits all" in any art form—and that is equally true for poetry.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The poems you do wind up choosing will vary with your mood and where you are in your life. Well, that's just all to the good because then you will fit yourself right in with what suits and feels best to you. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Least You Need to Know</span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Poetry is a subjective art.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can't know what the author was thinking, but the clues the author leaves should lead you to understanding.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are many different types of poetry. Some types have strict structural rules, whereas others have no rules at all.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Poets have developed their styles and ideas through the centuries.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The element of surprise is a key way for a poet to reach the reader.</span></li>
</ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-85767058396921329712010-12-28T03:51:00.001-08:002010-12-28T03:51:31.117-08:00Digging Beneath the Obvious: Figurative Language<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34.0pt;">Digging Beneath the Obvious: Figurative </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34.0pt;">Language</span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">In This Chapter</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• The difference between symbolism and metaphor</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• How to spot hyperbole</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Religion, myth, and superstition as literary devices</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• How authors incorporate wit and humor into their work</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Like every other part of a carefully constructed novel, an author is always searching to tell the story in unique ways. To help you find the meaning, the author will incorporate clues in the form of symbols and metaphors. Sometimes these clues are bold and obvious, whereas other times they meander through the story like secret passageways left open for readers to discover on their journey.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">In this chapter, you learn what you could be getting from a novel beyond the obvious. It's not just the characters, the plot, the themes, and the numerous narrative techniques that make the work come together, but the symbols, metaphors, and myths incorporated in the text that make the story complete and fulfilling.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 20.0pt;">Getting Definitive</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">We touched on <i>figurative language </i>in Chapter 7, but it's time to take a closer look. Somehow over the years the meanings of the words <i>symbolism </i>and <i>metaphor </i>have crossed paths, and one term is often mistakenly used for the other. So before you read any farther, the first thing you need to do is establish the definition of the two words so that you can spot them within the text of a piece of fiction. (Allegories—symbols that reveal a larger metaphor—were covered in Chapter 7.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Here are the definitions of the two words according to the <i>Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (Second Edition):</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b>Symbol. </b>An object or name that stands for something else, especially a material thing that stands for something that is not material. For example, the symbol of <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> is an eagle.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b>Metaphor. </b>The comparison of one thing to another without using the words <i>like </i>or <i>as. </i>For example, "The road was a ribbon of moonlight."</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Literature and Symbols: Unveiling Mysteries</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Why is it important to understand symbols? Symbolism, as we have discussed in previous chapters, is frequently used in fiction as a creative literary device to give the story more depth and complexity, which of course means that there will be more for you to understand.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Sometimes symbols are blatant—they will stand out and scream their meanings— but the more interesting symbols are the ones you have to dig for. Some authors are heavy on the use of symbolism, whereas others tend to be more subtle. For example, it's fair to say that one of the most blatant symbols in <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>is the letter <i>A. </i>As you remember, in Chapter 6 we looked at the many different ways that simple letter took on very specific symbolic meanings in that novel.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Because some symbols have become so much a part of our everyday lives, many authors try to keep their ideas and writing fresh by creating unique symbols and using<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>them to tell stories in new ways.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">For example, Amy recently read the novel <i>The Secret Life of Bees </i>by Sue Monk Kidd, which builds itself up primarily by heavy use of symbolism and metaphor to make the story complete and fulfilling. The story is about a young girl's search for the truth about her mother's life. Lily Owens's mother dies tragically when Lily is a child, and she is left to be raised by her brutish father and a strong-willed African American nanny. In Lily's search for understanding of who her mother really was, she encounters several other symbolic mothers along the way.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">A picture of a black Madonna leads Lily to the home of her mother's own nanny, named August, who lives with her two sisters, May and June—a household of women nurturing women. August, the oldest of the three, is a spiritual and wise woman who uses the image of the black Madonna on the label of her jars of homemade honey.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">In the hive, there is the Queen Bee, of course, the mother of the hive without whom all the bees would be lost. August, her sisters, and their female friends worship the Madonna (the ultimate Christian symbol of motherhood) by using their own physical relic of a black Madonna in their living room services.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The symbolic breakdown would be as follows:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Lily uses a symbol representing the Virgin Mary to find her own mother. A mother (the Madonna image) leads Lily to another mother (August). August cares for yet another mother (the Queen Bee) and all of her offspring. The Queen Bee and the black Madonna are two of the most significant symbols in this book, and they are used deliberately by the author to help you understand what the book is about. It is not only Lily's story, but a story that calls out to everyone who seeks love, nurturing, and unconditional acceptance. In the big picture, the global meaning is that we all need to be nurtured. The concept of "mother" is the very</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">essence of ultimate nurturing, but we can also find that nurturing in the most unlikely places, whether it is in the house of three unwed beekeeping sisters or within the hive itself.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">From the Serious to the Ridiculous</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Authors have so much fun with names in their works of fiction on many different levels. Think about all the great names in literature—there are so many! Remember Ahab and Ishmael in Herman Melville's <i>Moby-Dick? </i>In Chapter 7, we discussed how their names have particular symbolic meaning to the story. We also discussed why Melville chose those names.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Think of the character Huckleberry Finn for a minute. The name conjures images of nature but perhaps in a more playful way. A huckleberry is a wild berry that grows in mountain regions, and a fin is the part of a fish's body that allows it to move. So immediately, through his name as a symbolic reference, we have a sense of Huckleberry Finn as being something good, natural, and free.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Charles Dickens consistently used names to represent character type—in fact, it is one of his many claims to fame. Some of the names of Dickens characters are so familiar to us now (does the name</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Ebenezer Scrooge ring a bell?) that they have taken on a life of their own in the English language, and we often use them as symbolic references. We might call a stingy person "a Scrooge," for example.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Metaphorically Speaking</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Using <i>The Secret Life of Bees </i>as an example again, although the bees and the Black Madonna are symbols, what they represent in conjunction with the story is a metaphor. In other words, when you put all the symbols together and connect them to the story, they become pieces of the overall concept.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The <i>concept </i>of the beehive and its beekeepers is metaphorical in relation to the theme of the story. Although there is order and nurturing within the hive, in the same breath there is also fragility. This is</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">a metaphor for what we experience as human beings. In the story, the narrator explains what happens to the hive if the Queen Bee disappears—the workers would be lost. Likewise in life, if we are not nurtured we will suffer a sense of tremendous loss and grief..</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">So how on earth did the author put together all these ideas in the first place? The answer is simple: by living, observing, and thinking creatively. These are the qualities that make the author an artist.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Hyperbole? Stop Exaggerating!</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Using hyperbole is another way both poets and prose writers sometimes express an emotion. Hyperbole is an exaggerated expression used to show the depth and strength of an emotion. We use hyperbole in our everyday language, certainly more than we would ever use metaphors or similes. For example, how many times have you heard someone say, "I'd give my right arm for a hamburger" or "I'm so hungry I could eat</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">a horse"? This use of language to demonstrate the strength of emotion is called hyperbole.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some believe that hyperbole is just melodrama and sounds a little ridiculous and clichéd at times. Although this may seem true if the device is overused (as it tends to be in some gothic and romantic literature), when used in moderation hyperbole can actually be very amusing and quite profound.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Hyperbole Then</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Many older pieces of poetry and prose tend to be rich in hyperbole. The romantic writers loved to use hyperbole because it allowed them to break away from the conventions of past generations of writing. They could express passionate emotion in their writing that might not have been so well received in previous literary eras.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Gothic horror in the romantic literary era is most recognizable in the use of hyperbole for effect:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The murderer discovered! Good God! How can that be? Who could attempt to pursue him? It is impossible; one might as well try to overtake the winds, or confine a mountain-stream with a straw.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">—Mary Shelley, <i>Frankenstein</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and William and Dorothy Wordsworth are some of the most well-known writers of hyperbolic text in the history of the English language.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Hyperbole Now</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Human beings cannot resist the temptation for melodrama. Although hyperbolic text is not nearly the fashion now as it might have been 200 years ago, it's still commonly used by modern-day authors.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Mârquez's writing hyperbole, as are many works by</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Spanish-speaking authors. In fact, hyperbole is so commonly used in the writing of Latin authors that it falls into its own literary genre known as "magical realism."</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">When Marquez writes in <i>One Hundred Years of Solitude </i>"... it rained for four years, eleven months, and two days ..." what does he mean? Did it really rain all that time? No. It's an exaggerated and humorous tone that tells us that it had rained very heavily. It is highly unlikely that any place would ever get that kind of consistent rainfall, but Marquez is trying to describe the devastation to an area as a result of a storm.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Let's look at some samples of hyperbole from both old and new works of literary prose, with some explanation of what the author is trying to do.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Here we get a sense of the newness of the place through exaggeration and humor: The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">—Gabriel Garcia Marquez, <i>One Hundred Years of Solitude</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Whereas here we just get a wonderful sense of Mark Twain's consistent and beloved caustic wit through narrative voice:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">There did not seem to be brains enough in the entire nursery, so to speak, to bait a fishhook with.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">—Mark Twain, <i>A </i><st1:state><st1:place><i>Connecticut</i></st1:place></st1:state><i> Yankee in </i><st1:street><st1:address><i>King Arthurs Court</i></st1:address></st1:street></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">(Ahh, Twain and his humor ... what would we do without them?)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Hyperbole is often used to describe someone's physical features:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The skin on her face was as thin and drawn as tight as the skin of an onion and her eyes were gray and sharp like the points of two icepicks.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">—Flannery O'Connor, <i>Parker Is Back</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">As you continue your reading journey, try to pay attention to hyperbole, especially in modern works of literature. We seem to be in a current literary trend of finding great meanings in understatement, so when you find exaggeration in a newly released novel, ask yourself why it's there; it may lead you to a greater understanding of the story.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">References to Religion and Myth</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">With every page you turn in various works of fiction, you will find references to myth and religion. And if you don't find these references, you will often find their antithesis—meaning a denial of these religious or mythical references. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">In Thomas Hardy's <i>Far from the Madding Crowd, </i>Hardy sets the scene of a passionate, idyllic, and even tragic pastoral countryside where nature is representative of life with all its good and bad. In the midst of this rural, almost pagan setting, Hardy introduces Bathsheba Everdene, who shakes up everyone's world with her strength, independence, and beauty. It's interesting to note that here; too, you will find symbolic names. The characters who are part of the pastoral setting have names such as Oak and Boldwood, which are strongly connected to nature by bringing to mind the image of trees; whereas Bathsheba is a biblical name taken from the Old Testament.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Both her name and her very presence as an outsider automatically create a contrast between religion and culture.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If you decide to read <i>Far from the Madding Crowd, </i>keep your eyes open for another surprise. An outsider by the name of Sergeant Troy comes into the picture. What do you know about the word <st1:city><st1:place>Troy</st1:place></st1:city>? It's associated with myth. Your next step would be to research the story of <st1:city><st1:place>Troy</st1:place></st1:city>, which would lead you to the story of the Trojan horse, a decoy that led to murder and mayhem. When you understand the reference, you'll understand the character and you may even get a sense of <i>foreshadowing.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">So in one novel, Hardy uses both religion and myth to move the story along. It's a device that is frequendy used in fiction, so pay attention to the signposts as you read—names, settings, symbols, and metaphors will soon jump off the page at you if your mind is curious enough to find them.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Superstition as Metaphor</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Superstition is a term used to describe a belief that is not based on reason but more on magical thinking. Sometimes a superstition is faith-based or has simply arisen from the beliefs of a particular culture or society, meaning it has folkloric origins. Some people say that superstition comes from ignorance or fear, whereas others say it stems from an unenlightened religious mindset. In actuality superstition can be any or all of these things.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">So how do authors incorporate elements of superstition in their writing, and how is it different from religious metaphors? For a good example, let's revisit <i>Huckleberry Finn. </i>After all, Huck was one of the most superstitious characters in literary history.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Hairballs and Snakeskins</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Superstition is a powerful force that drives Mark Twain's writing in <i>Huckleberry Finn. </i>Both Jim and Huck have their own sets of superstitions that stem from their own cultures and life rituals. Although Huck initially writes off Jim's superstitions as ridiculous, he eventually comes to see the relevance and wisdom in what Jim says.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">And although you, as the reader, may not relate to these superstitions, what Twain is doing is showing the breakdown of differences between the two characters. The more they understand about each other, the more they respect each other.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Here are just a few examples of superstitions referenced in <i>Huckleberry Finn:</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• A hairball can tell the future.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• A loaf of bread can point out the whereabouts of a dead body.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Touching a snakeskin with your bare hands will give you the worst kind of luck.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">There are countless others. It's a wonder these two don't scare themselves to death</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">with all of their superstitions!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Nature, Superstition, and Metaphor</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Nature is used as symbol and metaphor most frequently for Huck's state of mind. For </span>example, when Huck feels lonesome and wishes he were dead, his mood is captured with superstition references:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The stars were shining, and the leaves rustled in the woods about somebody that was dead, and a whippowill and a dog crying about somebody that was going to die; and the wind was trying to whisper something to me, and I couldn't make out what it was, and so it made the cold shivers run over me.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The stars and the leaves and the whippoorwill and the wind and all they represent superstitiously to Huck seem to extend his mood of deep sadness and dread.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Read on:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">I got so downhearted and scared I did wish I had some company. Pretty soon a spider went crawling up my shoulder, and I flipped it off and it lit in the candle; and before I could budge it was all shriveled up. I didn't need anybody to tell me that that was an awful bad sign and could fetch me some bad luck, so I was scared and most shook the clothes off of me. I got up and turned around in my tracks three times and crossed my breast every time; and I tied up a little lock of my hair with a thread to keep witches away.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">All of these references from <i>Huckleberry Finn </i>demonstrate the use of extended metaphors using nature and superstition to symbolize Huck's various emotional states. By using superstition as Huck's and Jim's belief systems, Twain further reminded readers that these two people are almost untouched by "civilization," education, and religion. This makes them appear to be as pure as the nature around them, which makes their transitions in the novel all the more poignant to the reader.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">The Art of Wit and Humor</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Mark Twain is famous for his sense of humor as evidenced in his fiction and essays. Twain loved to take the seemingly normal and conventional world and turn it on its head to show the reader just how ridiculous we can be. In doing this, he helps us laugh at ourselves.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Mark Twain posts a notice at the very beginning of <i>Huckleberry Finn </i>warning his readers that if they take any of the story seriously, they will be punished. In writing this "notice" to the reader, he is really asking his readers to find the humor before they get all riled up over any presumed messages.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Of course, Twain wants you to see the seriousness of the subject matter, really, but what he asks the reader to do is to see the humor first. In fact, this is another way that Twain breaks conventional literary traditions. He is not asking you to look beneath the surface by using metaphor and symbolism; rather, he wants you to find your way to the top by seeing the humor in his writing first, because then and only then will the hidden meanings be clear. He would rather the truth as he sees it be revealed to the reader by playing on the reader's own human qualities and sensibilities, one being, of course, a sense of humor.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Here is Twain's "notice" to the reader:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">By Order of the Author </i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">The Joy of Discovery</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">There is no end to what authors can do to reach their readers, and there is nothing more pleasurable for a reader than to spot the hidden treasure that lies within the text. If you are the kind of reader you want to be, you will be able to find the name, the symbol, the metaphor that opens doors wide for further understanding. When that happens, you will experience a joy in reading fiction that you may never have expected. It's like being the archaeologist who finds the skull of a previously unknown dinosaur. You will relish your discoveries and use them to forge ahead to further understanding about yourself and the world around you.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Least You Need to Know</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Symbolism and metaphor are two different comparative devices.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Hyperbole is exaggeration used to express strong emotions.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Superstition, myth, and religion are commonly used as metaphors in fiction.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Humor is a clever device used to help readers see deeper meanings in literature.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-63729165977620465392010-12-22T03:04:00.000-08:002010-12-22T03:18:07.551-08:00Novel Ways to Pull the Reader In: Critical Reading<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 34pt;">Novel Ways to Pull </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 34pt;">the Reader In</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">In This Page</span></b></div><blockquote><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Who's telling the story?</span> </blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">What dialogue really tells the reader</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Using style, tone, and tense to shift meaning and mood</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Using new characters to recycle old themes</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The basic structure of plot</span></blockquote><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">What does an author do to make his or her work memorable? Part of it is the story itself, but even more important is the way the story is told. Why does the author choose a character in the novel to tell the story versus telling it himself, for example? What about dialogue, plot, and tone? Do these things simply fall into place, or are each of them carefully constructed by the writer?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">To read a novel, it's important to understand how it is put together. In this chapter, you learn why the author makes certain choices about the way he or she will tell the story, and how being able to identify those choices will make the story clearer for you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 20pt;">Find the Point of View</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">When you tell someone a story, it's always told from your point of view. You were there; you witnessed or were directly involved in the action—the only way to tell the story is the way you remember it happening. You can try telling a story from someone else's point of view, but you can only say what <i>you </i>think and feel and not what the other person is thinking and feeling. One of the first things a fiction writer must do, after figuring out the plot and characters, is to figure out who will tell the story. The narrator is the heart of the story, without which the text would not hold together and the tale would not hold authority.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The author has a few choices with regard to who will tell the story. Will it be a character within the story? Will it be an objective observer to the action? Or will it be an active participant in the action? Sometimes the story is told by someone who is not involved in the story at all, but who seems to know about everyone and everything happening in the book. (This is called the omniscient narrator.) When you read a novel, the narrator will either be so obvious that he screams off the page at you or will be so subtle that you barely notice who is telling the story. None of this is an accident. Writers make very conscious decisions about how they want their stories to be told, and a great deal of consideration is always given to narrative voice and point of view.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">There are a number of different narrative voices an author can use, and the final choice will be for both stylistic and artistic purposes, which we discuss further after you have a handle on some specific terminology. Narrative voices are referred to as first, second, and third person. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Here's a summary of some commonly used narrative techniques in fiction:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">First person narrator. </span></b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The narrator is a character in the story and tells the story from his or her point of view. He or she is an observer of events with a subjective point of view. Writing in the first person limits the narrator's ability to be objective and therefore limits his or her reliability in the telling of the story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">First person observer </span></b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">(or first person reporter). Again, the story is told from the narrator's point of view, most likely by a character in the story, but as more of an observer than a participant in the action. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Second person: </span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Second person is most commonly found in letter format and when a narrator switches gears to address the reader. Second person allows the narrator to address the reader by using "you." Authors do not usually feel the need to write in the second person. It is actually a difficult voice to use and is not always executed effectively.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Third person. </span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The third person narrator is not necessarily a character in the piece of writing. Writing in the third person allows the author to have an objective party telling the story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Third person reporter. </span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Writing with this voice allows the narrator to be close to one character, telling the story through that person's eyes. The third person reporter has a limited point of view, but allows the reader to identify with one character throughout the story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• <b>Third person omniscient. </b>This might be the favorite voice of any fiction writer. It allows the narrator to be anywhere at any time. The author can use the omniscient narrator to tell you what anyone is thinking. It gives the author godlike powers to tell the story from any character's point of view.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Although it's the fiction writer's job to establish the narrator and to be consistent with the narrative voice in the telling of the story, it's your job as the reader to try to understand what the writer intends to say to you through the use of a particular narrator. Often the best way to figure this out is to identify the point of view and to consider the reliability of the narrator.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Exceptions to the Rules</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">There are very rare exceptions when a first person narrator can be omniscient, but one good example is in a recently published novel called <i>The Lovely Bones, </i>by Alice Sebold. It is about a young girl who is murdered and watches her family lead their lives from her bird's-eye view in heaven. Because she is in heaven, she has the ability to be omniscient—so she is able to see, hear, and know things that she normally wouldn't be able to if she were alive on Earth.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Young Suzie Salmon, in that case, can be considered Sebold's first person omniscient narrator: Hours before I died, my mother hung on the refrigerator a picture that Buckley had drawn. In the drawing a thick blue line separated air and ground. In the </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">days that followed I watched my family walk back and forth past the drawing and I became convinced that that thick blue line was a real place—an</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">In between, where heaven's horizon met Earth's, (pg. 34)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Another good example of this type of first person omniscience was used in the recent Jeffrey Eugenides novel called <i>Middlesex. </i>The narrator tells the story of the lives of his parents and grandparents as he awaits his own birth, so his narrator is able to see, hear, and know all:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Meanwhile, in the greenroom to the world, I waited. Not even a gleam in my father's eye yet (he was staring gloomily at the thermometer case in his lap). Now my mother gets up from the so-called love seat. She heads for the stairway, holding a hand to her forehead, and the likelihood of my ever coming to be seems more and more remote, (pg. 11) This was a clever technique for the author to use because it allowed him to tell the story from the main character's point of view in first person while giving the narrator reliability by putting him in a position of omniscience. In other words, the back story can be told with credibility by the main character in the story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Point of View and Dialogue</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Another way an author can sneak in more information about characters when the book is written in third person is through the use of dialogue. This proves especially helpful when writing in third person limited, where the narrator is particularly close to one character. If the narrator has a limited scope in ability to tell the story from different character perspectives, dialogue is a good way to alert the reader about what is going on in a character's mind, allowing you to get a more complete story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The following exchange comes from Ursula Hegi's <i>Stones from the River </i>(which uses a third person limited narrator) and takes place between the <i>protagonist, </i>Trudi Montag, and her <i>antagonist, </i>Max:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"Look at me," he said. "I haven't seen her in years."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"You're divorced then?"</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"Not legally. But I will be, if we ever agree enough to sign papers."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Her body felt stiff as if her heart had stopped beating.</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"Come here." He opened his arms to her. "Please, Trudi?"</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">She shook her head. One of his hairs lay on her arm, dark and curled. She couldn't bear to touch it and blew it away.</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"Ask whatever you need to know."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"You wouldn't have told me ..."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"I promise you the truth."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"You would never have told me ..."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"I don't think of her, Trudi. I don't think of myself as married."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"But you are."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"People don't always tell each other everything right away."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Her face felt hot. "What do you mean?"</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"Wouldn't you agree that it's better to wait to reveal some things until you know the other person's ready to hear them?"</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"I-I'm not sure."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"Well, you wanted to know if I had faults."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"And you do."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"You said I was too perfect."</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">"I would have settled for something less dramatic than a wife." (pg. 394—395)</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Through the dialogue, with very few narrator interjections, we see the struggle between the two characters. The narrator doesn't tell us this directly; the characters do, as though they have taken on the role of the narrator. By not interceding, the narrator allows us to draw our own conclusions about who these characters are. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">For example, from this dialogue we know that Trudi is hurt as her lover, Max, explains his situation to her. Although he is loving and honest, it doesn't stop Trudi from feeling betrayed and angry. That's a lot of information to receive based on the words of two characters. What the author is doing here is showing us, rather than telling us, what is going on between these two people.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Is the Narrator a Character?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">If the narrator is a character in the novel, the author will have a good sense of the tone and mood of the character, and that makes it a little easier to determine how the author wants the character to convey the story to you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">But what happens when the narrator is not a character in the story? Where is this mysterious voice coming from? The logical answer to that is that it is the author telling the story, but this is not always the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">case. Sometimes the author and the narrator are one in the same, but most often authors choose a different voice from their own because they have a plan in mind for the way they want the story to be told.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">When the story is told in the third person, and not by a character within the story, the narrator is invisible but will still have a mood and a tone and a particular way of telling the story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 19pt;">Narrator Reliability</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The reader doesn't have to agree with the narrator, but the reader needs to believe that the narrator is telling the real story from whatever perspective the story is being told. If the author is not consistent with the mood and tone of the narrator, the narrator will not be convincing and the reader may not stay with the book.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Sometimes, however, the author <i>wants </i>to use an unreliable narrator. For example, if the character is a child, you will hear the story from the child's point of view. Although children are certainly as able as anyone else in telling stories, you may not be getting as close to the truth as possible because you will have a more innocent and inexperienced voice telling you what is going on.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Choosing an unreliable narrator, such as a child, is a deliberate author technique. The writer wants the reader to have to dig a little further to find the truth, </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">and yet the writer still wants us to hear the story from the perspective of this particular observer. But because we have to read so much more into the narrator's story, we are dealing with what is called an "unreliable narrator" and have to be sure we don't</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">take the story at face value or we will completely miss the author's intention.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">One of Amy's favorite unreliable narrators is Daisy Fay Harper from Fannie Flagg's book <i>Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man. </i>Daisy Fay is 11 years old and has some interesting perspectives on life as she sees it—or on the stories she's been told: When I was being born, I kicked Momma so hard that now she can't have any</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">more children. I don't remember kicking her at all. It wasn't my fault I was so fat and if Daddy hadn't choked the doctor and made him nervous, I would have been born better, (pg. 14) Although the readers will never know where Daisy got this story from unless she tells us, it is likely she heard it from one of her parents and has put her own spin on it. So not only are we hearing the story from a child narrator, we are hearing her own retold version of it, which makes it even more unreliable.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">So why did the author do this? Well, Daisy is a very creative and amusing child. What we learn from this short paragraph is that Daisy is confident and strong-minded in her ability not to blame herself for her mother's hard delivery; we also learn that her mother can't have any more children. It is unlikely that that is because Daisy kicked her, even though that's what Daisy is presenting to us as fact. We may never know</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">the truth, but we are getting information from her, and she does tell us the story with humor, which makes the reading experience a lot of fan.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Another type of unreliable narrator would be someone who is not mentally stable, as in Vladimir Nabokov's novel <i>Lolita. </i>The story is about a grownup man's obsession with an adolescent girl told from his point of view. Humbert Humbert is clearly delusional and portrays the girl, Delores (or Lolita), as a temptress.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">If we were to take the story at face value solely based on what Humbert tells us, we would believe that Lolita is largely to blame for her plight. But as logical and objective readers, we know that we are reading the story from the point of view of a pedophile and Lolita is probably not the seductress Humbert would like us to believe she is. This is where it is the reader's responsibility to read between the lines.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Keep in mind that at the very beginning of Lolita, Humbert, as the narrator, tells the reader that he is not a normal man. He gives you definitions of his obsession and even </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">compares himself to "normal" men. It is important not to lose sight of this as he moves into the actual story or you run the risk of taking his story as the truth instead of just his point of view.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Know Your Narrator</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">To read more deeply means making some kind of acquaintance with who the narrator is. You may have to get a few pages into the story before you understand what kind of narrator you are dealing with. From page one, you will know what point of view the story is being told from: first, second, or third. It may take a little more reading to know whether this is third person limited or third person omniscient, but after you've figured it out, you should keep it in mind as you read. Just remember: It may take you even more time to figure out whether the narrator is reliable—sometimes it isn't apparent until the end of the book.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Autobiographical Narration</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">In some cases, especially in the case of the autobiographical novel, it's helpful to compare</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">the author with his or her narrator. The more you know about the author, the easier it will be to understand the narrative voice.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The story of Edna Pontellier as told by Kate Chopin in <i>The Awakening </i>was based on Kate Chopin's true-life story. When we say "based on," we don't mean that the story is word for word the life of the author, but Chopin takes her own thoughts and feelings and uses them to bring her character to life. Chopin lived her life in pursuit of independence with the desire to validate her identity apart from being a mother and apart from the men who admired her. Chopin took these characteristics and made them a part of Edna's psyche in order to tell her story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Chopin takes some daring and innovative risks in her writing. For example, she switches the narrative voice between third person limited and omniscient. She uses third person limited when she wants us to understand what is going on inside of Edna's mind. It's as though we are privy to the inner workings of the protagonist, almost as though the story were written in first person. When Chopin wants you to see Edna's external world she dips back into the omniscient narrative. This allows the reader to take a peek at what the action outside of Edna's mind is all about. This is important because if we stayed inside Edna's mind too long, we wouldn't be able to get a complete picture of her circumstances. Viewing the action through the omniscient voice allows the plot to move along while enabling the reader to stay with the story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">What we know of Edna Pontellier is that she is an independent woman, much like the author herself. Although Chopin invented Edna, she is really telling you her own story—thus making the novel autobiographical in nature but not necessarily true to life with respect to the details of Chopin's life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">When Chopin switches to an omniscient narrator, she relies upon an observer to tell you the story of Edna Pontellier. You know now that the story is autobiographical, so in choosing to tell us part of the story in third person omniscient, Chopin allows herself some distance from her own reality to tell us her self-inspired story in a fictionalized form. If the story is her own, or close to her own, why wouldn't she tell it in first person? Well, that was a personal choice for Chopin; if you think about it, however, it makes sense to tell it through the eyes of an observer.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">To tell the story in first person would make it seem as though she were writing a memoir and she may not have been able to communicate the story to the reader quite so powerfully. By telling the story in third person, she gives it a more universal appeal. If she told the story in first person, the reader might see the story as only applying to the author and might not relate to it or understand it in the same way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">By taking her story outside of herself, she can observe it in a similar way as the reader—with some element of distance and objectivity.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 19pt;">Consider the Tense and Tone</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">An author can use many techniques to affect your reading experience. Sometimes these choices will surprise you, as when a writer fiddles around with narrator, tense, </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">and tone. For example, in <i>The Awakening, </i>when Chopin relies on the omniscient narrator, and she uses the past tense and changes it only when she is emphasizing details.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Here is an example, in which she speaks about her husband:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Mr. Pontellier had prepared for bed, but he slipped on an extra garment. He opened a bottle of wine, of which he kept a small and select supply in a buffet of his own. He drank a glass of the wine and went out on the gallery and offered a glass to his wife. She did not wish any. He drew up the rocker, hoisted his slippered feet on the rail, and proceeded to smoke a cigar. He smoked two cigars; then went inside and drank another glass of wine. Mrs. Pontellier again declined to accept a glass when it was offered to her. Mr. Pontellier once more seated himself with elevated feet, and after a reasonable interval of time smoked some more cigars.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The omniscient narrator has set a scene almost in the same way a camera might pan the details of this man's moments in a film. And then, the narrator shifts the tone to a much more personal one in telling us about Edna: Edna began to feel like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities pressing into her soul.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The physical need for sleep began to overtake her; the exuberance which had sustained and exalted her spirit left her helpless and yielding to the conditions which crowded her in.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">First of all, notice that Edna is no longer referred to as Mrs. Pontellier in this second paragraph. By switching tenses and tone, the narrator seems to have drawn herself into Edna's mind, bringing us closer to her and further away from the world outside of herself. By using her first name and changing the tense, it's as though the narrator is standing side by side with Edna, allowing the reader to feel the closeness and giving you a sense that this story really is about Edna's inner world. The narrator has entered into Edna's mind and body and describes her feelings intimately and personally.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Do you notice how the change to the present tense gives us an immediate experience in connection to Edna's feelings and her state of mind?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">This change of tense from the detached, distant, cameralike view to the intimate, deeply personal is done throughout the book and has a powerful dramatic effect on the story and therefore upon the reader. It might not be something you would have caught if you were unfamiliar with author techniques. Now that you know what to look for, it might be easier to spot and will allow you a more complete and fulfilling read of the book.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 19pt;">Choosing the Characters</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Like the plot (which we discuss later in this chapter) and the selection of the narrator, the characters the author chooses to use in the story relation to the story have a place and meaning in. Each character is carefully selected and has a specific role in the story to make the plot reliable and complete.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Sometimes the character's place is easy to identify, whereas at other times you have to ask why the author feels such a character is necessary. It's not enough, for example, to throw in a character who is funny just to make the reader laugh. The character has some greater purpose. Ask yourself why the author feels you need this <i>comic relief. </i>Never take any character for granted. They're all there for a reason. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Old Themes, New Characters</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">In Chopin's <i>The Awakening, </i>the story follows an unconventional married woman who finds herself stifled in her conventional marriage and takes a lover. But it really isn't as simple as that tired old theme suggests. This book is about growing and changing through the experiences life offers. It's about wanting a sense of fulfillment in life. This has been a common literary theme concerning stories about men and women alike, and similar examples can be found in novels about class and race, as well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">So why do writers bother with tired old plots? Well, because they aren't yet worn out; otherwise authors would stop using them. These plots and characters are based on what human beings are still struggling with and will probably always struggle with. We can relate to them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The art of repeating themes lies primarily in the characters used to depict the story and the plot that drives them in their actions. In other words, it doesn't matter whether the same theme is stated over and over again in book after book. It bears repeating as long as people continue to evolve and change and try to find solutions to age-old problems. What makes old themes recyclable are the characters we read about, who point to the larger society and culture that bred them, and to ourselves personally </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Character and the Common Bond</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Although it is true that characters in their various plots and settings can carry a common bond, what makes them unique is the way they tell the story. For example, Becky Sharp from William Thackeray's <i>Vanity Fair </i>and Scarlet O'Hara from Margaret Mitchell's <i>Gone with the Wind </i>are similar characters living in completely different places and times.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Becky Sharp uses her femininity and conniving abilities to keep herself afloat amid the upper class. What use is it to be beautiful and poor? She wants attention and money, which for her means the good life and, ultimately, survival. She'll stop at nothing to get what she wants. Scarlet O'Hara is the same type of character with different motivations. Scarlet doesn't dream so much of wealth and the upper classes—she was born and bred in that world. Scarlet most wants love, a home, and attention. To her, these things define survival.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">So what do these two character types tell us about their respective stories? What are the authors trying to say to us by using these characters? Well, that selfish manipulation doesn't always have the same outcome. Although Becky Sharp and Scarlet O'Hara are often compared as character types due to their abilities to get what they want through using femininity and manipulation tactics, their personalities and their needs are not the same, and the outcomes of their stories are completely different.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Scarlet winds up virtually unchanged and trying to figure out to weasel her way back to Rhett Butler. Becky, on the other hand, winds up with the desire to be a respected woman.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Characters following a common (and well-used) theme may not arrive at the same place at the end of their respective stories. As long as there are clever authors out there who are able to put new and unusual twists on a character "type," the reader will want to keep on reading.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Scarlet's story ends with the realization that the love she had sought was hers all along, but instead of winding up happy, she winds up losing the man she realizes she loves too late.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 19pt;">Building a House: Plot Structure</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Every good piece of fiction will be comprised of a specific plot structure. This is a basic truth for novels, short stories, film, plays, television programs, and sometimes even in poetry (depending on the style of the poem). Although it might sound like </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">a dull concept for every piece of fiction to have the same basic foundation, it is the very structure of the work that makes it understandable.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">A common teaching method to help readers and writers understand the structure of fiction is to picture a piece of fiction as a house. That's right—four walls, a roof, rooms, closets—everything that makes a house a complete structure, although plans for that interior may vary greatly from book to book just as they do in real homes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">How does the concept of architecture apply to fiction writing? The house represents the entire structure—the whole story. Inside the house there are rooms, and each room is a plot point, meaning a particular action that takes place within the story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The action of the story is the movement that takes place within the house, and, of course, the people moving within the house are the characters. Without these elements a house could never be a home—it would just be a skeleton with no life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Between the Walls</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">In addition to having an overall structure, the story must follow a certain movement, which you can remember by thinking about the alphabet. Well, part of the alphabet anyway:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">A - Action</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">B - Background</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">C - Conflict, crisis, climax (in that order)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">D - Dénouement (resolution)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">E - End (conclusion)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Action</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Every story needs action to move the plot forward and lead the characters toward growth and transition. If there is no action, the story cannot go anywhere and we probably wouldn't be interested in reading it anyway.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Background</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">To fully understand the story and the motivations of the characters, we need to know </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">do the things they do and feel the way they feel? It's no different than understanding your own life or the lives of other people. We really get to know the people in our lives when we know where they come from, what makes them tick, and what drives them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">From Conflict to Climax</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The purpose of a piece of fiction is to show how the protagonist changes. This is best done when there is a conflict. How the conflict builds comes from the action in the story. A conflict leads to a crisis where the protagonist is usually faced with choices.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">How that character deals with the crisis helps us understand the protagonist's psychological, moral, social, or even physical transformation. The climax of the story is the pinnacle of the crisis and the point at which the character transition occurs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Dénouement or Resolution</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">As readers (and as people) we need resolution to a given conflict. In fiction, we need to know what the character makes of this transition. Is the character aware that there has been a change inside himself or herself? If so, what are these internal changes? Is the character at peace? Does he or she have any better understanding of himself or herself within the situation? Or does he or she have more work to do and have simply passed through the initial stages of change?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Conclusion</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Although an author can easily end a book with the <i>resolution, </i>sometimes he or she will take it a step further with a <i>conclusion. </i>It really depends on what the author is trying to say. If the most important development in the story is the resolution of the conflict, the author may choose not to tell you what happens to the character next. By ending the story at the </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">some background. Who are these characters, where do they come from, why do they at the point of resolution, the author is telling you that: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">You don't need to know where the character goes from there; the important thing is how he or she got there.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Think of this in terms of the fairy tale that ends in "happily ever after." What does that mean, exactly?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The story is really about how the hero or heroine got to the "happily ever after" and not what the "happily ever after" actually refers to—which we assume to be comfort and family. All of these elements, if constructed well, should lead the reader to a sense of both satisfaction and loss—satisfaction with the resolution and loss that it is over. That's what makes fiction reading worthwhile.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 19pt;">Putting the Pieces Together</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">If you take the narrative voice, tone, mood, setting, plot, theme, point of view, and characterizations and put them together, they complete an intricate puzzle of meaning. If the craftsmanship is there, you will be in for a wonderful reading experience.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">It's an art form and a skill for a writer to put all the bits and pieces together and have them make sense to a total stranger. You have no idea what the author was thinking when he or she set out to write the book, but by the time you close the book, if the author has done his or her job well and you are knowledgeable enough to see it, you will have completed a journey you may never forget. But now, not only will you be able to feel excited about it, you'll also be able to say why.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">The Least You Need to Know</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• Narrative voice is a deliberate storytelling device.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• The tense the author chooses to use (past or present) pulls us into the story or .backs us away from it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• Dialogue is used to reveal character detail.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• Following a basic plot pattern is essential for fiction.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-2969405336552330432010-12-21T05:05:00.001-08:002010-12-21T05:05:04.941-08:00Reading Imaginative Literature: A guide to Critical Reading<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34.0pt;">Reading Imaginative</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34.0pt;">Literature</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">In This Chapter</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Telling a story with meaning: parables, allegories, and fables</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>How the characters fit in</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Exploring the themes</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The importance of setting and imagery</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">When a writer sits down to work on a piece of fiction, he or she doesn't necessarily know what devices will be applied throughout the story. The devices tend to grow as the piece of writing develops.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">In this chapter, you learn what it takes to write a piece of fiction so that you have a better understanding of how it needs to be read. It's not just about what the author wants you to take away from the book, but how the message is presented.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Creative Minds at Work</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What do you think happens when an author sits down in front of a computer screen or with pen and paper in hand (the old-fashioned way) and decides to write a story? Well, it depends on the author, that's for sure, but they all have one objective in mind, which is to uncover a deeper truth about life that you can relate to.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some writers will just think for hours before they ever put a single word on the page.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">They develop characters in their minds; they hear them speak; they give them hair and eye color and physical gestures. Sometimes a writer will start with an outline— a rough idea of the story line (the plot) and who the players will be (character sketches). But not everyone is that organized. Sometimes a writer sits at a computer (or in front of that blank white sheet of paper) and starts to write anything and everything that comes to his or her mind. Or, if you're a writer like Amy's father (an author of historical novels), you might have put yourself to bed as a child every night with a story you made up about Native Americans and Jesuit priests. The story grows and grows until it has to be written, and what appears will often surprise everyone, especially the writer.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If a writer were to stop and think every few sentences about what writing techniques to use, the piece would probably never get written. Most writers concentrate first on getting the story on paper. While the writer thinks about the story on her way to a day job, or before falling asleep at night, thoughts about creative storytelling devices will certainly come to mind and will eventually be employed to move the story along, but at the outset all that matters is that the words make it to the page.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Allegory and Parables</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">To convey your feelings, ideas, beliefs, thoughts, and dreams to another human being is never easy. Some people are better communicators than others, but it is difficult to tell someone how you feel in such a way that they will feel it, too. That's the job of the fiction writer and the power of <i>allegory. </i>Some of the most notable allegorical storytelling can be found in the Bible. This book contains countless stories that have not only been the foundation of Christian belief, but have taught people meanings and feelings for centuries. For example, take a look at this passage:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">“Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children”---(Matthew <st1:time hour="14" minute="13">14:13</st1:time>-21 NRSV)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What does it mean that Jesus Christ was able to feed thousands of people with just a little bit of food? To take the story literally (the surface story), it would be one of the many miracles performed by Jesus Christ in the Bible. When you take a closer look at the story and dig at the metaphor contained beneath the surface, you will most likely find several meanings, one of which is that every person has the power to nurture others with prayers and hope. In other words, the faith of one can influence<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>any.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">For Jesus Christ to make himself understood to the people, he had to speak in <i>parables; </i>in other words, teach his truths by means of stories with embedded metaphors. There are many religions that use allegory and parables to help people understand deeper meanings. Examples include stories of Hindu gods and goddesses; stories about Buddha; and the ancient religions of gods and goddesses worshipped in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Greece</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:place><st1:city>Rome</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place>, and more.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If religion were simply preached at you without giving you a story behind it, it might not be as easy to understand—or as interesting, for that matter. Theologians understand the power and conviction of the allegory as much as fiction writers do.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The more metaphorical the story the more likely it is that the reader will absorb the deeper meaning. Many storytellers try to communicate an idea or belief to you by disguising the theme in the form of a story. By doing so the writer is asking you—the reader—to figure it out for yourself, because all answers that bear any meaning for you must ultimately come from you.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">A Whale of a Story</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i>Moby-Dick, </i>by American author Herman Melville (1819-1891), is one of the best examples of allegorical American fiction because of its depth and subject matter. On the surface <i>Moby-Dick </i>is a story of the whaling industry and one sailor's search to destroy an infamous sea legend, a whale named Moby Dick. However, look a little deeper and you will find much more than a simple fish story. In <i>Moby-Dick, </i>Melville takes on the age-old philosophical theme of good versus evil.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Is Melville right in his hypothesis? Do we all have to confront the darkest sides of ourselves at some point in our lives? That's what you need to decide for yourself when you read the book. What truths, if any, does the author touch inside of you? After you have uncovered the mystery that Melville has set before you, you will reach an understanding with the book and with the author. Uncover the metaphors and see what you can relate to. What are your feelings about good and evil? Are they innate qualities or are they acquired through living? How does the struggle of good versus evil affect your life? What does Melville say about the strength of the individual through Ishmael's tale of the captain and that white sperm whale?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">What's in a Name?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Often characters represent something allegorical within the story. Sometimes they are represented as subtle symbols, whereas at other times they just scream out at you either by name or by action. In other words, sometimes you have to search for the symbolism, and other times the author makes it more obvious to the reader. Let's return to <i>Moby-Dick </i>for an example of characters used as symbols—and there is nothing subtle about them!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Melville approaches the issue of good and evil in a symbolic way by relying on several biblical references, the most obvious of which are the names <i>Ahab </i>and <i>Ishmael. </i>These are carefully chosen names that point us in the direction of further inquiry. Why would Melville use these names instead of, say, Will and Sam?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">From its origins in the Bible, the name Ishmael has become synonymous with the orphaned outcast of society. In the Bible, Ishmael was the son of Abraham and a slave girl. Abraham's wife, Sarah, thought she could not have children despite the fact that she was promised a child by God. When Sarah finally did have her promised child, Isaac, Ishmael and his mother were cast onto the streets.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Ishmael in <i>Moby-Dick </i>is new to the world of whaling and he is the eyes and ears of the reader. He is the outsider on the ship and therefore can see the events aboard the whaling ship with a fresh eye. As he sees it, we see it. As the reader, you are as new to this world as Ishmael himself. In the Bible, Ahab is the king of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> known for being evil, vengeful, and bloodthirsty on the one hand, although other references refer to him as one of the greatest kings that ever ruled <st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>! So which is it? Was he great or was he evil? Or ... was he both?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Captain Ahab in <i>Moby-Dick </i>is not unlike King Ahab in his lust for revenge. Captain Ahab searches the globe for the white sperm whale that had previously maimed him. Moby Dick is known by all sailors for his ferocity—he has destroyed everyone who has attempted to destroy him. Yet Ahab will not be deterred and is willing to risk his ship and the lives of his crewmen in an effort to quell his anger and hatred.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">Fables</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some of the most memorable nonbiblical allegories can be found in the form of the fable. A fable differs from a parable in that a fable usually includes some unbelievable action or some strange characterizations such as talking animals. Fables hide a metaphor for one of life's many lessons. One of the most well known of Aesop's fables is <i>The Fox and the Grapes, </i>a story about a fox (of course) who stumbles across a grapevine. He's thirsty and would really like a nice fresh juicy grape or two. But the ripest of the bunch is on a higher limb and he can't reach it no matter how hard he tries. Finally he gives up and haughtily says to him, "I bet they were sour anyway." Have you ever heard someone say "it sounds like a case of sour grapes"? That's where that expression comes from, as do many of our English expressions.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Every fable has a meaning that can usually be summed up in one easy sentence. In the case of this story, the underlying meaning is "It is easy to despise what you cannot get."</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">So That's What It Means!</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If you read into a story and find the hidden meanings, they are your own discovery and will hold a more valuable and deeper meaning for you. Even if you don't personalize the message, you will see and understand it, and that means everything when you are trying to become a critical reader. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">As you know from living your life every day, the most valuable lessons learned are the ones you learn on your own. Sometimes you need a little nudge, but until you figure it out for yourself you will never fully understand the messages that are handed to you.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Fiction is often allegorical. It is the good fiction writer's task to give the work a deeper, more global meaning than what is happening in the surface story. That, and the ability to allow the reader to find the hidden meaning, is what make writing fiction an art. On the other hand, some fiction writers write purely for entertainment. What you take from the book and how you relate to it may not go any deeper than the surface—and it's not supposed to. There may be smaller life lessons in the story, but the writer is not necessarily intending to do anything but allow you to relax and absorb.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Tools of the Trade</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Like a carpenter needs tools and a painter needs paints and a paintbrush, a writer uses tools as well. These are different tools, they are not ones you pick up and hold; but without them, a story would not be complete. Here is a list of just a few of the literary devices and techniques writers frequently use in allegorical stories. They fall into the category of figurative language, or language in which the literal meaning of the words is different from the intended meaning. (We take a closer look at figurative language in Chapter 9.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Metaphor. </b>A direct relationship in which one idea or thing substitutes for another without being directly stated.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Simile. </b>An indirect relationship comparing one thing or idea to another usually using the words <i>like </i>or <i>as.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Personification. </b>Human thoughts, perceptions, and actions are attributed to inanimate objects or to ideas.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Symbolism. </b>The use of objects or images to represent abstract ideas. A symbol must be a visible or tangible thing, whereas what it represents must be universal. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Hyperbole. </b>An exaggerated description.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Characters Make the Story</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">One of the most important things a writer will do for his or her story is invent memorable characters. Characters can't exist just for the sake of the action. Characters exist in a story for a far bigger purpose. The characters are an integral part of the story—the part that the reader will attempt to identify with or even judge or deny.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The characters tell the story, live the story, have the relationships within the story, and judge the action and other characters; they are what makes a work of fiction come alive. Every book you read will use characters to help you find a bigger meaning. Characters in a book will always be representative of you, of people you know, of relationships you've had or will have, or of people in the world that you may have encountered or will encounter. They are the observers and the actors. Without them we would be left with little more than descriptions of places or seasons. Without characters in whatever form they take, there can be no story. (See Chapter 8 for more on choosing characters.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some characters will not shout "symbol" as loud as Ahab and Ishmael in <i>Moby-Dick, </i>but have more subtle messages for the reader. In Virginia Woolf's <i>Mrs. Dalloway, </i>for example, we are confronted with far more subtle characterizations. But the way Woolf has developed the main character in this book speaks volumes about character and metaphor. In <i>Mrs. Dalloway, </i>Woolf offers us a character whose personality and purpose is evident from the first line of the story to the last. In the first line of the story—"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself"—Woolf gives us an immediate impression of a gentle woman of possible means. The very idea that someone else could buy her flowers for her implies that she could have sent someone else.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Of course, that person could be anyone, but one of the many scenarios is that someone works for her. We, of course, must read on to be sure. We know right away that there is a reason for buying flowers that day. Does she buy flowers every day or is there a special occasion involved? And why does she need to choose her own flowers? Does she normally buy flowers? If so, what is different about this particular day? Mrs. Dalloway has some kind of purpose, which will also make us wonder whether taking charge is</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">part of her personality, generally speaking. Literally, all we know from this first line is that Mrs. Dalloway will buy flowers, but this one sentence implies so much more, from who Mrs. Dalloway is to what is going on in her life. While Mrs. Dalloway is blissfully ignorant of her own sense of loss in the life she has chosen, we—the readers—see it and feel it for her. In the novel, her situation is comparable to another seemingly unconnected story line and character in the book. Septimus Warren Smith is a World War I veteran suffering from the trauma of his war experiences and makes a conscious decision to kill himself rather than face life in an asylum. Mrs. Dalloway in her ignorant bliss and Septimus in his tortured mind have both made similar decisions. Mrs. Dalloway has committed emotional suicide, whereas Septimus has committed physical suicide. With her last line of the book, Woolf brings the character of Mrs. Dalloway full circle: "For there she was." This was her life. This is the one she chose, and this would be the one she lived, whereas Septimus, too, chose the life he would not live.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Basically the story of Mrs. Dalloway is one big character sketch. Mrs. Dalloway goes through life sampling what it has to offer. Each delight is a joy in its own right. She never has a yearning to specialize or to be "superb" at anything, she just longs to live and be herself. Being able to enjoy life is Mrs. Dalloway's gift and what makes her character come to life. That's how Virginia Woolf wanted her readers to experience her, but at the same time there's a bittersweet sadness that meanders its way through her life based on the decisions she has made. The use of characters in a work of fiction is not a device in itself, but how they fit together using symbolism and theme is a device. For example, the last line of <i>Mrs. Dalloway </i>("For there she was") reflects the meaning of the first line ("Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself"). This is a device that Woolf uses to solidify your understanding of who this character is—one line parallels the other and helps you make a conclusion about the personality of Mrs. Dalloway.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Dissecting the Theme</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">When an author begins to write a story, it's essential that he have a concept of the theme he's trying to communicate to the readers. It's fine to have an exciting story and lots of great characters, but what's the point of assembling them all in one plot if there is no real meaning to the story? What "truth" about life does the author want to convey to the reader? Everyone has a set of truths that they hold as a means of identifying themselves there are personal truths, and there are general truths. These "truths" that the author attempts to convey to the reader are what constitute the overall theme of the story. The best way to try to identify a theme is to try to state the theme in a single sentence. For example, In Mark Twain's <i>Huckleberry Finn, </i>the surface story is about a young boy, Huckleberry Finn, a child of nature unschooled, without the manners of society, with a good heart and wild spirit who travels down the <st1:place>Mississippi River</st1:place> with Jim, an escaped slave. They are two different people, of different ages and races, but they are equal in every other sense—they are both human beings and they both seek freedom (Huck from his cruel, greedy, drunken father, and even the Widow Douglas and her "sivilizing" ways; and Jim from slavery). The raft becomes their home, the river becomes their world, and as they float along, they learn about life from each other.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">There are many other themes and truths to be uncovered regarding Mark Twain's thoughts and feelings about hypocrisy, religion, the role of imagination, about racism and prejudice, and finding one's own truth as Huck is always trying to do—a kind of model for the rest of us who try to make sense of the same things. But the main theme is this: All human beings are free and equal no matter what rules society puts in place.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Personal Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Maybe an author is fascinated by his own family history because of the interesting stories he heard in childhood, or because of the interesting family members who were very much like characters he could imagine in a book. When combined, these reallife experiences can make for some wonderful stories.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Contemporary author and <i>New York Times </i>correspondent Rick Bragg tells us about the loved ones in his life in at least two of his books, <i>All Over but the Shoutin </i>' and <i>AvasMan. </i>He tells the story of his mother in one book and of his father in the other. His truth is about coming to terms with what his family and what his connections to his family mean to him. The theme of his work is developed around how his protagonists lived their lives. He wants us to know them as he knew them or learned about them. But why would we care about his family? What can we learn from what his family meant to him?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">This is where the art comes in. Rick Bragg uses real people from his own life history to tell us something about life in the rural South during the twentieth century. But he also tells us about suffering, sorrow, and the struggle to survive by using humor and wit. He shows us how his family made their way in this world in terms of stories told to him—stories both real and imagined.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What Bragg has written is a fictional autobiography. In other words, he is writing about what he knows to be true through memory and storytelling, but he fills in the blanks to make the story complete and readable for those who do not know him, or his family, or anything about the South for that matter.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">He does this by creating conversations, characters, scenes, and settings. He is not attempting to recreate facts as they occurred but to tell us a story he imagines.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Taking it beyond the realm of fact into imagination is what makes his work fiction. Like any work of good fiction, Bragg hides both truths and mysteries for us to discover beneath his story lines. He touches his readers by writing about a particular theme in such a way that allows us to relate to the aspects that have touched all of our lives in one way or another: being poor, sad, overworked, provoked, angry, jealous, vengeful, feeling foolish, or trying to make others feel foolish. He looks at flaws in his own world that have universal meaning for everyone.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Universal Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Although some themes appear only in individual books, other themes are taken on by many authors. There is a saying that there are no new stories, only new ways to tell them, and you can apply that when you think of some of the pervasive themes in literature.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">There are countless universal themes that everyone in the world can relate to, and these are what fiction writers try to communicate when they construct their stories. One universal theme in literature is the victimization of women. Female and male writers have explored this theme for centuries. Leo Tolstoy's <i>Anna Karenina, </i>Thomas Hardy's <i>Tess of the D'Urbervilles, </i>more recently Margaret Atwood's <i>A Handmaid's Tale, </i>and (as you read earlier) Nathaniel Hawthorne's <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>all take on the theme of female victimization. What happens to women if they so much as attempt to break societal rules and live their lives with the same freedoms that the men in their society have? Well, there is rarely a happy ending to these stories. Many of the women die at the end of these stories, either by suicide or by execution—and if they don't die, someone else suffers the agony of their desire to be free individuals.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The women in most of these novels are not shrinking violets. They are strong-willed, intelligent women who find it hard to deny their desire for independence and the need to pursue their happiness despite a society that does not allow women access to the same freedoms as men. The message is, in many cases, that the desire to be free is even stronger than the threat of suffering if they attempt to break the rules of society.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The reason the theme of female victimization is still so prevalent in fiction is because it touches so many societies worldwide. Perhaps these authors were trying to make a statement not only within their respective societies, but also to the world at large. What was the statement? Well, when you read these books, you can figure it out for yourself. If we tell you here, how will you ever incorporate the message into your own knowledge base of global understanding?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Okay, okay ... how about this: The desire for freedom and equality is so powerful that people are willing to risk everything, even their lives, to achieve it. Or to be more specific to the plight of women, you could say that the imposition of societal law on only one part of the population in an effort to establish control and assert male dominance is unjust and cruel, especially when it defies the innate desires and the rights of women.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Cultural and Regional Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Whereas some themes are personal or universal, others are cultural. For example, some themes are specific to a certain country or region of the world. There are even themes within one society that some relate to more than others. African Americans, for example, will most likely relate to a story about racism and slavery in a different way than a Caucasian person or an Asian person might.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">A good example of a regionalized theme is American fiction. The <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> can still be considered a new country when you compare it to the age of the rest of the world. With a new world comes new ideas, beliefs, and dreams, and therefore new literary themes. In the next section, we take a look at how regional themes played a part in James Fenimore Cooper's writings.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Imagery and Setting</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Where a story takes place is as important to the theme as character and any literary device. The setting will determine who the characters are and how they interact. A setting can be symbolic in itself, as can the details of the location. For example, go back to Huck and Jim on that raft: a Caucasian boy and an African American man isolated together on a raft—a symbol of freedom, the vehicle that takes them away from their oppressive lives. The river gives them samplings of what life in that region of <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> is all about—the good, the bad, and the ugly. If they were floating down the <st1:place>Hudson River</st1:place> rather than the <st1:place>Mississippi River</st1:place>, they would have to have been different characters, and their experiences would be completely different.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The imagery that any author describes is a symbolic device used to help move the story along and make the theme more evident to the reader. Why did Melville feel the need to set his story of good versus evil on the sea? What imagery does he use to push his theme forward, to lift it from the confines of life beneath the surface to a place more obvious to the reader? Although it is true that the author wants to obscure the theme so that you can figure it out for yourself, he or she doesn't want the theme to be lost. He wants it within your reach, and will employ devices to make the theme pop out at you here and there throughout the story. In <i>Moby-Dick </i>the whale is larger than human beings while the ocean is larger than life itself. It is unpredictable, beautiful, dramatic, and cruel all at the same time—not unlike the struggles of human existence.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) is a uniquely American storyteller of the nineteenth century. Thematic concerns about the young country of <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> are taken up by this author in many of his tales of the American wilderness. <i>The Leatherstocking Tales </i>is a work that contains five novels (and you may have heard of some of them thanks to <st1:city><st1:place>Hollywood</st1:place></st1:city>): <i>The Pioneers </i>(1823); <i>The Prairie </i>(1827); <i>The Last of the Mohicans </i>(1826); <i>The Pathfinder </i>(1841); and <i>The Deerslayer </i>(1842).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Setting is vital to Cooper's writing. If Cooper had lived in <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>, perhaps he would never have been a fiction writer at all. Perhaps the new world was his creative inspiration, because Cooper enjoyed showing off the "new country" to his readers (which is now what we would call the "old country"). His writing about the Native Americans and early pioneers contrasted the old world (<st1:place>Europe</st1:place>) and the new world (<st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Cooper's descriptions and themes are important for people to read even now because they take you back to what the original colonists may have seen, known, and felt. He gives you descriptions and vivid imagery of what <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> looked like in its earliest stages of transformation—the age before skyscrapers and superhighways. Not only is his writing important to us historically, it also contains themes of survival and concepts regarding tolerance of unfamiliar cultures that hold true to this day<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Least You Need to Know</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Authors employ literary devices in fiction writing to help the reader identify the meaning of the story.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Allegorical literature is used to help readers find answers for themselves.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Character analysis is essential to discovering theme.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• In addition to universal themes, there are cultural and regional themes in fiction.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Imagery and setting are as important to the theme as the characters themselves<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-7085236112670618942010-12-21T05:04:00.007-08:002010-12-21T05:05:15.050-08:00Reading Imaginative Literature: A guide to Critical Reading<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 34pt;">Reading Imaginative</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 34pt;">Literature</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">In This Chapter</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Telling a story with meaning: parables, allegories, and fables</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>How the characters fit in</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Exploring the themes</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>The importance of setting and imagery</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">When a writer sits down to work on a piece of fiction, he or she doesn't necessarily know what devices will be applied throughout the story. The devices tend to grow as the piece of writing develops.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">In this chapter, you learn what it takes to write a piece of fiction so that you have a better understanding of how it needs to be read. It's not just about what the author wants you to take away from the book, but how the message is presented.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 19pt;">Creative Minds at Work</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What do you think happens when an author sits down in front of a computer screen or with pen and paper in hand (the old-fashioned way) and decides to write a story? Well, it depends on the author, that's for sure, but they all have one objective in mind, which is to uncover a deeper truth about life that you can relate to.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some writers will just think for hours before they ever put a single word on the page.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">They develop characters in their minds; they hear them speak; they give them hair and eye color and physical gestures. Sometimes a writer will start with an outline— a rough idea of the story line (the plot) and who the players will be (character sketches). But not everyone is that organized. Sometimes a writer sits at a computer (or in front of that blank white sheet of paper) and starts to write anything and everything that comes to his or her mind. Or, if you're a writer like Amy's father (an author of historical novels), you might have put yourself to bed as a child every night with a story you made up about Native Americans and Jesuit priests. The story grows and grows until it has to be written, and what appears will often surprise everyone, especially the writer.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If a writer were to stop and think every few sentences about what writing techniques to use, the piece would probably never get written. Most writers concentrate first on getting the story on paper. While the writer thinks about the story on her way to a day job, or before falling asleep at night, thoughts about creative storytelling devices will certainly come to mind and will eventually be employed to move the story along, but at the outset all that matters is that the words make it to the page.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Allegory and Parables</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">To convey your feelings, ideas, beliefs, thoughts, and dreams to another human being is never easy. Some people are better communicators than others, but it is difficult to tell someone how you feel in such a way that they will feel it, too. That's the job of the fiction writer and the power of <i>allegory. </i>Some of the most notable allegorical storytelling can be found in the Bible. This book contains countless stories that have not only been the foundation of Christian belief, but have taught people meanings and feelings for centuries. For example, take a look at this passage:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">“Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children”---(Matthew <st1:time hour="14" minute="13">14:13</st1:time>-21 NRSV)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What does it mean that Jesus Christ was able to feed thousands of people with just a little bit of food? To take the story literally (the surface story), it would be one of the many miracles performed by Jesus Christ in the Bible. When you take a closer look at the story and dig at the metaphor contained beneath the surface, you will most likely find several meanings, one of which is that every person has the power to nurture others with prayers and hope. In other words, the faith of one can influence<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>any.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">For Jesus Christ to make himself understood to the people, he had to speak in <i>parables; </i>in other words, teach his truths by means of stories with embedded metaphors. There are many religions that use allegory and parables to help people understand deeper meanings. Examples include stories of Hindu gods and goddesses; stories about Buddha; and the ancient religions of gods and goddesses worshipped in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Greece</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:place><st1:city>Rome</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place>, and more.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If religion were simply preached at you without giving you a story behind it, it might not be as easy to understand—or as interesting, for that matter. Theologians understand the power and conviction of the allegory as much as fiction writers do.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The more metaphorical the story the more likely it is that the reader will absorb the deeper meaning. Many storytellers try to communicate an idea or belief to you by disguising the theme in the form of a story. By doing so the writer is asking you—the reader—to figure it out for yourself, because all answers that bear any meaning for you must ultimately come from you.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">A Whale of a Story</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i>Moby-Dick, </i>by American author Herman Melville (1819-1891), is one of the best examples of allegorical American fiction because of its depth and subject matter. On the surface <i>Moby-Dick </i>is a story of the whaling industry and one sailor's search to destroy an infamous sea legend, a whale named Moby Dick. However, look a little deeper and you will find much more than a simple fish story. In <i>Moby-Dick, </i>Melville takes on the age-old philosophical theme of good versus evil.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Is Melville right in his hypothesis? Do we all have to confront the darkest sides of ourselves at some point in our lives? That's what you need to decide for yourself when you read the book. What truths, if any, does the author touch inside of you? After you have uncovered the mystery that Melville has set before you, you will reach an understanding with the book and with the author. Uncover the metaphors and see what you can relate to. What are your feelings about good and evil? Are they innate qualities or are they acquired through living? How does the struggle of good versus evil affect your life? What does Melville say about the strength of the individual through Ishmael's tale of the captain and that white sperm whale?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">What's in a Name?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Often characters represent something allegorical within the story. Sometimes they are represented as subtle symbols, whereas at other times they just scream out at you either by name or by action. In other words, sometimes you have to search for the symbolism, and other times the author makes it more obvious to the reader. Let's return to <i>Moby-Dick </i>for an example of characters used as symbols—and there is nothing subtle about them!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Melville approaches the issue of good and evil in a symbolic way by relying on several biblical references, the most obvious of which are the names <i>Ahab </i>and <i>Ishmael. </i>These are carefully chosen names that point us in the direction of further inquiry. Why would Melville use these names instead of, say, Will and Sam?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">From its origins in the Bible, the name Ishmael has become synonymous with the orphaned outcast of society. In the Bible, Ishmael was the son of Abraham and a slave girl. Abraham's wife, Sarah, thought she could not have children despite the fact that she was promised a child by God. When Sarah finally did have her promised child, Isaac, Ishmael and his mother were cast onto the streets.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Ishmael in <i>Moby-Dick </i>is new to the world of whaling and he is the eyes and ears of the reader. He is the outsider on the ship and therefore can see the events aboard the whaling ship with a fresh eye. As he sees it, we see it. As the reader, you are as new to this world as Ishmael himself. In the Bible, Ahab is the king of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> known for being evil, vengeful, and bloodthirsty on the one hand, although other references refer to him as one of the greatest kings that ever ruled <st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>! So which is it? Was he great or was he evil? Or ... was he both?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Captain Ahab in <i>Moby-Dick </i>is not unlike King Ahab in his lust for revenge. Captain Ahab searches the globe for the white sperm whale that had previously maimed him. Moby Dick is known by all sailors for his ferocity—he has destroyed everyone who has attempted to destroy him. Yet Ahab will not be deterred and is willing to risk his ship and the lives of his crewmen in an effort to quell his anger and hatred.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 15pt;">Fables</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some of the most memorable nonbiblical allegories can be found in the form of the fable. A fable differs from a parable in that a fable usually includes some unbelievable action or some strange characterizations such as talking animals. Fables hide a metaphor for one of life's many lessons. One of the most well known of Aesop's fables is <i>The Fox and the Grapes, </i>a story about a fox (of course) who stumbles across a grapevine. He's thirsty and would really like a nice fresh juicy grape or two. But the ripest of the bunch is on a higher limb and he can't reach it no matter how hard he tries. Finally he gives up and haughtily says to him, "I bet they were sour anyway." Have you ever heard someone say "it sounds like a case of sour grapes"? That's where that expression comes from, as do many of our English expressions.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Every fable has a meaning that can usually be summed up in one easy sentence. In the case of this story, the underlying meaning is "It is easy to despise what you cannot get."</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial";">So That's What It Means!</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If you read into a story and find the hidden meanings, they are your own discovery and will hold a more valuable and deeper meaning for you. Even if you don't personalize the message, you will see and understand it, and that means everything when you are trying to become a critical reader. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">As you know from living your life every day, the most valuable lessons learned are the ones you learn on your own. Sometimes you need a little nudge, but until you figure it out for yourself you will never fully understand the messages that are handed to you.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Fiction is often allegorical. It is the good fiction writer's task to give the work a deeper, more global meaning than what is happening in the surface story. That, and the ability to allow the reader to find the hidden meaning, is what make writing fiction an art. On the other hand, some fiction writers write purely for entertainment. What you take from the book and how you relate to it may not go any deeper than the surface—and it's not supposed to. There may be smaller life lessons in the story, but the writer is not necessarily intending to do anything but allow you to relax and absorb.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Tools of the Trade</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Like a carpenter needs tools and a painter needs paints and a paintbrush, a writer uses tools as well. These are different tools, they are not ones you pick up and hold; but without them, a story would not be complete. Here is a list of just a few of the literary devices and techniques writers frequently use in allegorical stories. They fall into the category of figurative language, or language in which the literal meaning of the words is different from the intended meaning. (We take a closer look at figurative language in Chapter 9.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Metaphor. </b>A direct relationship in which one idea or thing substitutes for another without being directly stated.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Simile. </b>An indirect relationship comparing one thing or idea to another usually using the words <i>like </i>or <i>as.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Personification. </b>Human thoughts, perceptions, and actions are attributed to inanimate objects or to ideas.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Symbolism. </b>The use of objects or images to represent abstract ideas. A symbol must be a visible or tangible thing, whereas what it represents must be universal. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Hyperbole. </b>An exaggerated description.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 19pt;">Characters Make the Story</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">One of the most important things a writer will do for his or her story is invent memorable characters. Characters can't exist just for the sake of the action. Characters exist in a story for a far bigger purpose. The characters are an integral part of the story—the part that the reader will attempt to identify with or even judge or deny.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The characters tell the story, live the story, have the relationships within the story, and judge the action and other characters; they are what makes a work of fiction come alive. Every book you read will use characters to help you find a bigger meaning. Characters in a book will always be representative of you, of people you know, of relationships you've had or will have, or of people in the world that you may have encountered or will encounter. They are the observers and the actors. Without them we would be left with little more than descriptions of places or seasons. Without characters in whatever form they take, there can be no story. (See Chapter 8 for more on choosing characters.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some characters will not shout "symbol" as loud as Ahab and Ishmael in <i>Moby-Dick, </i>but have more subtle messages for the reader. In Virginia Woolf's <i>Mrs. Dalloway, </i>for example, we are confronted with far more subtle characterizations. But the way Woolf has developed the main character in this book speaks volumes about character and metaphor. In <i>Mrs. Dalloway, </i>Woolf offers us a character whose personality and purpose is evident from the first line of the story to the last. In the first line of the story—"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself"—Woolf gives us an immediate impression of a gentle woman of possible means. The very idea that someone else could buy her flowers for her implies that she could have sent someone else.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Of course, that person could be anyone, but one of the many scenarios is that someone works for her. We, of course, must read on to be sure. We know right away that there is a reason for buying flowers that day. Does she buy flowers every day or is there a special occasion involved? And why does she need to choose her own flowers? Does she normally buy flowers? If so, what is different about this particular day? Mrs. Dalloway has some kind of purpose, which will also make us wonder whether taking charge is</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">part of her personality, generally speaking. Literally, all we know from this first line is that Mrs. Dalloway will buy flowers, but this one sentence implies so much more, from who Mrs. Dalloway is to what is going on in her life. While Mrs. Dalloway is blissfully ignorant of her own sense of loss in the life she has chosen, we—the readers—see it and feel it for her. In the novel, her situation is comparable to another seemingly unconnected story line and character in the book. Septimus Warren Smith is a World War I veteran suffering from the trauma of his war experiences and makes a conscious decision to kill himself rather than face life in an asylum. Mrs. Dalloway in her ignorant bliss and Septimus in his tortured mind have both made similar decisions. Mrs. Dalloway has committed emotional suicide, whereas Septimus has committed physical suicide. With her last line of the book, Woolf brings the character of Mrs. Dalloway full circle: "For there she was." This was her life. This is the one she chose, and this would be the one she lived, whereas Septimus, too, chose the life he would not live.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Basically the story of Mrs. Dalloway is one big character sketch. Mrs. Dalloway goes through life sampling what it has to offer. Each delight is a joy in its own right. She never has a yearning to specialize or to be "superb" at anything, she just longs to live and be herself. Being able to enjoy life is Mrs. Dalloway's gift and what makes her character come to life. That's how Virginia Woolf wanted her readers to experience her, but at the same time there's a bittersweet sadness that meanders its way through her life based on the decisions she has made. The use of characters in a work of fiction is not a device in itself, but how they fit together using symbolism and theme is a device. For example, the last line of <i>Mrs. Dalloway </i>("For there she was") reflects the meaning of the first line ("Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself"). This is a device that Woolf uses to solidify your understanding of who this character is—one line parallels the other and helps you make a conclusion about the personality of Mrs. Dalloway.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 19pt;">Dissecting the Theme</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">When an author begins to write a story, it's essential that he have a concept of the theme he's trying to communicate to the readers. It's fine to have an exciting story and lots of great characters, but what's the point of assembling them all in one plot if there is no real meaning to the story? What "truth" about life does the author want to convey to the reader? Everyone has a set of truths that they hold as a means of identifying themselves there are personal truths, and there are general truths. These "truths" that the author attempts to convey to the reader are what constitute the overall theme of the story. The best way to try to identify a theme is to try to state the theme in a single sentence. For example, In Mark Twain's <i>Huckleberry Finn, </i>the surface story is about a young boy, Huckleberry Finn, a child of nature unschooled, without the manners of society, with a good heart and wild spirit who travels down the <st1:place>Mississippi River</st1:place> with Jim, an escaped slave. They are two different people, of different ages and races, but they are equal in every other sense—they are both human beings and they both seek freedom (Huck from his cruel, greedy, drunken father, and even the Widow Douglas and her "sivilizing" ways; and Jim from slavery). The raft becomes their home, the river becomes their world, and as they float along, they learn about life from each other.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">There are many other themes and truths to be uncovered regarding Mark Twain's thoughts and feelings about hypocrisy, religion, the role of imagination, about racism and prejudice, and finding one's own truth as Huck is always trying to do—a kind of model for the rest of us who try to make sense of the same things. But the main theme is this: All human beings are free and equal no matter what rules society puts in place.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Personal Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Maybe an author is fascinated by his own family history because of the interesting stories he heard in childhood, or because of the interesting family members who were very much like characters he could imagine in a book. When combined, these reallife experiences can make for some wonderful stories.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Contemporary author and <i>New York Times </i>correspondent Rick Bragg tells us about the loved ones in his life in at least two of his books, <i>All Over but the Shoutin </i>' and <i>AvasMan. </i>He tells the story of his mother in one book and of his father in the other. His truth is about coming to terms with what his family and what his connections to his family mean to him. The theme of his work is developed around how his protagonists lived their lives. He wants us to know them as he knew them or learned about them. But why would we care about his family? What can we learn from what his family meant to him?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">This is where the art comes in. Rick Bragg uses real people from his own life history to tell us something about life in the rural South during the twentieth century. But he also tells us about suffering, sorrow, and the struggle to survive by using humor and wit. He shows us how his family made their way in this world in terms of stories told to him—stories both real and imagined.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What Bragg has written is a fictional autobiography. In other words, he is writing about what he knows to be true through memory and storytelling, but he fills in the blanks to make the story complete and readable for those who do not know him, or his family, or anything about the South for that matter.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">He does this by creating conversations, characters, scenes, and settings. He is not attempting to recreate facts as they occurred but to tell us a story he imagines.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Taking it beyond the realm of fact into imagination is what makes his work fiction. Like any work of good fiction, Bragg hides both truths and mysteries for us to discover beneath his story lines. He touches his readers by writing about a particular theme in such a way that allows us to relate to the aspects that have touched all of our lives in one way or another: being poor, sad, overworked, provoked, angry, jealous, vengeful, feeling foolish, or trying to make others feel foolish. He looks at flaws in his own world that have universal meaning for everyone.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Universal Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Although some themes appear only in individual books, other themes are taken on by many authors. There is a saying that there are no new stories, only new ways to tell them, and you can apply that when you think of some of the pervasive themes in literature.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">There are countless universal themes that everyone in the world can relate to, and these are what fiction writers try to communicate when they construct their stories. One universal theme in literature is the victimization of women. Female and male writers have explored this theme for centuries. Leo Tolstoy's <i>Anna Karenina, </i>Thomas Hardy's <i>Tess of the D'Urbervilles, </i>more recently Margaret Atwood's <i>A Handmaid's Tale, </i>and (as you read earlier) Nathaniel Hawthorne's <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>all take on the theme of female victimization. What happens to women if they so much as attempt to break societal rules and live their lives with the same freedoms that the men in their society have? Well, there is rarely a happy ending to these stories. Many of the women die at the end of these stories, either by suicide or by execution—and if they don't die, someone else suffers the agony of their desire to be free individuals.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The women in most of these novels are not shrinking violets. They are strong-willed, intelligent women who find it hard to deny their desire for independence and the need to pursue their happiness despite a society that does not allow women access to the same freedoms as men. The message is, in many cases, that the desire to be free is even stronger than the threat of suffering if they attempt to break the rules of society.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The reason the theme of female victimization is still so prevalent in fiction is because it touches so many societies worldwide. Perhaps these authors were trying to make a statement not only within their respective societies, but also to the world at large. What was the statement? Well, when you read these books, you can figure it out for yourself. If we tell you here, how will you ever incorporate the message into your own knowledge base of global understanding?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Okay, okay ... how about this: The desire for freedom and equality is so powerful that people are willing to risk everything, even their lives, to achieve it. Or to be more specific to the plight of women, you could say that the imposition of societal law on only one part of the population in an effort to establish control and assert male dominance is unjust and cruel, especially when it defies the innate desires and the rights of women.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">Cultural and Regional Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Whereas some themes are personal or universal, others are cultural. For example, some themes are specific to a certain country or region of the world. There are even themes within one society that some relate to more than others. African Americans, for example, will most likely relate to a story about racism and slavery in a different way than a Caucasian person or an Asian person might.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">A good example of a regionalized theme is American fiction. The <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> can still be considered a new country when you compare it to the age of the rest of the world. With a new world comes new ideas, beliefs, and dreams, and therefore new literary themes. In the next section, we take a look at how regional themes played a part in James Fenimore Cooper's writings.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 19pt;">Imagery and Setting</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Where a story takes place is as important to the theme as character and any literary device. The setting will determine who the characters are and how they interact. A setting can be symbolic in itself, as can the details of the location. For example, go back to Huck and Jim on that raft: a Caucasian boy and an African American man isolated together on a raft—a symbol of freedom, the vehicle that takes them away from their oppressive lives. The river gives them samplings of what life in that region of <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> is all about—the good, the bad, and the ugly. If they were floating down the <st1:place>Hudson River</st1:place> rather than the <st1:place>Mississippi River</st1:place>, they would have to have been different characters, and their experiences would be completely different.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The imagery that any author describes is a symbolic device used to help move the story along and make the theme more evident to the reader. Why did Melville feel the need to set his story of good versus evil on the sea? What imagery does he use to push his theme forward, to lift it from the confines of life beneath the surface to a place more obvious to the reader? Although it is true that the author wants to obscure the theme so that you can figure it out for yourself, he or she doesn't want the theme to be lost. He wants it within your reach, and will employ devices to make the theme pop out at you here and there throughout the story. In <i>Moby-Dick </i>the whale is larger than human beings while the ocean is larger than life itself. It is unpredictable, beautiful, dramatic, and cruel all at the same time—not unlike the struggles of human existence.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) is a uniquely American storyteller of the nineteenth century. Thematic concerns about the young country of <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> are taken up by this author in many of his tales of the American wilderness. <i>The Leatherstocking Tales </i>is a work that contains five novels (and you may have heard of some of them thanks to <st1:city><st1:place>Hollywood</st1:place></st1:city>): <i>The Pioneers </i>(1823); <i>The Prairie </i>(1827); <i>The Last of the Mohicans </i>(1826); <i>The Pathfinder </i>(1841); and <i>The Deerslayer </i>(1842).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Setting is vital to Cooper's writing. If Cooper had lived in <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>, perhaps he would never have been a fiction writer at all. Perhaps the new world was his creative inspiration, because Cooper enjoyed showing off the "new country" to his readers (which is now what we would call the "old country"). His writing about the Native Americans and early pioneers contrasted the old world (<st1:place>Europe</st1:place>) and the new world (<st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Cooper's descriptions and themes are important for people to read even now because they take you back to what the original colonists may have seen, known, and felt. He gives you descriptions and vivid imagery of what <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> looked like in its earliest stages of transformation—the age before skyscrapers and superhighways. Not only is his writing important to us historically, it also contains themes of survival and concepts regarding tolerance of unfamiliar cultures that hold true to this day<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 14pt;">The Least You Need to Know</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Authors employ literary devices in fiction writing to help the reader identify the meaning of the story.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Allegorical literature is used to help readers find answers for themselves.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Character analysis is essential to discovering theme.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• In addition to universal themes, there are cultural and regional themes in fiction.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Imagery and setting are as important to the theme as the characters themselves<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-82738347702643634352010-12-21T05:04:00.005-08:002010-12-21T05:04:37.201-08:00Reading Imaginative Literature: A guide to Critical Reading<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34.0pt;">Reading Imaginative</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34.0pt;">Literature</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">In This Chapter</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Telling a story with meaning: parables, allegories, and fables</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>How the characters fit in</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Exploring the themes</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The importance of setting and imagery</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">When a writer sits down to work on a piece of fiction, he or she doesn't necessarily know what devices will be applied throughout the story. The devices tend to grow as the piece of writing develops.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">In this chapter, you learn what it takes to write a piece of fiction so that you have a better understanding of how it needs to be read. It's not just about what the author wants you to take away from the book, but how the message is presented.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Creative Minds at Work</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What do you think happens when an author sits down in front of a computer screen or with pen and paper in hand (the old-fashioned way) and decides to write a story? Well, it depends on the author, that's for sure, but they all have one objective in mind, which is to uncover a deeper truth about life that you can relate to.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some writers will just think for hours before they ever put a single word on the page.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">They develop characters in their minds; they hear them speak; they give them hair and eye color and physical gestures. Sometimes a writer will start with an outline— a rough idea of the story line (the plot) and who the players will be (character sketches). But not everyone is that organized. Sometimes a writer sits at a computer (or in front of that blank white sheet of paper) and starts to write anything and everything that comes to his or her mind. Or, if you're a writer like Amy's father (an author of historical novels), you might have put yourself to bed as a child every night with a story you made up about Native Americans and Jesuit priests. The story grows and grows until it has to be written, and what appears will often surprise everyone, especially the writer.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If a writer were to stop and think every few sentences about what writing techniques to use, the piece would probably never get written. Most writers concentrate first on getting the story on paper. While the writer thinks about the story on her way to a day job, or before falling asleep at night, thoughts about creative storytelling devices will certainly come to mind and will eventually be employed to move the story along, but at the outset all that matters is that the words make it to the page.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Allegory and Parables</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">To convey your feelings, ideas, beliefs, thoughts, and dreams to another human being is never easy. Some people are better communicators than others, but it is difficult to tell someone how you feel in such a way that they will feel it, too. That's the job of the fiction writer and the power of <i>allegory. </i>Some of the most notable allegorical storytelling can be found in the Bible. This book contains countless stories that have not only been the foundation of Christian belief, but have taught people meanings and feelings for centuries. For example, take a look at this passage:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">“Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children”---(Matthew <st1:time hour="14" minute="13">14:13</st1:time>-21 NRSV)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What does it mean that Jesus Christ was able to feed thousands of people with just a little bit of food? To take the story literally (the surface story), it would be one of the many miracles performed by Jesus Christ in the Bible. When you take a closer look at the story and dig at the metaphor contained beneath the surface, you will most likely find several meanings, one of which is that every person has the power to nurture others with prayers and hope. In other words, the faith of one can influence<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>any.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">For Jesus Christ to make himself understood to the people, he had to speak in <i>parables; </i>in other words, teach his truths by means of stories with embedded metaphors. There are many religions that use allegory and parables to help people understand deeper meanings. Examples include stories of Hindu gods and goddesses; stories about Buddha; and the ancient religions of gods and goddesses worshipped in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Greece</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:place><st1:city>Rome</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place>, and more.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If religion were simply preached at you without giving you a story behind it, it might not be as easy to understand—or as interesting, for that matter. Theologians understand the power and conviction of the allegory as much as fiction writers do.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The more metaphorical the story the more likely it is that the reader will absorb the deeper meaning. Many storytellers try to communicate an idea or belief to you by disguising the theme in the form of a story. By doing so the writer is asking you—the reader—to figure it out for yourself, because all answers that bear any meaning for you must ultimately come from you.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">A Whale of a Story</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i>Moby-Dick, </i>by American author Herman Melville (1819-1891), is one of the best examples of allegorical American fiction because of its depth and subject matter. On the surface <i>Moby-Dick </i>is a story of the whaling industry and one sailor's search to destroy an infamous sea legend, a whale named Moby Dick. However, look a little deeper and you will find much more than a simple fish story. In <i>Moby-Dick, </i>Melville takes on the age-old philosophical theme of good versus evil.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Is Melville right in his hypothesis? Do we all have to confront the darkest sides of ourselves at some point in our lives? That's what you need to decide for yourself when you read the book. What truths, if any, does the author touch inside of you? After you have uncovered the mystery that Melville has set before you, you will reach an understanding with the book and with the author. Uncover the metaphors and see what you can relate to. What are your feelings about good and evil? Are they innate qualities or are they acquired through living? How does the struggle of good versus evil affect your life? What does Melville say about the strength of the individual through Ishmael's tale of the captain and that white sperm whale?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">What's in a Name?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Often characters represent something allegorical within the story. Sometimes they are represented as subtle symbols, whereas at other times they just scream out at you either by name or by action. In other words, sometimes you have to search for the symbolism, and other times the author makes it more obvious to the reader. Let's return to <i>Moby-Dick </i>for an example of characters used as symbols—and there is nothing subtle about them!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Melville approaches the issue of good and evil in a symbolic way by relying on several biblical references, the most obvious of which are the names <i>Ahab </i>and <i>Ishmael. </i>These are carefully chosen names that point us in the direction of further inquiry. Why would Melville use these names instead of, say, Will and Sam?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">From its origins in the Bible, the name Ishmael has become synonymous with the orphaned outcast of society. In the Bible, Ishmael was the son of Abraham and a slave girl. Abraham's wife, Sarah, thought she could not have children despite the fact that she was promised a child by God. When Sarah finally did have her promised child, Isaac, Ishmael and his mother were cast onto the streets.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Ishmael in <i>Moby-Dick </i>is new to the world of whaling and he is the eyes and ears of the reader. He is the outsider on the ship and therefore can see the events aboard the whaling ship with a fresh eye. As he sees it, we see it. As the reader, you are as new to this world as Ishmael himself. In the Bible, Ahab is the king of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> known for being evil, vengeful, and bloodthirsty on the one hand, although other references refer to him as one of the greatest kings that ever ruled <st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>! So which is it? Was he great or was he evil? Or ... was he both?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Captain Ahab in <i>Moby-Dick </i>is not unlike King Ahab in his lust for revenge. Captain Ahab searches the globe for the white sperm whale that had previously maimed him. Moby Dick is known by all sailors for his ferocity—he has destroyed everyone who has attempted to destroy him. Yet Ahab will not be deterred and is willing to risk his ship and the lives of his crewmen in an effort to quell his anger and hatred.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">Fables</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some of the most memorable nonbiblical allegories can be found in the form of the fable. A fable differs from a parable in that a fable usually includes some unbelievable action or some strange characterizations such as talking animals. Fables hide a metaphor for one of life's many lessons. One of the most well known of Aesop's fables is <i>The Fox and the Grapes, </i>a story about a fox (of course) who stumbles across a grapevine. He's thirsty and would really like a nice fresh juicy grape or two. But the ripest of the bunch is on a higher limb and he can't reach it no matter how hard he tries. Finally he gives up and haughtily says to him, "I bet they were sour anyway." Have you ever heard someone say "it sounds like a case of sour grapes"? That's where that expression comes from, as do many of our English expressions.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Every fable has a meaning that can usually be summed up in one easy sentence. In the case of this story, the underlying meaning is "It is easy to despise what you cannot get."</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">So That's What It Means!</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If you read into a story and find the hidden meanings, they are your own discovery and will hold a more valuable and deeper meaning for you. Even if you don't personalize the message, you will see and understand it, and that means everything when you are trying to become a critical reader. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">As you know from living your life every day, the most valuable lessons learned are the ones you learn on your own. Sometimes you need a little nudge, but until you figure it out for yourself you will never fully understand the messages that are handed to you.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Fiction is often allegorical. It is the good fiction writer's task to give the work a deeper, more global meaning than what is happening in the surface story. That, and the ability to allow the reader to find the hidden meaning, is what make writing fiction an art. On the other hand, some fiction writers write purely for entertainment. What you take from the book and how you relate to it may not go any deeper than the surface—and it's not supposed to. There may be smaller life lessons in the story, but the writer is not necessarily intending to do anything but allow you to relax and absorb.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Tools of the Trade</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Like a carpenter needs tools and a painter needs paints and a paintbrush, a writer uses tools as well. These are different tools, they are not ones you pick up and hold; but without them, a story would not be complete. Here is a list of just a few of the literary devices and techniques writers frequently use in allegorical stories. They fall into the category of figurative language, or language in which the literal meaning of the words is different from the intended meaning. (We take a closer look at figurative language in Chapter 9.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Metaphor. </b>A direct relationship in which one idea or thing substitutes for another without being directly stated.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Simile. </b>An indirect relationship comparing one thing or idea to another usually using the words <i>like </i>or <i>as.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Personification. </b>Human thoughts, perceptions, and actions are attributed to inanimate objects or to ideas.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Symbolism. </b>The use of objects or images to represent abstract ideas. A symbol must be a visible or tangible thing, whereas what it represents must be universal. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Hyperbole. </b>An exaggerated description.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Characters Make the Story</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">One of the most important things a writer will do for his or her story is invent memorable characters. Characters can't exist just for the sake of the action. Characters exist in a story for a far bigger purpose. The characters are an integral part of the story—the part that the reader will attempt to identify with or even judge or deny.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The characters tell the story, live the story, have the relationships within the story, and judge the action and other characters; they are what makes a work of fiction come alive. Every book you read will use characters to help you find a bigger meaning. Characters in a book will always be representative of you, of people you know, of relationships you've had or will have, or of people in the world that you may have encountered or will encounter. They are the observers and the actors. Without them we would be left with little more than descriptions of places or seasons. Without characters in whatever form they take, there can be no story. (See Chapter 8 for more on choosing characters.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some characters will not shout "symbol" as loud as Ahab and Ishmael in <i>Moby-Dick, </i>but have more subtle messages for the reader. In Virginia Woolf's <i>Mrs. Dalloway, </i>for example, we are confronted with far more subtle characterizations. But the way Woolf has developed the main character in this book speaks volumes about character and metaphor. In <i>Mrs. Dalloway, </i>Woolf offers us a character whose personality and purpose is evident from the first line of the story to the last. In the first line of the story—"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself"—Woolf gives us an immediate impression of a gentle woman of possible means. The very idea that someone else could buy her flowers for her implies that she could have sent someone else.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Of course, that person could be anyone, but one of the many scenarios is that someone works for her. We, of course, must read on to be sure. We know right away that there is a reason for buying flowers that day. Does she buy flowers every day or is there a special occasion involved? And why does she need to choose her own flowers? Does she normally buy flowers? If so, what is different about this particular day? Mrs. Dalloway has some kind of purpose, which will also make us wonder whether taking charge is</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">part of her personality, generally speaking. Literally, all we know from this first line is that Mrs. Dalloway will buy flowers, but this one sentence implies so much more, from who Mrs. Dalloway is to what is going on in her life. While Mrs. Dalloway is blissfully ignorant of her own sense of loss in the life she has chosen, we—the readers—see it and feel it for her. In the novel, her situation is comparable to another seemingly unconnected story line and character in the book. Septimus Warren Smith is a World War I veteran suffering from the trauma of his war experiences and makes a conscious decision to kill himself rather than face life in an asylum. Mrs. Dalloway in her ignorant bliss and Septimus in his tortured mind have both made similar decisions. Mrs. Dalloway has committed emotional suicide, whereas Septimus has committed physical suicide. With her last line of the book, Woolf brings the character of Mrs. Dalloway full circle: "For there she was." This was her life. This is the one she chose, and this would be the one she lived, whereas Septimus, too, chose the life he would not live.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Basically the story of Mrs. Dalloway is one big character sketch. Mrs. Dalloway goes through life sampling what it has to offer. Each delight is a joy in its own right. She never has a yearning to specialize or to be "superb" at anything, she just longs to live and be herself. Being able to enjoy life is Mrs. Dalloway's gift and what makes her character come to life. That's how Virginia Woolf wanted her readers to experience her, but at the same time there's a bittersweet sadness that meanders its way through her life based on the decisions she has made. The use of characters in a work of fiction is not a device in itself, but how they fit together using symbolism and theme is a device. For example, the last line of <i>Mrs. Dalloway </i>("For there she was") reflects the meaning of the first line ("Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself"). This is a device that Woolf uses to solidify your understanding of who this character is—one line parallels the other and helps you make a conclusion about the personality of Mrs. Dalloway.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Dissecting the Theme</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">When an author begins to write a story, it's essential that he have a concept of the theme he's trying to communicate to the readers. It's fine to have an exciting story and lots of great characters, but what's the point of assembling them all in one plot if there is no real meaning to the story? What "truth" about life does the author want to convey to the reader? Everyone has a set of truths that they hold as a means of identifying themselves there are personal truths, and there are general truths. These "truths" that the author attempts to convey to the reader are what constitute the overall theme of the story. The best way to try to identify a theme is to try to state the theme in a single sentence. For example, In Mark Twain's <i>Huckleberry Finn, </i>the surface story is about a young boy, Huckleberry Finn, a child of nature unschooled, without the manners of society, with a good heart and wild spirit who travels down the <st1:place>Mississippi River</st1:place> with Jim, an escaped slave. They are two different people, of different ages and races, but they are equal in every other sense—they are both human beings and they both seek freedom (Huck from his cruel, greedy, drunken father, and even the Widow Douglas and her "sivilizing" ways; and Jim from slavery). The raft becomes their home, the river becomes their world, and as they float along, they learn about life from each other.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">There are many other themes and truths to be uncovered regarding Mark Twain's thoughts and feelings about hypocrisy, religion, the role of imagination, about racism and prejudice, and finding one's own truth as Huck is always trying to do—a kind of model for the rest of us who try to make sense of the same things. But the main theme is this: All human beings are free and equal no matter what rules society puts in place.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Personal Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Maybe an author is fascinated by his own family history because of the interesting stories he heard in childhood, or because of the interesting family members who were very much like characters he could imagine in a book. When combined, these reallife experiences can make for some wonderful stories.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Contemporary author and <i>New York Times </i>correspondent Rick Bragg tells us about the loved ones in his life in at least two of his books, <i>All Over but the Shoutin </i>' and <i>AvasMan. </i>He tells the story of his mother in one book and of his father in the other. His truth is about coming to terms with what his family and what his connections to his family mean to him. The theme of his work is developed around how his protagonists lived their lives. He wants us to know them as he knew them or learned about them. But why would we care about his family? What can we learn from what his family meant to him?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">This is where the art comes in. Rick Bragg uses real people from his own life history to tell us something about life in the rural South during the twentieth century. But he also tells us about suffering, sorrow, and the struggle to survive by using humor and wit. He shows us how his family made their way in this world in terms of stories told to him—stories both real and imagined.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What Bragg has written is a fictional autobiography. In other words, he is writing about what he knows to be true through memory and storytelling, but he fills in the blanks to make the story complete and readable for those who do not know him, or his family, or anything about the South for that matter.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">He does this by creating conversations, characters, scenes, and settings. He is not attempting to recreate facts as they occurred but to tell us a story he imagines.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Taking it beyond the realm of fact into imagination is what makes his work fiction. Like any work of good fiction, Bragg hides both truths and mysteries for us to discover beneath his story lines. He touches his readers by writing about a particular theme in such a way that allows us to relate to the aspects that have touched all of our lives in one way or another: being poor, sad, overworked, provoked, angry, jealous, vengeful, feeling foolish, or trying to make others feel foolish. He looks at flaws in his own world that have universal meaning for everyone.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Universal Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Although some themes appear only in individual books, other themes are taken on by many authors. There is a saying that there are no new stories, only new ways to tell them, and you can apply that when you think of some of the pervasive themes in literature.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">There are countless universal themes that everyone in the world can relate to, and these are what fiction writers try to communicate when they construct their stories. One universal theme in literature is the victimization of women. Female and male writers have explored this theme for centuries. Leo Tolstoy's <i>Anna Karenina, </i>Thomas Hardy's <i>Tess of the D'Urbervilles, </i>more recently Margaret Atwood's <i>A Handmaid's Tale, </i>and (as you read earlier) Nathaniel Hawthorne's <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>all take on the theme of female victimization. What happens to women if they so much as attempt to break societal rules and live their lives with the same freedoms that the men in their society have? Well, there is rarely a happy ending to these stories. Many of the women die at the end of these stories, either by suicide or by execution—and if they don't die, someone else suffers the agony of their desire to be free individuals.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The women in most of these novels are not shrinking violets. They are strong-willed, intelligent women who find it hard to deny their desire for independence and the need to pursue their happiness despite a society that does not allow women access to the same freedoms as men. The message is, in many cases, that the desire to be free is even stronger than the threat of suffering if they attempt to break the rules of society.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The reason the theme of female victimization is still so prevalent in fiction is because it touches so many societies worldwide. Perhaps these authors were trying to make a statement not only within their respective societies, but also to the world at large. What was the statement? Well, when you read these books, you can figure it out for yourself. If we tell you here, how will you ever incorporate the message into your own knowledge base of global understanding?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Okay, okay ... how about this: The desire for freedom and equality is so powerful that people are willing to risk everything, even their lives, to achieve it. Or to be more specific to the plight of women, you could say that the imposition of societal law on only one part of the population in an effort to establish control and assert male dominance is unjust and cruel, especially when it defies the innate desires and the rights of women.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Cultural and Regional Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Whereas some themes are personal or universal, others are cultural. For example, some themes are specific to a certain country or region of the world. There are even themes within one society that some relate to more than others. African Americans, for example, will most likely relate to a story about racism and slavery in a different way than a Caucasian person or an Asian person might.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">A good example of a regionalized theme is American fiction. The <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> can still be considered a new country when you compare it to the age of the rest of the world. With a new world comes new ideas, beliefs, and dreams, and therefore new literary themes. In the next section, we take a look at how regional themes played a part in James Fenimore Cooper's writings.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Imagery and Setting</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Where a story takes place is as important to the theme as character and any literary device. The setting will determine who the characters are and how they interact. A setting can be symbolic in itself, as can the details of the location. For example, go back to Huck and Jim on that raft: a Caucasian boy and an African American man isolated together on a raft—a symbol of freedom, the vehicle that takes them away from their oppressive lives. The river gives them samplings of what life in that region of <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> is all about—the good, the bad, and the ugly. If they were floating down the <st1:place>Hudson River</st1:place> rather than the <st1:place>Mississippi River</st1:place>, they would have to have been different characters, and their experiences would be completely different.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The imagery that any author describes is a symbolic device used to help move the story along and make the theme more evident to the reader. Why did Melville feel the need to set his story of good versus evil on the sea? What imagery does he use to push his theme forward, to lift it from the confines of life beneath the surface to a place more obvious to the reader? Although it is true that the author wants to obscure the theme so that you can figure it out for yourself, he or she doesn't want the theme to be lost. He wants it within your reach, and will employ devices to make the theme pop out at you here and there throughout the story. In <i>Moby-Dick </i>the whale is larger than human beings while the ocean is larger than life itself. It is unpredictable, beautiful, dramatic, and cruel all at the same time—not unlike the struggles of human existence.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) is a uniquely American storyteller of the nineteenth century. Thematic concerns about the young country of <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> are taken up by this author in many of his tales of the American wilderness. <i>The Leatherstocking Tales </i>is a work that contains five novels (and you may have heard of some of them thanks to <st1:city><st1:place>Hollywood</st1:place></st1:city>): <i>The Pioneers </i>(1823); <i>The Prairie </i>(1827); <i>The Last of the Mohicans </i>(1826); <i>The Pathfinder </i>(1841); and <i>The Deerslayer </i>(1842).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Setting is vital to Cooper's writing. If Cooper had lived in <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>, perhaps he would never have been a fiction writer at all. Perhaps the new world was his creative inspiration, because Cooper enjoyed showing off the "new country" to his readers (which is now what we would call the "old country"). His writing about the Native Americans and early pioneers contrasted the old world (<st1:place>Europe</st1:place>) and the new world (<st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Cooper's descriptions and themes are important for people to read even now because they take you back to what the original colonists may have seen, known, and felt. He gives you descriptions and vivid imagery of what <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> looked like in its earliest stages of transformation—the age before skyscrapers and superhighways. Not only is his writing important to us historically, it also contains themes of survival and concepts regarding tolerance of unfamiliar cultures that hold true to this day<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Least You Need to Know</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Authors employ literary devices in fiction writing to help the reader identify the meaning of the story.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Allegorical literature is used to help readers find answers for themselves.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Character analysis is essential to discovering theme.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• In addition to universal themes, there are cultural and regional themes in fiction.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Imagery and setting are as important to the theme as the characters themselves<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-4170292717061270762010-12-21T05:03:00.000-08:002010-12-21T05:03:39.121-08:00Reading Imaginative Literature: A guide to Critical Reading<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34.0pt;">Reading Imaginative</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34.0pt;">Literature</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">In This Chapter</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Telling a story with meaning: parables, allegories, and fables</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>How the characters fit in</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Exploring the themes</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The importance of setting and imagery</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">When a writer sits down to work on a piece of fiction, he or she doesn't necessarily know what devices will be applied throughout the story. The devices tend to grow as the piece of writing develops.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">In this chapter, you learn what it takes to write a piece of fiction so that you have a better understanding of how it needs to be read. It's not just about what the author wants you to take away from the book, but how the message is presented.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Creative Minds at Work</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What do you think happens when an author sits down in front of a computer screen or with pen and paper in hand (the old-fashioned way) and decides to write a story? Well, it depends on the author, that's for sure, but they all have one objective in mind, which is to uncover a deeper truth about life that you can relate to.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some writers will just think for hours before they ever put a single word on the page.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">They develop characters in their minds; they hear them speak; they give them hair and eye color and physical gestures. Sometimes a writer will start with an outline— a rough idea of the story line (the plot) and who the players will be (character sketches). But not everyone is that organized. Sometimes a writer sits at a computer (or in front of that blank white sheet of paper) and starts to write anything and everything that comes to his or her mind. Or, if you're a writer like Amy's father (an author of historical novels), you might have put yourself to bed as a child every night with a story you made up about Native Americans and Jesuit priests. The story grows and grows until it has to be written, and what appears will often surprise everyone, especially the writer.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If a writer were to stop and think every few sentences about what writing techniques to use, the piece would probably never get written. Most writers concentrate first on getting the story on paper. While the writer thinks about the story on her way to a day job, or before falling asleep at night, thoughts about creative storytelling devices will certainly come to mind and will eventually be employed to move the story along, but at the outset all that matters is that the words make it to the page.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Allegory and Parables</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">To convey your feelings, ideas, beliefs, thoughts, and dreams to another human being is never easy. Some people are better communicators than others, but it is difficult to tell someone how you feel in such a way that they will feel it, too. That's the job of the fiction writer and the power of <i>allegory. </i>Some of the most notable allegorical storytelling can be found in the Bible. This book contains countless stories that have not only been the foundation of Christian belief, but have taught people meanings and feelings for centuries. For example, take a look at this passage:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">“Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children”---(Matthew <st1:time hour="14" minute="13">14:13</st1:time>-21 NRSV)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What does it mean that Jesus Christ was able to feed thousands of people with just a little bit of food? To take the story literally (the surface story), it would be one of the many miracles performed by Jesus Christ in the Bible. When you take a closer look at the story and dig at the metaphor contained beneath the surface, you will most likely find several meanings, one of which is that every person has the power to nurture others with prayers and hope. In other words, the faith of one can influence<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>any.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">For Jesus Christ to make himself understood to the people, he had to speak in <i>parables; </i>in other words, teach his truths by means of stories with embedded metaphors. There are many religions that use allegory and parables to help people understand deeper meanings. Examples include stories of Hindu gods and goddesses; stories about Buddha; and the ancient religions of gods and goddesses worshipped in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Greece</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:place><st1:city>Rome</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place>, and more.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If religion were simply preached at you without giving you a story behind it, it might not be as easy to understand—or as interesting, for that matter. Theologians understand the power and conviction of the allegory as much as fiction writers do.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The more metaphorical the story the more likely it is that the reader will absorb the deeper meaning. Many storytellers try to communicate an idea or belief to you by disguising the theme in the form of a story. By doing so the writer is asking you—the reader—to figure it out for yourself, because all answers that bear any meaning for you must ultimately come from you.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">A Whale of a Story</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i>Moby-Dick, </i>by American author Herman Melville (1819-1891), is one of the best examples of allegorical American fiction because of its depth and subject matter. On the surface <i>Moby-Dick </i>is a story of the whaling industry and one sailor's search to destroy an infamous sea legend, a whale named Moby Dick. However, look a little deeper and you will find much more than a simple fish story. In <i>Moby-Dick, </i>Melville takes on the age-old philosophical theme of good versus evil.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Is Melville right in his hypothesis? Do we all have to confront the darkest sides of ourselves at some point in our lives? That's what you need to decide for yourself when you read the book. What truths, if any, does the author touch inside of you? After you have uncovered the mystery that Melville has set before you, you will reach an understanding with the book and with the author. Uncover the metaphors and see what you can relate to. What are your feelings about good and evil? Are they innate qualities or are they acquired through living? How does the struggle of good versus evil affect your life? What does Melville say about the strength of the individual through Ishmael's tale of the captain and that white sperm whale?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">What's in a Name?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Often characters represent something allegorical within the story. Sometimes they are represented as subtle symbols, whereas at other times they just scream out at you either by name or by action. In other words, sometimes you have to search for the symbolism, and other times the author makes it more obvious to the reader. Let's return to <i>Moby-Dick </i>for an example of characters used as symbols—and there is nothing subtle about them!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Melville approaches the issue of good and evil in a symbolic way by relying on several biblical references, the most obvious of which are the names <i>Ahab </i>and <i>Ishmael. </i>These are carefully chosen names that point us in the direction of further inquiry. Why would Melville use these names instead of, say, Will and Sam?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">From its origins in the Bible, the name Ishmael has become synonymous with the orphaned outcast of society. In the Bible, Ishmael was the son of Abraham and a slave girl. Abraham's wife, Sarah, thought she could not have children despite the fact that she was promised a child by God. When Sarah finally did have her promised child, Isaac, Ishmael and his mother were cast onto the streets.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Ishmael in <i>Moby-Dick </i>is new to the world of whaling and he is the eyes and ears of the reader. He is the outsider on the ship and therefore can see the events aboard the whaling ship with a fresh eye. As he sees it, we see it. As the reader, you are as new to this world as Ishmael himself. In the Bible, Ahab is the king of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> known for being evil, vengeful, and bloodthirsty on the one hand, although other references refer to him as one of the greatest kings that ever ruled <st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>! So which is it? Was he great or was he evil? Or ... was he both?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Captain Ahab in <i>Moby-Dick </i>is not unlike King Ahab in his lust for revenge. Captain Ahab searches the globe for the white sperm whale that had previously maimed him. Moby Dick is known by all sailors for his ferocity—he has destroyed everyone who has attempted to destroy him. Yet Ahab will not be deterred and is willing to risk his ship and the lives of his crewmen in an effort to quell his anger and hatred.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">Fables</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some of the most memorable nonbiblical allegories can be found in the form of the fable. A fable differs from a parable in that a fable usually includes some unbelievable action or some strange characterizations such as talking animals. Fables hide a metaphor for one of life's many lessons. One of the most well known of Aesop's fables is <i>The Fox and the Grapes, </i>a story about a fox (of course) who stumbles across a grapevine. He's thirsty and would really like a nice fresh juicy grape or two. But the ripest of the bunch is on a higher limb and he can't reach it no matter how hard he tries. Finally he gives up and haughtily says to him, "I bet they were sour anyway." Have you ever heard someone say "it sounds like a case of sour grapes"? That's where that expression comes from, as do many of our English expressions.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Every fable has a meaning that can usually be summed up in one easy sentence. In the case of this story, the underlying meaning is "It is easy to despise what you cannot get."</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">So That's What It Means!</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">If you read into a story and find the hidden meanings, they are your own discovery and will hold a more valuable and deeper meaning for you. Even if you don't personalize the message, you will see and understand it, and that means everything when you are trying to become a critical reader. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">As you know from living your life every day, the most valuable lessons learned are the ones you learn on your own. Sometimes you need a little nudge, but until you figure it out for yourself you will never fully understand the messages that are handed to you.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Fiction is often allegorical. It is the good fiction writer's task to give the work a deeper, more global meaning than what is happening in the surface story. That, and the ability to allow the reader to find the hidden meaning, is what make writing fiction an art. On the other hand, some fiction writers write purely for entertainment. What you take from the book and how you relate to it may not go any deeper than the surface—and it's not supposed to. There may be smaller life lessons in the story, but the writer is not necessarily intending to do anything but allow you to relax and absorb.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Tools of the Trade</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Like a carpenter needs tools and a painter needs paints and a paintbrush, a writer uses tools as well. These are different tools, they are not ones you pick up and hold; but without them, a story would not be complete. Here is a list of just a few of the literary devices and techniques writers frequently use in allegorical stories. They fall into the category of figurative language, or language in which the literal meaning of the words is different from the intended meaning. (We take a closer look at figurative language in Chapter 9.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Metaphor. </b>A direct relationship in which one idea or thing substitutes for another without being directly stated.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Simile. </b>An indirect relationship comparing one thing or idea to another usually using the words <i>like </i>or <i>as.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Personification. </b>Human thoughts, perceptions, and actions are attributed to inanimate objects or to ideas.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Symbolism. </b>The use of objects or images to represent abstract ideas. A symbol must be a visible or tangible thing, whereas what it represents must be universal. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• <b>Hyperbole. </b>An exaggerated description.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Characters Make the Story</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">One of the most important things a writer will do for his or her story is invent memorable characters. Characters can't exist just for the sake of the action. Characters exist in a story for a far bigger purpose. The characters are an integral part of the story—the part that the reader will attempt to identify with or even judge or deny.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The characters tell the story, live the story, have the relationships within the story, and judge the action and other characters; they are what makes a work of fiction come alive. Every book you read will use characters to help you find a bigger meaning. Characters in a book will always be representative of you, of people you know, of relationships you've had or will have, or of people in the world that you may have encountered or will encounter. They are the observers and the actors. Without them we would be left with little more than descriptions of places or seasons. Without characters in whatever form they take, there can be no story. (See Chapter 8 for more on choosing characters.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Some characters will not shout "symbol" as loud as Ahab and Ishmael in <i>Moby-Dick, </i>but have more subtle messages for the reader. In Virginia Woolf's <i>Mrs. Dalloway, </i>for example, we are confronted with far more subtle characterizations. But the way Woolf has developed the main character in this book speaks volumes about character and metaphor. In <i>Mrs. Dalloway, </i>Woolf offers us a character whose personality and purpose is evident from the first line of the story to the last. In the first line of the story—"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself"—Woolf gives us an immediate impression of a gentle woman of possible means. The very idea that someone else could buy her flowers for her implies that she could have sent someone else.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Of course, that person could be anyone, but one of the many scenarios is that someone works for her. We, of course, must read on to be sure. We know right away that there is a reason for buying flowers that day. Does she buy flowers every day or is there a special occasion involved? And why does she need to choose her own flowers? Does she normally buy flowers? If so, what is different about this particular day? Mrs. Dalloway has some kind of purpose, which will also make us wonder whether taking charge is</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">part of her personality, generally speaking. Literally, all we know from this first line is that Mrs. Dalloway will buy flowers, but this one sentence implies so much more, from who Mrs. Dalloway is to what is going on in her life. While Mrs. Dalloway is blissfully ignorant of her own sense of loss in the life she has chosen, we—the readers—see it and feel it for her. In the novel, her situation is comparable to another seemingly unconnected story line and character in the book. Septimus Warren Smith is a World War I veteran suffering from the trauma of his war experiences and makes a conscious decision to kill himself rather than face life in an asylum. Mrs. Dalloway in her ignorant bliss and Septimus in his tortured mind have both made similar decisions. Mrs. Dalloway has committed emotional suicide, whereas Septimus has committed physical suicide. With her last line of the book, Woolf brings the character of Mrs. Dalloway full circle: "For there she was." This was her life. This is the one she chose, and this would be the one she lived, whereas Septimus, too, chose the life he would not live.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Basically the story of Mrs. Dalloway is one big character sketch. Mrs. Dalloway goes through life sampling what it has to offer. Each delight is a joy in its own right. She never has a yearning to specialize or to be "superb" at anything, she just longs to live and be herself. Being able to enjoy life is Mrs. Dalloway's gift and what makes her character come to life. That's how Virginia Woolf wanted her readers to experience her, but at the same time there's a bittersweet sadness that meanders its way through her life based on the decisions she has made. The use of characters in a work of fiction is not a device in itself, but how they fit together using symbolism and theme is a device. For example, the last line of <i>Mrs. Dalloway </i>("For there she was") reflects the meaning of the first line ("Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself"). This is a device that Woolf uses to solidify your understanding of who this character is—one line parallels the other and helps you make a conclusion about the personality of Mrs. Dalloway.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Dissecting the Theme</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">When an author begins to write a story, it's essential that he have a concept of the theme he's trying to communicate to the readers. It's fine to have an exciting story and lots of great characters, but what's the point of assembling them all in one plot if there is no real meaning to the story? What "truth" about life does the author want to convey to the reader? Everyone has a set of truths that they hold as a means of identifying themselves there are personal truths, and there are general truths. These "truths" that the author attempts to convey to the reader are what constitute the overall theme of the story. The best way to try to identify a theme is to try to state the theme in a single sentence. For example, In Mark Twain's <i>Huckleberry Finn, </i>the surface story is about a young boy, Huckleberry Finn, a child of nature unschooled, without the manners of society, with a good heart and wild spirit who travels down the <st1:place>Mississippi River</st1:place> with Jim, an escaped slave. They are two different people, of different ages and races, but they are equal in every other sense—they are both human beings and they both seek freedom (Huck from his cruel, greedy, drunken father, and even the Widow Douglas and her "sivilizing" ways; and Jim from slavery). The raft becomes their home, the river becomes their world, and as they float along, they learn about life from each other.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">There are many other themes and truths to be uncovered regarding Mark Twain's thoughts and feelings about hypocrisy, religion, the role of imagination, about racism and prejudice, and finding one's own truth as Huck is always trying to do—a kind of model for the rest of us who try to make sense of the same things. But the main theme is this: All human beings are free and equal no matter what rules society puts in place.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Personal Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Maybe an author is fascinated by his own family history because of the interesting stories he heard in childhood, or because of the interesting family members who were very much like characters he could imagine in a book. When combined, these reallife experiences can make for some wonderful stories.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Contemporary author and <i>New York Times </i>correspondent Rick Bragg tells us about the loved ones in his life in at least two of his books, <i>All Over but the Shoutin </i>' and <i>AvasMan. </i>He tells the story of his mother in one book and of his father in the other. His truth is about coming to terms with what his family and what his connections to his family mean to him. The theme of his work is developed around how his protagonists lived their lives. He wants us to know them as he knew them or learned about them. But why would we care about his family? What can we learn from what his family meant to him?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">This is where the art comes in. Rick Bragg uses real people from his own life history to tell us something about life in the rural South during the twentieth century. But he also tells us about suffering, sorrow, and the struggle to survive by using humor and wit. He shows us how his family made their way in this world in terms of stories told to him—stories both real and imagined.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">What Bragg has written is a fictional autobiography. In other words, he is writing about what he knows to be true through memory and storytelling, but he fills in the blanks to make the story complete and readable for those who do not know him, or his family, or anything about the South for that matter.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">He does this by creating conversations, characters, scenes, and settings. He is not attempting to recreate facts as they occurred but to tell us a story he imagines.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Taking it beyond the realm of fact into imagination is what makes his work fiction. Like any work of good fiction, Bragg hides both truths and mysteries for us to discover beneath his story lines. He touches his readers by writing about a particular theme in such a way that allows us to relate to the aspects that have touched all of our lives in one way or another: being poor, sad, overworked, provoked, angry, jealous, vengeful, feeling foolish, or trying to make others feel foolish. He looks at flaws in his own world that have universal meaning for everyone.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Universal Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Although some themes appear only in individual books, other themes are taken on by many authors. There is a saying that there are no new stories, only new ways to tell them, and you can apply that when you think of some of the pervasive themes in literature.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">There are countless universal themes that everyone in the world can relate to, and these are what fiction writers try to communicate when they construct their stories. One universal theme in literature is the victimization of women. Female and male writers have explored this theme for centuries. Leo Tolstoy's <i>Anna Karenina, </i>Thomas Hardy's <i>Tess of the D'Urbervilles, </i>more recently Margaret Atwood's <i>A Handmaid's Tale, </i>and (as you read earlier) Nathaniel Hawthorne's <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>all take on the theme of female victimization. What happens to women if they so much as attempt to break societal rules and live their lives with the same freedoms that the men in their society have? Well, there is rarely a happy ending to these stories. Many of the women die at the end of these stories, either by suicide or by execution—and if they don't die, someone else suffers the agony of their desire to be free individuals.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The women in most of these novels are not shrinking violets. They are strong-willed, intelligent women who find it hard to deny their desire for independence and the need to pursue their happiness despite a society that does not allow women access to the same freedoms as men. The message is, in many cases, that the desire to be free is even stronger than the threat of suffering if they attempt to break the rules of society.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The reason the theme of female victimization is still so prevalent in fiction is because it touches so many societies worldwide. Perhaps these authors were trying to make a statement not only within their respective societies, but also to the world at large. What was the statement? Well, when you read these books, you can figure it out for yourself. If we tell you here, how will you ever incorporate the message into your own knowledge base of global understanding?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Okay, okay ... how about this: The desire for freedom and equality is so powerful that people are willing to risk everything, even their lives, to achieve it. Or to be more specific to the plight of women, you could say that the imposition of societal law on only one part of the population in an effort to establish control and assert male dominance is unjust and cruel, especially when it defies the innate desires and the rights of women.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Cultural and Regional Themes</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Whereas some themes are personal or universal, others are cultural. For example, some themes are specific to a certain country or region of the world. There are even themes within one society that some relate to more than others. African Americans, for example, will most likely relate to a story about racism and slavery in a different way than a Caucasian person or an Asian person might.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">A good example of a regionalized theme is American fiction. The <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> can still be considered a new country when you compare it to the age of the rest of the world. With a new world comes new ideas, beliefs, and dreams, and therefore new literary themes. In the next section, we take a look at how regional themes played a part in James Fenimore Cooper's writings.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Imagery and Setting</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Where a story takes place is as important to the theme as character and any literary device. The setting will determine who the characters are and how they interact. A setting can be symbolic in itself, as can the details of the location. For example, go back to Huck and Jim on that raft: a Caucasian boy and an African American man isolated together on a raft—a symbol of freedom, the vehicle that takes them away from their oppressive lives. The river gives them samplings of what life in that region of <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> is all about—the good, the bad, and the ugly. If they were floating down the <st1:place>Hudson River</st1:place> rather than the <st1:place>Mississippi River</st1:place>, they would have to have been different characters, and their experiences would be completely different.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The imagery that any author describes is a symbolic device used to help move the story along and make the theme more evident to the reader. Why did Melville feel the need to set his story of good versus evil on the sea? What imagery does he use to push his theme forward, to lift it from the confines of life beneath the surface to a place more obvious to the reader? Although it is true that the author wants to obscure the theme so that you can figure it out for yourself, he or she doesn't want the theme to be lost. He wants it within your reach, and will employ devices to make the theme pop out at you here and there throughout the story. In <i>Moby-Dick </i>the whale is larger than human beings while the ocean is larger than life itself. It is unpredictable, beautiful, dramatic, and cruel all at the same time—not unlike the struggles of human existence.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) is a uniquely American storyteller of the nineteenth century. Thematic concerns about the young country of <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> are taken up by this author in many of his tales of the American wilderness. <i>The Leatherstocking Tales </i>is a work that contains five novels (and you may have heard of some of them thanks to <st1:city><st1:place>Hollywood</st1:place></st1:city>): <i>The Pioneers </i>(1823); <i>The Prairie </i>(1827); <i>The Last of the Mohicans </i>(1826); <i>The Pathfinder </i>(1841); and <i>The Deerslayer </i>(1842).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Setting is vital to Cooper's writing. If Cooper had lived in <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>, perhaps he would never have been a fiction writer at all. Perhaps the new world was his creative inspiration, because Cooper enjoyed showing off the "new country" to his readers (which is now what we would call the "old country"). His writing about the Native Americans and early pioneers contrasted the old world (<st1:place>Europe</st1:place>) and the new world (<st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Cooper's descriptions and themes are important for people to read even now because they take you back to what the original colonists may have seen, known, and felt. He gives you descriptions and vivid imagery of what <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region> looked like in its earliest stages of transformation—the age before skyscrapers and superhighways. Not only is his writing important to us historically, it also contains themes of survival and concepts regarding tolerance of unfamiliar cultures that hold true to this day<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Least You Need to Know</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Authors employ literary devices in fiction writing to help the reader identify the meaning of the story.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Allegorical literature is used to help readers find answers for themselves.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Character analysis is essential to discovering theme.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• In addition to universal themes, there are cultural and regional themes in fiction.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">• Imagery and setting are as important to the theme as the characters themselves<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-28678503385114153172010-11-29T02:56:00.001-08:002010-11-29T02:56:39.498-08:00Relating to the Material<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34.0pt;">Relating to the Material<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">In This Chapter<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">• Learning what to look for in the writing<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">• What the author expects from you<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">• Subjectivity, objectivity, and emotional involvement<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">• What history teaches us as readers?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">In this chapter, we delve a little deeper into what you need to be looking for in literature in terms of expectations, emotions, and mood. You will begin by getting a better understanding of an author's intentions and figuring out your own expectations so that you will develop confidence in your conclusions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Then, using references to Nathaniel Hawthorne's <i>The Scarlet Letter, </i>you will learn about the complexities of a good piece of fiction and historical context. You will learn about how historical writings reflect societal development and what that means for you, the reader today.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">What Does the Writing Mean to You?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">As you become a more experienced reader, you will discover that people read differently. Obviously, by now you know we don't mean how you </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">hold the book or position your elbows on the arms of your chair. Because we are all different people, we interpret the reading differently. What you interpret as one meaning, someone else may interpret as something else entirely. This is another reason it's nice to have an outlet, such as a book group, to talk about what you've read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">What the writing means to you has everything to do with who you are. And choosing any book, to begin with, has a great deal to do with what the writing will mean to you. You've chosen the book for a specific reason. It called out to you in some way and you were drawn to it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Task at Hand<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Let's return to Nathaniel Hawthorne's <i>The Scarlet Letter, </i>a story about a woman accused of adultery in seventeenth-century <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>. She is humiliated in front of her community by being forced to wear a scarlet letter <i>A </i>on her dress as punishment for her "crime."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">What is interesting here is that because Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in the nineteenth century, you have two questions to ask yourself in this reading: What was life like in the nineteenth century when the story was written, and what was life like in the seventeenth century, the time that <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> is writing about? Your task is to try to understand how a nineteenth century writer might imagine life two centuries prior to his own. So you are actually reading a historical perspective of another historic time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">What Do You Expect?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">As with any book, your reading experience will begin with interest and curiosity. Your first step when approaching a novel such as <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>should be to examine your own expectations of the topic itself. Based on what you already know about the story and based on what you have read of nineteenth-century western culture, what do you think <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> will have to say about his character's situation? What kind of statement, if any, is Hawthorne trying to make about the moral issues of that society versus his own and how does that differ from the issues in your own society? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">As a twenty-first-century mind (that's you), it might be difficult to picture that there's any huge difference between the two societies; but try to imagine two centuries prior to the times in which you live.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">While you read <i>The Scarlet Letter, </i>for example, here is a list of questions you might keep in mind about our society's moral expectations of its citizens (and in turn, about your own moral expectations):<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• In what way does religion play into the morals of American society?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• How are women treated compared to men when accused of committing adultery?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• How much say does our society and government have in our private and personal lives?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Where do the Puritans in <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>get their moral code from, and does that kind of code exist in any part of American (or even world) cultures today?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Can you compare Hester Prynne and Rev. Chillingworth to any modern-day heroes or victims, either literary or factual?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Now try replacing the questions regarding your society with nineteenth-century society—the time during which <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> was writing. See how different your answers are and try comparing all three centuries and cultures (the seventeenth, nineteenth, and twenty-first). Obviously, this is where the research comes in!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">After you read <i>The Scarlet Letter, </i>you will acquire meanings from the book based on your focus and expectations of the author. The outcome of this particular reading experience for you will be whether the author fiilfilled your expectations. Is this what you were looking for? If not, how was it different? Maybe the author exceeded your expectations. When that happens, it's always an adventure—and an exciting one at that!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Reader Response and Author Intention<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Hawthorne</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"> has something to say, and it's up to you to figure out what it is by examining the life of the author himself. We won't keep you in suspense, and we'll even help you a little with your research here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Hawthorne</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"> carried the tainted heritage of a hanging-judge uncle who sentenced many innocent women to die for all sorts of reasons—and ultimately condemned them for witchcraft, based on paranoia, irrational suspicion, and the fertile imaginations of people eager and swift to judge others. This should make you wonder (without even getting an answer to the question): Was this piece of writing by <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> intended to be an act of reparation for his shameful relative's behavior back in the seventeenth century? Was there a thriving Puritan heritage calling out to the author? Or, more simply, maybe he just wondered what it was like to be alive back then. What did people think and feel? And what did the Puritans do to those who did not live by a standard moral code? What <i>was </i>the standard moral code, for that matter?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Like most fiction writers, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> drew from his own life and his own questions about life to create an imagined world that strives to answer many of these questions. These may be questions <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> asked himself, and by writing the novel, questions he is asking you to consider as well. However, whatever answers you come up with are your own. There may be no one answer to these life issues in the end, but there certainly are <i>your </i>answers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Hawthorne</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"> evoked his questions about life, and maybe even about his own ancestry, by humanizing history. He gave names to faces, feelings to characters, and description to places. This is what makes fiction. This is what teaches us. And this is how we grow.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The Scarlet Letter </span></i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">is charged with emotional and intellectual issues, making it a very good example of how literature can push you to look very closely at your own responses. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Reading</st1:place></st1:city> <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>will inevitably force you to contemplate your own code of ethics, your sense of morality, and the religious and spiritual influences in your life. How <i>do you </i>see the novel? How does it reflect what you believe or do not believe? How does it compare to the modern-day view of "morality" or "honor," for that matter? What is your opinion on adultery? Do you think Hester has done anything wrong? Is she a hero or a victim—or both? What kind of person do you think Hester is? What do you think of the outcome? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">On the other hand, and maybe more importantly, what was <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:city></st1:place> trying to say to the reader?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Emotion Versus Subjectivity<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">We all have likes and dislikes as well as things we're just not so sure about. We have emotional responses to difficult as well as happy situations, to the people around us, and about ourselves. We are human beings with biases and prejudices, and we all have things that trigger our reactions. But to get<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">stuck in those emotional places leaves us at dead ends. It would be hard to read anything subjectively or objectively if you're stuck in certain emotional places.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">If you can understand that, it will be easier for you to grasp the difference between emotional and subjective responses.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Emotional Reader<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">An emotional response is often a knee-jerk reaction. It comes from the gut—it can happen in an instant and always speaks to how we feel in the immediate. In many ways, it speaks to our biases and things with which we are familiar. Sometimes the feelings don't hit us in the here and now, but when they do, they can often be powerful and eye opening.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">For example, if you are reading a story about a mean dog that is shot by a member of an unsympathetic community, you could have one of two reactions: Maybe you're relieved because that dog was a total menace to society—in this case your bias may be in favor of society. On the other hand, the dog had been treated cruelly, so you sympathize with him and feel sad when he dies—then perhaps your bias is with the dog and against a conceivably uncaring society. Both are emotional responses.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">A Subjective Perspective<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Subjective responses are grounded more in the kind of person you have become to this point as opposed to what you feel at any given moment. From a subjective perspective, you bring your inner reality to your reading, which will either be expanded or more limited depending on what it is you choose to read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">You bring values and points of view of your own; they are all hopefully going to be challenged by the reading. That is usually what the author intends to do: challenge the norm and shake up the status quo.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">In the case of the dog in the previous example, maybe you were the owner of a dog who had been cruelly treated by a group of local hooligans and as a result you have had to muzzle the dog and have people look at you and the dog with trepidation. To you it's a loving, friendly animal, much like your own dog, while to the rest of the world it's a monster. You cannot see the dog as just good or bad, you know that it's more complex than that. It is your own life experience that affects this read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Intellectually Speaking<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Intellectual response is geared toward bringing your analytical skills to bear on your reading. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Reading</st1:place></st1:city> intellectually will allow you to see the writing more objectively. Look objectively at how the author shapes his or her characters, develops the plot, or uses descriptions. What is the point of view? Who is telling the story? Does the narrator have an opinion about the events or about the characters? And what about the author? Why did he or she write the book in the first place? What does he or she want you to get out of it?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Okay, let's go back to that dog for a moment. Try thinking about it this way: "Personally, it troubles me that this society did not understand the dog, but objectively, I understand that they needed to get rid of the dog or face the loss of more human lives within the community."</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Looking at the story from the dog's perspective, the owner's perspective, the community's perspective, and the individuals within the community and their various perspectives allows you to look at a situation—in real life or in a book—from an intellectual standpoint so that you can draw objective rather than subjective conclusions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">While you will find answers from your own reading of the material, you will also gain perspective from outside sources such as book reviews and literary criticism, which will also examine and interpret literature.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Although this will help you formulate some of your own questions, it is important that you not stray too far from yourself and your initial responses when you read the thoughts of others.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">What About Those Gray Areas?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">A subjective response to <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>may allow you to see that Hawthorne reveals not so much the opposites of good and evil as the shadowy in-between areas— the subtle, nuanced complexities that make it difficult to see things in extremes the way the Puritan community in <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>does. Maybe, for reasons in your own life, you have come to realize that life is all about the gray areas—the middle zone. Not everyone can be categorized as angelic or evil the way law and society may try to make things seem sometimes. So in the end your focus might actually be philosophical, ethical, or even theological.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">If you are looking for an objective read of <i>The Scarlet Letter, </i>you need to keep your own opinions at bay as best you can and look strictly at the story, the characters, the themes, the symbols, and the author. This may be harder to do if the topic charges you and makes you feel strongly about your own ideology and philosophy of life. But that's all the more reason to try to see the story objectively.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Walking a Fine Line<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">In <i>The Scarlet Letter, </i><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> provides insight into the battling forces of fear, ignorance, jealousy, revenge, suffering, redemption, and the transcendence of love by means of the characters in the book and the community in which they live. It's not like those attributes only apply to seventeenth- or nineteenth-century societies. Those are timeless topics that apply to human nature and society in general.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">While you read <i>The Scarlet Letter, </i>do you feel sympathy for Hester? That's interesting if you were raised to believe that adultery is wrong, no matter what the circumstances. Let's say you hold firm to that belief. Does that mean everyone has to believe what you believe? Or does it mean people should be ostracized for not believing what you believe? Maybe you believe in the laws of society, no matter who the society is made up of, but somehow you feel that Hester wasn't wrong in breaking the laws of her own society. What does this say about you?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Now, you can see it—your world has turned upside down and sideways, and that's the whole point! That's what makes a good reader!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Putting Together the Pieces of the Puzzle<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Your life and opinions aside, what does Hawthorne do to make his reader see the gray areas—the middle ground between good and evil, right and wrong, justice and injustice? How does he show us that the power of love with a huge dose of strength of character can help transcend all adversity? By the use of symbolism and metaphor, the author gives us all the meanings, and like a puzzle it's up to you to put them together. Here are some examples of complex layers of symbolism and metaphor in <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>all relating to the letter <i>A. </i>One layer leads to a deeper layer not only within the story, but within the text, which helps us see what <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> is trying to say:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• The letter <i>A </i>stands for adulteress, as the town sees Hester. Forcing Hester to embroider her own <i>A, </i>as though she is making her own prison uniform as punishment, actually allows her the freedom to make a statement.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• The letter <i>A </i>also stands for Arthur, the hidden first name of the father of the child—hidden because Hester keeps his identity a secret from the community to protect him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• The letter <i>A </i>also comes to stand for <i>angel, </i>as Hester becomes a caretaker within her community, after she is let out of prison, bringing solace and help to those who need it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• Angel also refers to the father of the child, Arthur (Dimmesdale), when <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:city></st1:place> tells us about him in the middle of the book: "... and thus kept himself simple and childlike; coming forth, when occasion was, with a freshness and fragrance, and dewy purity of thought, which, as many people said, affected them like the speech of an angel."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Hawthorne</span></st1:city><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> is focused on that scarlet letter from many perspectives, as you can see, and along with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>symbolism and metaphor, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> throws in a healthy dose of <i>irony. </i>That ever-present letter <i>A </i>is supposed to be a daily source of humiliation for Hester Prynne—a scourge on her soul—as she is forced to wear it. But instead she wears her <i>A </i>as though it is a medal of honor—her own private symbol of pride and<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">integrity as one who bears the punishment of the community but will not give them what they want.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The community in <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>wants Hester to publicly reveal the name of the father of her child. She refuses because he is a respected member of the community— the minister. To identify him to the public would destroy his life, her life, and the life of her child, and equally important to her, it would be bending to a rigid and restrictive society.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">It is no shrinking, humiliating <i>A </i>that she wears as her community would like to believe. Splendidly embroidered by her own hands, the <i>A </i>has layered emotional and spiritual meanings for Hester having to do with her character and integrity, her world of private meanings, and an inner beauty and richness. Despite public humiliation, she proudly wears the first initial of the father's name. The symbolism of the way she<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">has embroidered it refers to her undying resolve. In the elaborate embroidery, she shouts in the face of her community that she has done nothing wrong. We look at symbolism and metaphor in greater detail in later Pages.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Hearing the Author Loud and Clear<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Hawthorne</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> speaks to us in parables about our very human nature—about the beauty, character, and strength of spirit within each individual as represented in the character of Hester Prynne. He looks at the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>vulnerability and weakness of individuals in the character of Arthur Dimmesdale, and tells us about corrupted human nature in the character of Roger Chillingworth (Hester's estranged husband from the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Netherlands</st1:place></st1:country-region>).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The thread that binds the whole story, and perhaps the reader to the writing, is the wondrous power of love woven throughout the novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Writing and Societal Identity<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Keeping all of this in mind regarding <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>and Nathaniel Hawthorne's own historical perspective on the society from which he and his family originated, it's important to understand where you have come from as well. As Americans, we all originally come from somewhere else. But American society as we know it today originates with the early colonists, and these are the times of which <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> writes. To understand modern American society, you need to look at American history and culture and how it plays into your world and into your reading experiences.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Back to the Beginning<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">If you look at the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the process of shaping a national identity has been astonishing. The country started as a vast landscape of mountains, rivers, lakes, and trees, home to the Native Americans, who were storytellers but not writers. They had no printing presses to share their knowledge—it was all by word of mouth and works of art.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">With the arrival of the Europeans in the seventeenth century, the society we have grown into today began. They changed the nation of the Native Americans into what was familiar to them—in terms of religion, law, and societal morality. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">To understand the kind of society we are today, we should think back to the seventeenth century, specifically to <st1:place w:st="on">Massachusetts Bay</st1:place>, where middle-class British subjects settled to build John Winthrop's "city upon a hill." In his famous emotional sermon to the colonists as they sailed to the new world, Winthrop, one of America's first Puritan settlers, told the weary travelers how they would be part of building a model Christian community. Based on education and good living far from the persecution of the Church of England against the Christian reformers, the Puritans would finally have the life of which they dreamed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">This sermon, which reflected <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Winthrop</st1:place></st1:city>'s principles and ideals, became the national metaphor that has inspired literary and political thought well into our times. Despite the desire for freedom from persecution, this was not a time of great liberal thinking. There were rules—lots of rules. In fact, the only writing that as allowed was letters, diaries, and pious sermons. But on the other hand, these were times of survival and hard work. Even storytelling was forbidden unless they were stories from the Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">History and Modern Thought<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Who we are today stems from where we came from—who we were yesterday, so to speak. The only references we have for understanding this are the writings of the times. And as you can see, what happened in the seventeenth century was still affecting Nathaniel Hawthorne in the nineteenth century, and affects us today in the twenty-first century.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Historians say that to know your history is to learn from it, to be ignorant of it is at one's own peril. The same can be said of masterpieces of fiction. They don't only tell us who our cultural ancestors were, they tell us about who we are right now. So the thinking of one century to the next is witnessed mainly in the writings of the times.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">By the twentieth century we had film and videotape to help us document our times so we now have a new way of looking at the past and the present, but there is no better keeper of history than the writings of its people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Least You Need to Know<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• The author has something to communicate to the reader, and it's up to the reader to figure it out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• There are different ways to look at a piece of writing, including objectively, subjectively, and emotionally.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• How you interpret literature has a great deal to do with who you are and what your life experiences have been.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• Authors use different techniques, including symbolism, metaphor, and irony, in an effort to reach the reader.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">• The history of American society greatly influences who we are today as a nation and what we can expect and learn from our writers.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-29827051584989966232010-11-29T02:35:00.000-08:002010-11-29T02:35:05.112-08:00Developing the Critical Eye<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34.0pt;">Developing Your Critical Eye<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">In This Chapter<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">• What makes a work of fiction absorbing?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">• Learning to read nonfictions<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">• Start asking (more) questions<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">• Uncovering author techniques<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">• Backing up your reading with even more reading and research<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Reading</span></st1:city></st1:place><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> is a growth experience. As you change, so do your reading tastes. Now that you've made the conscious decision to learn more, it is inevitable that you will start to look deeper into the literature you choose to read. But what exactly are you looking for?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">There's the rub! It's simple, really; you're looking for connections in the text: between events, between thoughts, between ideas, between the author and his era, between the author and his readers ... and the list goes on. In this chapter, we take a deeper look at the techniques authors use to get their point(s) across, both in fiction and nonfiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">What to Expect from Fiction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Let's begin with some definitions and some criteria. A work of fiction is a piece of imaginary prose that can be in the form of a novel, novella, or short story. A novel is a long work of fiction, whereas a novella is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. The writer of a piece of fiction may draw on his or her own experiences or imagination to create the story. What makes it fiction is that strictly speaking, it is made up—created out of the thoughts and feelings of the writer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">You should approach reading fiction as you might approach any adventure (such as a vacation, for example). Reading a work of fiction is like taking a trip to an unfamiliar location. You are entering a world of the unknown.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">I Just Can't Put It Down!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">As a reader, there's no better feeling than picking up a book that's so absorbing you can't put it down. Some book lovers will read very slowly to put off the inevitable end of a book. It's an amazing feeling when a book grabs you so completely that you find yourself walking down the street, book in hand, knocking into lampposts and fellow pedestrians. (Well, it might not be so amazing for those people you bump into!)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">What is it that makes a particular piece of fiction so absorbing? Generally speaking, it's the element of surprise, the author's ability to tell the story in such a way that you just have to know more. You have a secret desire to skip ahead and find out what happens next (but resist the temptation to do that—you'll ruin the surprises along the way!).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">The Able Author<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">A story should be interesting or funny enough to hold your interest and make you want to know more about what happens next. The author should care enough about his characters (or at least be involved enough) to make you care about them, too. The plot should flow and make connections between events, thoughts, and feelings as it moves along. It should contain the basic structure of rising action, climax, and falling action that leads to some kind of resolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Fiction is sometimes written strictly for entertainment purposes without expecting to teach you much of anything. Other times the author has a larger message that he depicts through allegory, a symbolic statement of an idea, philosophy, emotion or feeling, or all of those elements combined. We talk more about allegory in later pages What you should come away with by the time you close the book is a new perspective, a new insight into a universal theme. Isn't that what you expect from a vacation—to come back with new images and new ideas?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">How to Read Fiction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">You've already learned the basic structure of fiction. But what makes fiction different from any other form of writing, aside from the fact that it is imaginary?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">In addition to identifying the structure of a piece of fiction, it's essential to ask yourself two questions as you read:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Who is telling the story?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• How is it being told?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">In answering these questions, you're identifying the narrative voice and the point of view. The narrative voice is the voice of the person telling the story (not to be confused with the author). Point of view determines how much the narrator knows and how the story is told. These concepts are discussed in detail in the next pages. For now, however, just be aware that the narrator has a great influence on how the story ultimately unfolds.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Accepting the Author's Choices<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">As the reader, try to begin every fiction reading experience with an open mind. Even if you don't necessarily learn something new, and even if you don't particularly like the book, authors are quite adept at depicting old ideas in completely new ways. The story line, the characters, the atmosphere, and the descriptions of a new book just might show you a different way of looking at things. The author's creative process helps you see things in new ways. The reader's creative process involves going along with the author for the ride.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">I Don't Get It<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">If the author is successful in translating his or her ideas to you through the story, the author has done what he or she intended to do. If you walk away scratching your head, there could be one of two things going on: either the author failed to communicate with you, or you failed to grasp the intended meaning. Just as there are bad readers, there are bad writers. So don't jump to the conclusion that the inability to connect to the author or to the story is your fault. Sometimes it just happens.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Understanding Nonfiction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Now it's time to switch gears. Nonfiction is a completely different from fiction in form and style of writing. Rather than finding its origins strictly in imagination, nonfiction is based on facts. Whether it it's a how-to book, biography, autobiography, or a book about a specialty area such as physics or computers, the author's purpose is to convey information to you — real information in as "true" a form as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">When you pick up a nonfiction book, you are usually looking for specialized information, and the one thing you may demand of the writer is that he or she be clear. If the book is assigned to you for a class, you might have to trudge through difficult information to get to the root of what you need to learn; if it's a book of your choosing, however, the style of the writing and how the information is presented will be important in making your selection. Your choice of book has everything to do with your personal preferences.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">Specialty Books<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">If you are choosing a book in an area of special study, clarity should be your first criteria.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Regina</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"> knows a person who recently lost her job and needed to update her computer knowledge and skills to find new employment. She took some computer classes, but, unfortunately, she couldn't keep up with the class because the teacher was racing through the material like he was trying to make the <i>Guinness Book of World Records </i>for speed teaching. So she went to a local bookstore to pick up additional texts that she could follow at her own pace.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Regina</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">'s friend knew that some of the material might be over her head and she would need a text that would start with the basics. What she found, to her surprise, was not so much that the books were over her head, but that many of them were disorganized and poorly written. She had to really look around before she found something she could follow and that would help her update her computer skills on her own. Although some of these how-to books may have appealed to one person, chances are there are a lot people like <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Regina</st1:place></st1:city>'s friend who would not have been able to follow these texts. The point is that the material must be clear, which means it must be organized in an easy-to-follow style, and it must be written so that a beginner can understand the content.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Who Is This Author, Anyway?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The second criteria for choosing nonfiction is to expect help from an author that goes beyond the style of writing. Check out the information on the back cover or inside the dust jacket, or look for a section called "About the Author." (In this book, the "About the Authors" section is on the inside back cover.) Knowing about the author's background and knowledge base will help you make your choice. If you are confident in the author's expertise in the subject, you may be more likely to want to read the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">There may be other references in the book that will convince you that what you are reading is based on a solid knowledge base and therefore as accurate as you would expect a work of nonfiction to be. You may find a preface, introduction, glossary, bibliography, as well as footnotes and/or endnotes. The more information the book contains, the more credibility you are likely to feel it holds. (See Chapter 4 for more on how a book is structured.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The reason for all of these extras is that the author wants to help you to understand the material more completely. It's important that the author add additional references and information to back up the text and to show you that he or she is a reliable source that you can count on for accurate information. The author also wants you to have the sources so that you can further your study of the topic. Just keep in mind that just because a book references many different sources and seems to have all the elements required of a work of nonfiction, the most important thing is that you understand the text.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Biographies<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">You have to be especially careful about whom the author of a biography is. (Remember, a biography is the story about someone's life told by someone other than the person who lived that life.) Who is telling the story exactly? A family member? A friend? A housekeeper? Or someone who simply has an interest in studying that person's life?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Is the person still alive? Is the author writing the life story from historical documentation or from eyewitness observation? You need to do your research before you accept a biography as fact.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Unauthorized biographies are written without the subject's consent or cooperation. Although these books claim to tell the true life story of someone, you really need to check out the author and his credentials before you can trust the story being told.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Usually, there's some hidden agenda involved in these books, whether it's money, revenge, or the author's quest for fame. So although you might enjoy these juicy reads, keep in mind these books should really be classified as entertainment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Let's look at the one of the most notorious biographies, <i>Mommie Dearest, </i>about the life of the legendary screen actress Joan Crawford, star of many films from the 1920s through the 1970s. <i>Mommie Dearest </i>was a book before it hit the big screen in the early 1980s. As you may know, Joan Crawford was depicted in both the film and the biography as anything but a loving mother of her adopted children. In fact, she was portrayed as an obsessive-compulsive egomaniac who often used her children to show what a great benefactress she was. In the end, when she died, she left daughter<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Christina absolutely nothing in her will.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Consider who the author of this biography is: Christina Crawford herself. Now ask yourself, was Christina trying to get in the last word as revenge against her mother's lack of generosity, or was she finally free to tell the world the truth about what went </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">on behind the closed doors of Joan Crawford's "perfect" world? Was she trying to make her own name known? (She went on to publish a novel shortly after <i>Mommie Dearest </i>came out.) <i>Mommie Dearest </i>was published in 1978, a year after her mother's death. Did Joan Crawford know that her daughter was writing this book and subsequently cut her out of the will? No one can know the truth for sure.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">In the case of <i>Mommie Dearest, </i>knowing the identity of the author is critical to being able to believe the content of the book. This is true for many biographies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Autobiographies<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Again, with autobiographies, it's important to consider who the author is. Obviously, because an autobiography is a book written about one's own life, you would expect it to be as close to the truth as possible. (This applies to memoirs as well, which tell of significant events in a person's life. Like an autobiography, a memoir is written by the person who experienced the life events.) Keep in mind that those who write a book about themselves believe they have something of interest to say. Anyone can write an autobiography, but readership will depend on the level of interest in that person, and the more interesting the story, the more likely it is that the book will sell well (and make the author oodles of money). Most autobiographies are written by someone in the public spotlight.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Sometimes writers of autobiographies feel they have something to explain about themselves. Perhaps a person believes he or she has been misunderstood by the public and writes a book to set the record straight. Maybe the author is a person who has been gossiped about and feels he or she needs to respond to some of the things that have been said. In some cases, autobiographies are written because the person just wants to be remembered from his or her own point of view rather than that of someone else or a collective audience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 20.0pt;">Asking Questions and Finding Arguments<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">What fiction and nonfiction have in common is that you begin both reading experiences with a desire to know more. With a work of fiction, you have chosen to read it because, for some reason, the story appeals to your senses, or to your personality, or to your life circumstance at any given time. Maybe you picked it up because it had an interesting title or a pretty cover or because you enjoyed other books by that author. It doesn't matter <i>why, </i>really; what matters is that the book is in your hands and you're reading it. The same is true for nonfiction material. Something caught your attention, and now it's in your grasp or on your bookshelf.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">What Do You Want to Know?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The most important thing is to start asking questions as soon as you develop the desire to know more about the topic. Suppose you have an interest in the war in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region> and want to know more. Do you want to hear the answer from someone in the Bush administration or do you want to hear it from a political activist's point of view? What is it that you want to know? Are you looking for a reliable and informed viewpoint? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">A scholarly viewpoint? Or a radical viewpoint? You don't even have the book in your hands yet, and you've already begun to ask yourself questions about what you want to read in regard to the topic. Maybe you're interested in furniture and want to learn how to build your own mahogany dining room set. Whose book will you read? One written by a professional furniture crafter or one written by a self-taught carpenter? Again, we get back to you and the kind of questions you bring to a subject and to an author. These will ultimately lead to whatever opinions and arguments (which support your opinions) you are going to develop. Not all works of nonfiction will lead you to forming such strong ideas, however. Sometimes a nonfiction book is just a book that will satisfy a curiosity you have. Maybe you want to know more about growing African violets. In that case, you'll pick up the book with the most appealing style. There's no need to form an opinion or an argument supporting the theory behind growing African violets. You will just want to satisfy a curiosity and learn something new.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">On the other hand, you may have always wanted to read the Roosevelt-Churchill letters because you wanted to find out how these two heads of state dealt with World War II. These are actual letters, so what you see is what you get. There is no interpretation of the letters unless you dig deeper. You will likely find that many political historians have interpreted these letters in several different ways. But without any background material, you are left on your own to read and comprehend what these two men said to each other and how their words led to action that would affect the world from that point on.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">It is inevitable that you will form questions as you read the letters. (Why didn't Roosevelt or Churchill see what Stalin was up to? Why didn't <st1:place w:st="on">Roosevelt</st1:place> go to war sooner?) Your questions may not be answered by the letters themselves. You will either have to find the answers on your own through research or you will have to research what others have to say about the letters in order to formulate further opinion on the material. While you are reading, however, it is up to you to form your opinions, build your arguments, and develop your own interpretations. Sounds like some serious work, but this is exactly why you're reading in the first place.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">When you are able to make up your own mind about the material, you will find new doors opening to you everywhere you turn in your reading experiences. This is why we call it a voyage of discovery. What you are discovering is what you believe and what you decide for yourself by means of reading the ideas and opinions of someone else.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Fact or Fiction?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">With fiction, you know that what you're being told isn't being presented as true. When you read nonfiction, it's important to have a system of checks and balances so that you can stop and evaluate the author's point of view from time to time to determine whether he is being objective. Here are questions to consider as you read nonfiction:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• What are the facts being presented?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• How are they being presented? Are they clear and straightforward or muddled and perplexing?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Is the author expressing an opinion? If so, what is it?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• How is he or she interpreting the facts?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Do I see a particular bias or perspectives in the text?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• How does that perspective compare against what I already know or believe?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Is this the first time I've read this point of view?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Do I need to find further reading material to make up my mind about this author or the subject matter?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Have I read enough about this topic to formulate my own arguments or do I need to do more research?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">If you just accept the author as an authority on the topic and don't ask yourself questions such as these, you're not doing your job as an active reader or as a thinker. You should question everything that is stated as a fact. Question the point of view, research the background, and find your own answers. You may or may not come to the same conclusions as the authors. What is most important is that you have come to a conclusion that is your own—otherwise you might just be regurgitating someone else's biases or points of view.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 20.0pt;">Putting It All in Perspective<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Who knew there was so much involved in reading? Not many of us, or we wouldn't need reference guides such as this one to help us along. There is so much more involved in reading than what you could possibly have learned in high school.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Now that you have all this information, it's time to make it work for you. Try following this simple list of questions (yes, more questions ...) to guide you in your reading. Some apply to fiction, some to nonfiction, and some to both:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">• Based on what I know about it, why did I pick this book?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">• Who is the narrator?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">• What is the point of view?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">• What is the author's point of view?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">• What is the author trying to tell me?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">• What is the theme?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">• How does the author's opinion differ from what I already know and believe?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">• What do I think about the story or book?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">• How has this reading experience affected me?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">So, What Do You Think?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">This is the most important question of all, because that's the whole point, isn't it?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">When all is said and done, what matters most is what you take away from the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The author's opinions and feelings are still out there waiting for another reader to interpret. Although two people may walk away with many of the same thoughts, their own experiences and personalities will make one reading experience different from the next.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If your curiosity leads you to further explorations, the books you are choosing and learning from are helping you to grow, be it in the area of politics, physics, or growing African violets. More than anything else, your reading experiences should make you a better you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Drawing Conclusions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Be cautious when it comes to drawing conclusions. At best, you should draw only tentative conclusions, at least at first. No book can give you everything you want or need. There can be gaps in information or too much said about one topic and perhaps not enough about another. That's to be expected. The best you can do is pick up some information from a single text, which hopefully will lead you to formulate more questions that another author addresses in a different book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Life is a never-ending process of learning. If you could pick up all the information you would ever need on a particular subject from one book, you would be all set. But that's not likely to happen. Even when an author is an expert in a given field, he will usually lean toward a preferred theory, which you may completely disagree with. It's up to you to find out about the other theories out there and then come to your own educated conclusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Your conclusions will be largely based on your expectations from a piece of writing, whether it's fiction or nonfiction. And what you may be looking for can be found in pieces and parts of several different books. Be patient. Keep looking. Keep reading. There isn't any book that you pick up that you aren't going to get something out of, if, at least, it's written in an interesting and engaging way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Least You Need to Know<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Asking questions of yourself and of the author and his or her subject matter is the first step toward developing as a reader.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Fiction and nonfiction differ in the questions that you ask yourself before, during, and after your reading experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• It is important to pay attention to an author's techniques and expertise. It is another way he or she is trying to communicate with the reader.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Never take anything an author says at face value. Learn to recognize biases and opinions in yourself as well as in the author.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">• Don't expect one book to be all things to all readers. It is almost always necessary to go looking for more information either about the author or about the subject matter.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-71441851429444115722010-11-29T01:53:00.001-08:002010-11-29T01:53:36.158-08:00Read the Cover Page<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34.0pt;">What's Between the Covers?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">In This Chapter<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">• How the novel is structured<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">• Where to find clues about a book's content<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">• Examining nonfiction<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">• A close look at references and sources<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">• How a book "grabs" you and keeps you interested<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">How many times have you opened a book—any book—and skipped over the table of contents, the preface, and even the blurb on the back or on the inside dust-jacket flap? We all want to get right to the nitty-gritty, but it might pay to slow down a little and take your time with a book before you plunge in. Before you invest time and money in a book, it's important to know what you're about to read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">There are plenty of readers out there who have countless books on their bookshelves that sit unread because they weren't enjoying them after they brought them home. You should plan to check out the book thoroughly before you buy it to see whether it holds any interest for you. A good examination of a book can prevent this from happening to you and will even leave you some extra space on your bookshelf.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Inspecting Fiction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">When you pick up a novel you have never read before, you really have no idea what to expect. But there are clues all over the book that can guide you. For example:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">• Title and cover<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">• Table of contents<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">• Introduction and preface<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">• Structure and style<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">• Appendixes such as a bibliography, glossary, and footnotes or endnotes <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">When you're first examining a book, one of the first things you'll do is flip the book over and read the blurb on the back or open the book, in the case of most hardcover books, and read the inside flaps of the dust jacket. The back cover or inside flaps usually give you a quick summary of the book without giving the story away. They are written to pique a reader's interest. The back cover may also include a few lines from recent book reviews. But remember the reading material has to call out to you somehow. Reviewers and enticing blurbs aside, what you think is all that matters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">In the following sections, we take a tour of the parts of a book. If you're going to become a good reader, it's best to get acquainted with the basics of what you'll find inside the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let Me Introduce You<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">When someone introduces you to a friend at a party, he or she will often disclose a few details about the person that will help you grasp who it is you are talking to. For example, you might be introduced to someone thusly: "This is my friend Jill. We were roommates at the <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">British Columbia</st1:placename> when I studied in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region> for a semester."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">This introduction tells you about the relationship between Jill and the other person.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">You know that they have maintained a relationship over the years and that Jill might be Canadian. So that information combined with what you already know gives you a starting point to launch a conversation. That's exactly what the introduction of a book can do for your reading experience. It can (and hopefully will) give you some of the information you need to decide whether you want to continue with the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Sometimes a book will be introduced by someone other than the author. If the book is in reprint, for example, or if the author is deceased, sometimes a scholar familiar with the writer or an editor who worked on the edition will write the introduction.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">For a good analysis of the examination of a novel, let's take a look at some novels both old and new. You may have already read <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>by Nathaniel Hawthorne, in which case you're one step ahead, but let's take more introductory look at this classic nineteenth-century novel. Published in 1850, it's about a woman accused of adultery in seventeenth-century <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Boston</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">She is humiliated in front of her community by being forced to wear a scarlet letter <i>A </i>on her clothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">The Scarlet Letter </span></i><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">has one of the longest introductions of any piece of fiction, and it is extremely important that you read it to get a full understanding of the novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Hawthorne</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;"> explains what led him to write the novel in the first place. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:city></st1:place> even gave the introduction a title, "The Custom House," which ties his introduction specifically to the content of the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-size: 15.0pt;">Title<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">As readers, we are always struck by the title of a book—which is often the first clue to what we'll find inside. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> chose a good title, as well as a very accurate one, because it is also symbolic of what the book is about. So the basics begin with the title. <i>The Scarlet Letter? </i>What could that possibly be about? The title is an attention grabber, which makes you want to know more.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Table of Contents<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Part of inspecting a book is to read through the table of contents. This applies to fiction and non-action alike. (Not all novels contain chapter titles. Sometimes chapters are just numbered, so you will not always find a table of contents.) Authors and editors work very hard to make a table of contents as concise and relevant for the </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">reader as possible. In a novel, the chapter titles offer clues as to what you will find inside as well. Take a look at the table of contents of this book. You'll see it is carefully constructed to let the reader know exactly what to expect from the text.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The Scarlet Letter </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">has 24 relatively brief chapters. And this novel does contain a table of contents. If you look it over carefully you may find the chapter headings intriguing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The first four chapters and their titles are as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Chapter I: "The Prison Door"<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Chapter II: "The Market Place"<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Chapter III: "The Recognition"<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Chapter IV: "The Interview"<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Every chapter name represents exactly what you can expect that chapter to be about. It was as if <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> had no time to waste. He knew exactly what he wanted to say, and he said it. In fact, he had the whole book in mind before he ever sat down to write a word. He wrote it in a matter of weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Opening Lines<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As a child Trudi Montag thought everyone knew what went on inside others. That was before she understood the power of being different. The agony of being different. And the sin of ranting against an ineffective God. But before that—for years and years before that—she prayed to grow.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">—Ursula Hegi, <i>Stones from the River </i>(1994)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Let's look at another way of checking out a book using a different book as an example. These words are the introductory words of a novel called <i>Stones from the River, </i>a book about a German girl who is physically different from the other people in her life and how she struggles with loneliness during the tumultuous times of World War II. Different readers have different feelings about the opening lines of a novel. Amy happens to like it when an author grabs her in the first few sentences, or in the first paragraph. If the author doesn't do this, however, it's not a reason to stop. Other people enjoy a slow buildup to the story—a description of a place or a main character, for example. But the opening words of <i>Stones from the River, </i>combined with the blurb on the back cover, were more than enough for Amy to want to take this book home and stick with it through the next 525 pages.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Here is what it says on the back cover of <i>Stones from the River:<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Trudi Montag is a <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Zwerg</span>—a dwarf—short, undesirable, different, the voice of anyonewho has ever tried to fit in. Eventually she learns that being different is a secret that all humans share—from her mother who flees into madness, to her friend Georg whose parents pretend he's a girl, to the Jews Trudi harbors in her cellar.</span></i><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">If you are currently a reader, you know that it's instinct to flip the book over and read the back or, in the case of a hardcover, to open the book and read the inside flaps of the dust jacket, where the publisher will often provide a summary of the story. After the title and the cover, of course, the next thing you want to know is what it's all about. Some cover blurbs are better than others, but the blurb combined with the opening lines of a book will often be the elements that make you want to know more.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Sense of Style<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">If nothing really entices you to want to read the book, read the opening paragraph or even a few paragraphs from the middle of the book to get a sense of the author's style. Is the style something that appeals to your own reading sensibilities? Is the tone something you think you might relate to? Maybe the book is written in a completely different way than what you are familiar with and you feel you're up for a new challenge.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">It's important to pay attention to the author's style and tone. This book could be with you for several weeks, and you want to get the most you can out of it. There's no point in reading something that you won't absorb or that will bore you to tears.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Bibliography<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">A bibliography provides source material for a book and is usually found at the back of a book. In some scholarly works and textbooks, you will find endless pages of </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">bibliographical references. These bibliographies can be invaluable to your own studies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">If you are looking for source material for your own academic work, or just for further reading on the same topic, a great place to find it is in someone else's bibliography. Nonaction is not the only reading material to have a bibliography. You will find that novels that have been read, analyzed, critiqued, and studied by literary scholars (commonly referred to as the <i>classics) </i>often have a bibliography at the end.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Regina</st1:city></st1:place>'s copy of <i>The Scarlet Letter </i>there is a bibliography. It's not <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city>'s bibliography, however; it's that of the person who wrote another introduction to her particular edition. This can come in very handy if you are looking to read more about <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city> and his work.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Further <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Reading</st1:place></st1:city><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Many modern-day books contain appendixes indicating other resources to read for further information. Suppose you have a question about something the author has written and you wonder where you can learn more about that topic. At this point, you can flip to the back again and check out some of the suggested reading material. The suggested reading list will be arranged in a bibliographical format. That means it is in alphabetical order by author's last name. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Another example of an appendix may be a list of questions that may be pertinent within book group settings. Even reprinted books, such as <i>The Scarlet Letter, </i>contain such appendixes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Reading the extra material provided in any book will guide you to a deeper understanding of how the book was written, why it was written, and what was going on in the author's life and times. In the case of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawthorne</st1:place></st1:city>, you will even find out what led him to write this story.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.0pt;">Inspecting Nonfiction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Now let's take a look at some nonfiction, which includes books about science, philosophy, history, biography, autobiography, art, music, and a full range of special interests.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Regina</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;"> enjoys reading about science and looks for books that will appeal to the regular person—those of us who are not scientists. We're just enthusiasts who read out of curiosity. This kind of reader does not have any kind of specialized training in the </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">subject but wants to know more about it. You can find books like this for the layperson in almost all specialized fields of knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Format at a Glance<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Regina</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;"> has a stack of books she is getting ready to read. The next science-related book she plans to delve into is <i>The Elegant Universe </i>by Brian Greene. Brian Greene is one of the world's leading physicists, and the reason <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Regina</st1:city></st1:place> picked up his book is that he promises the reader (on the inside dust-jacket flap) the opportunity to "look at reality in a completely different way." Now, what better offer could any reader ask for? This intrigued <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Regina</st1:place></st1:city>, so she immediately turned to the table of contents where she noticed that the book was divided into 5 parts, 15 chapters, author notes, a glossary of terms, suggestions for further reading, and an index. The combination of the construction of the book, the back flap, and a glance at the author's style of writing were proof enough that this was an eminently readable book and one not meant for scientific professionals. And the glossary was the icing on the cake because she'll be able to understand certain scientific terminology as she reads along.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">This nonfiction book is a good example of a fully developed, well-organized format for a lay reader to pursue the subject of physics.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">The index, found in the back of the book, comes in handy because if you want to read about something specific, you just go to the back and look for it. It lists topics, names, and terms in alphabetic order with page numbers so you can easily find what you are looking for. For example, if you want to find out about quarks, you can look it up in the index under the letter <i>Q, </i>go to the indicated pages, and see what the author has to say about that subject matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Checking References<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Some nonfiction books may also contain <i>footnotes, </i>which are stylistically presented differently than bibliographical material. If footnotes are supplied, they are numbered in the body of the text and then matched with the corresponding number and additional information about a topic, in smaller print at the bottom of the page.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">What you will find in the notes is the source of the thought, quote, or information. The notes list the author's first then last name, the title of the book, and the page numbers the author took the information from.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">There is no set guideline for how any nonfiction book should be constructed. For example, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Regina</st1:place></st1:city>'s copy of <i>A Source Book of Chinese Philosophy, </i>translated by Wing-Tsit Chan (Princeton University, 1963), is 856 pages long. A "source book" is usually very comprehensive piece of literature, and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Regina</st1:place></st1:city>'s book certainly fits that description.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It's illustrative of a comprehensive overview that provides information about historical developments in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>, comparisons with western humanism, and specifically introduces the reader to Chinese philosophers over a long period of time. In addition to the extensive information contained in the text, the book provides<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">a foreword, preface, acknowledgments, chronology of Chinese dynasties, and chronology of philosophers. These pages are numbered with Roman numerals— a stylistic indication that this material is separate from the rest of the book. This book is so comprehensive that it even includes a glossary with Chinese words and<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">their English translations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">One of the things nonfiction books have in common is the inclusion of extra information to help you have a complete and comprehensive reading experience. You don't have to look beyond the binding of the book unless you really want to. Other nonfiction materials such as autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs—books about people’s lives—are often constructed similarly to a piece of fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 20.0pt;">Grabbing and Holding On<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">What an author wants more than anything is for the reader to keep on reading. What's the point of writing a book that readers will put down after the first 10 pages? There's no guarantee that this <i>won't </i>happen; after all, you might like one author's style while another reader prefers a different kind of style. The author knows that some people will like the book and others will not. That's one of the beauties of subjectivity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Each author will appeal to different kinds of people. For example, there are writers who might open their book with 10 pages of description before getting to the actual story. This will appeal to readers who want to have a feel for the atmosphere before they get into the action. Other readers want to get right to the heart of the story and are only interested in description that applies directly to the story line. The important thing for any author is to hold on to one kind of reader and try to lure in others. Authors use strategies involving narrative voice, humor, point of view, and even foreshadowing to keep you reading. You read more about these techniques, later.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Once you find an author whose work you enjoy reading, you will probably look for more of his or her books. You may even find yourself rereading some of your favorites. The more books you read by specific authors, the more able you will be to identify the style of writing you prefer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Least You Need to Know<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">• You can determine whether a book is right for you by examining its various<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">parts, such as the cover, table of contents, foreword, and introduction.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">• Nonfiction (as well as some fiction) often includes extra material to help you<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">further understand the text.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">• Fiction and nonfiction books are formatted differently.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">• Authors employ different techniques to grab and hold the reader's attention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-60784255327242443852010-11-17T21:48:00.000-08:002010-11-17T21:48:37.652-08:00Types of Literature in the Way of Critical Reading: Nonfiction<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" /> <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34pt;">Types of Literature:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 34pt;">Nonfiction</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">In This Page</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">• Nonfiction genres and subgenres</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">• Practical and theoretical nonfiction</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">• Understanding biographical writing and essays</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">• Media as nonfiction</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Like fiction, nonfiction is classified into genres, usually based on subject matter. Nonfiction subject matter falls into two main categories: practical (informative writing) and theoretical (experimental writing). It is as important in nonfiction as it is in fiction to know which genre you are reading in order to gain a full appreciation of the reading experience. You will probably be able to classify your reading quite easily. In fact, the more nonfiction you read, the easier it will get.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In this page, in addition to learning how important genre is to nonfiction reading, you learn the differences in nonfiction genres and how to identify them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19pt;">Nonfiction Genres</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Scholars and critics do not overly concern themselves with classifying nonfiction into genres because nonfiction literature is fairly cut and dry and doesn't cross boundaries quite as often as fiction tends to. Nonfiction shouldn't cross over into the fiction genres, whereas fiction often crosses over to nonfiction. (Confused? Keep reading!) For example, you can read a novel about a fictitious person who lives in the court of Queen Elizabeth I of </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">England</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">. The historical facts are authentic, but the main characters and the dialogue are not.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">One incidence where nonfiction material can cross into the genre of fiction is when an author writes an autobiographical novel. The story may be based on certain truths from his life (for example, a character based on himself or someone else from his real life). Another example is when an author inserts his or her opinion into a work of fiction—something Mark Twain liked to do quite often. Twain regularly employed illogic, unreasonableness, and bizarre assumptions to make the reader laugh while simultaneously slipping his message between the lines, so to speak.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">For example, in <i>The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, </i>Twain paints a picture of Huck's guardian, Widow Douglas, as a harsh, judgmental Christian. Twain himself was not a fan of religion, and believed zealots such as Widow Douglas did more harm than good in the world. However, rather than say this straight out, Twain writes a humorous exchange in which the widow harasses Huck about his godlessness. The reader, of course, is on Huck's side, thinking that Huck's righteous guardian should give him a break. Who knows how many readers took that message with them, though, and carried it over into their lives?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Even though he uses humor, his purpose is a serious one, to alert and to teach the reader. But the only way to know what Mark Twain intended is to get to know Mark Twain as the man and the author and to become familiar with his intentions for his readers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Practical Nonfiction</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">On the most basic level, nonfiction can be divided into two categories: <i>practical </i>and <i>theoretical. </i>Practical books (such as this one, for example) require you, as the reader to take some kind of action. If you were to read this book as the theories of Amy and Regina Wall on critical reading, you wouldn't be required to do anything but peruse it and think about it. But the goal of this book is to teach you something. And for you to learn from it, you have to actually go do some of your own work—such as taking notes on what you've read, doing some further reading on literary criticism or about the author of a particular book, or talking with others about what you have read. This book is a starting point, a little kick in the pants. The rest is up to you as the student. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Different kinds of practical books include the following:</span></div><ul><li><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Self-help books</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Instruction manuals, books, and guides</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Cookbooks</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Textbooks</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Travel guides</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Reference books such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and thesauruses</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Theoretical Nonfiction</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The other type of nonfiction you will encounter is theoretical. Theoretical books don't require you to take any action except thinking. An author of a theoretical book chooses an idea and then tries to prove it to you by backing up his or her idea with facts.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">For example, someone who writes a book on the decline of the </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Soviet Union</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"> will have a theory about why the Soviet system didn't work. Whereas one person might blame the decline on communist theory itself, others will insist that it was international pressure that made the system economically unsound. Then maybe someone else will determine that it was the internal politics that made the system collapse in the end.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">In theoretical nonfiction, it's the author's job to prove his theory to you, the reader. For any argument to be valid, the author must back it up with facts and sound ideas. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">You are not required to do anything but read and decide for yourself whether the author has done his job.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Some categories of theoretical nonfiction include the following:</span></div><ul><li><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Historical</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Philosophical</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Theological</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Scientific</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Within each of these types of theoretical nonfiction categories are several more subcategories.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">For example, books on mathematical theory or astronomical theory would fall under the scientific book category, whereas the study of Judaism or Christianity would fall under the theological category.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19pt;">Reading About Someone's Life</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Books about someone's life, whether written by that person or by someone else, would fall under the category of theoretical nonfiction. You might be wondering how this is possible if their lives are factual and not theoretical. Although you would expect an autobiography, memoir, or journal to be factual—because it is written by the person who lived the life—you just can't know for sure whether the story is true. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Without having lived that life, you will never know; you can only trust that the author is being truthful. In fact, autobiographical nonfiction is really someone's own theory and perception of who he or she is.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Suppose, for example, that you have written an autobiography about what a great person you are and all of the wonderful things you have done for various charities. Someone else could write another book refuting your claims, saying that your generous contributions were actually tax write-offs, and you benefited more than anyone. There's no way any one of us, as readers, can really know the truth. And ultimately, reading autobiographical nonfiction does not require you to do anything except read and think—another reason this type of nonfiction would be considered theoretical.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19pt;">Biography Versus Autobiography</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Although nonfiction cannot cross the boundary to the fiction genres, nonfiction can be written as though it were fiction. For example, the biography by Mitch Albom called Tuesdays with Morrie is a work of nonfiction. It's a story about the lessons a man learns from his dying college professor whom he hasn't seen in 20 years. Before he dies, Morrie teaches his former student, Mitch, how to live. You get to know these real people in the same way you would get to know the characters in a work of fiction.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Although this is a true story with real-life characters, it reads like a novel and even like a philosophical piece of nonfiction. And although Tuesdays with Morrie is technically a biographical tribute to Morrie, a reader could argue that it's also an autobiography, because after all, who is this book really about? Morrie or Mitch? Biographies are theoretical nonfiction. The author of the biography can only theorize what that person's life was all about. To draw your own reasonable conclusions, it is best to read several biographies about that person.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Since not everyone is a writer, there are people who will hire someone to write about his or her life. An author will often write the biography based on a series of conversations or interviews. When the subject agrees to or approves of a book about his or her life, it means that the biography is authorized. An unauthorized biography is written by doing research about a person without the person's consent or approval.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19pt;">Autobiography Versus Memoir</span></b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Although it is quite clear that a biography is written by someone about someone else's life, what is an autobiography, or a memoir, for that matter? Ask yourself why someone would write an autobiography. Most people do it because they feel they have gone through some kind of transformation in life that they want to share with others or because they've had a very interesting and/or unusual life, and they believe the particulars of their existence are interesting enough to share with others. (Many of you may be saying "Come on, it's for the money!" Well, that may be true—but only if the writer expects to sell millions of copies of his book.) So how is an autobiography different from a memoir? An autobiography is a life story that shows the growth of an individual through his or her life experiences. It's an exploration of identity that often reflects a person's development from childhood to adulthood. Memoirs follow a certain theme, and the writer tries to make sense of what certain past events mean to his present-day life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Most books that are marketed as memoirs aren't memoirs at all; they're high-priced, hardcover tabloids. A celebrity who writes a "memoir" detailing whom she regularly lunches with and how much she pays for shoes isn't really sticking to a theme, and she's probably not wondering how paying $600 for a pair of boots last year has affected her life. A book focusing on that same celebrity's struggle to overcome poverty during her childhood could be considered a memoir (and then she could even throw the shoe thing in there as a way of saying "I made it!").</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Journal or Diary Writing</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">One of the most famous diaries ever written is The Diary of Anne Frank. Anne Frank was born in </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Frankfurt</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">, </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Germany</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">, in 1929. The Frank family fled to the </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Netherlands</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"> in 1933 after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Germany</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">. In 1942, the family and four friends went into hiding in </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Amsterdam</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">. In 1944, the family was found by the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Nazis and sent to various concentration camps. Anne later died in the </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Bergen-Belsen</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"> camp. She was only 15.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The Diary of Anne Frank is Anne's day-to-day recounting of her life. She shares the story of her time living in cramped quarters by writing everything down, at times writing to herself, at other times to an imaginary person whom she called "Kitty."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Anne Frank's diary cannot be called an autobiography because she wrote it day by day. Although there is room for some reflection on her past and present and ponderings about the future, there is no way she can reflect on her changing self because she is still developing. Also, autobiographies are most often intended to be the author's life story, presented to the masses. Anne did not begin writing her diary with the intention of having anyone read it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">When she began her writing, Anne had no idea her youthful interpretation of wartime events would be studied in schools and made into motion pictures and stage productions. She didn't intend for her writing to become a historical document and an inspiration to future generations. So although The Diary of Anne Frank is an inspiring true story, it doesn't fall into the category of a true autobiography.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 20pt;">The Essay</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The essay also falls into the classification of theoretical nonfiction. An essay is a brief composition in prose that attempts to discuss a matter, express a point of view, or wants to persuade the reader to accept an idea. The essay is different from a treatise or dissertation because it doesn't pretend to be a complete explanation of anything. The essay is for a more generalized (rather than specialized) audience. A treatise or dissertation usually pertains to one particular subject such as Media Scrutiny of the Presidency or Violence in the Art of Francis Bacon. Dissertations are written for people specializing in a specific area. An essay, however, can be read and understood by pretty much anyone. An essay topic could be Moving from the Big City to a Dairy Farm or My Trip to the </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Everglades</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">. That's not to say that an essayist in not knowledgeable,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">but he is writing for the general population.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19pt;">Media as Literature</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Journalism </span></i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">is a specialized field that serious and respected writers spend years perfecting as a craft. The object of American journalism is to report facts objectively as they occur in the world. The type of newspaper or magazine you choose to read will determine what kind of journalistic information you will be receiving.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">It may seem strange to place media under the cate-gory of theoretical nonfiction, but in fact it is. In digesting media reports, you are not required to do anything but read (or listen), think, and draw your </span><span style="font-size: 7.5pt;">own </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">conclusions. In fact, you can even subcategorize journalistic media into the history genre of nonfiction </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Current events change with every passing day newspapers, magazines, on tele-</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">vision, and on the radio eventually become our history. When you compare certain historical situations to current-day events, you will often come out with a theoretical concept. For example, there is no way you can understand why there is violence in </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Israel</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"> right now without understanding the history of that region and the struggles of the people who live there.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Newspapers and Magazines</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune </span></i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">and <i>The San Francisco Chronicle </i>are some of the most respected newspapers in the </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">United States</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">. This is because they make every effort to hire talented writers, editors, researchers, and fact checkers who do their best to be objective and stick to the art of their craft as unbiased journalists.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Of course, human beings have opinions, and one can spot biases in even the most respected print media. This is where it is critical for you to be a good reader. The more you read, the more you develop your own opinions, which will enable you to spot poor or slanted journalism and draw your own conclusions about what is being reported as "fact." There are international, national, regional, and local newspapers, all of which provide different levels of information. It just depends on what you want to know. There are many different genres of magazines as well. There are news magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Report. These magazines are published weekly and often reflect upon current news stories or recently published medical studies. They give you longer, more in-depth looks at particular stories in the news. There are countless magazines out there for your perusal, too: entertainment, travel, home decorating, cooking, society, and ... well ... lewd periodicals. Magazines tend to include specialized information about specific areas of interest.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Literature on the Internet</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Many respected newspapers and magazines have websites where they publish articles in addition to printing their papers. This enables people to sit at home and read the same headlines they would in the daily paper without getting newsprint all over their hands. Television stations also publish transcripts of their programming so you can be sure you didn't miss anything.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">But beware! Anyone can publish anything on the Internet. It's simple to get a domain address and create a web page. That means absolutely anyone can create articles that appear to be factual news stories. The sites look respectable, but you have no idea who is behind the writing. Many of these sites are referred to as blogs. Try to stick to websites of well-known and well-respected news organizations. If you don't, you will probably be reading more gossip than truth. Now that you know everything about genres of literatures, you have more information to help you in the development of your reading skills. Knowing the genre will open your eyes in new ways to the literature in front of you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">The Least You Need to Know</span></b></div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Practical nonfiction requires the reader to follow through with some kind of action. Theoretical fiction requires only reading.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The more familiar you are with nonfiction genres, the easier it will be to know what you are reading.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Nonfiction can be opinionated, so always keep your own ideas on hand as you read.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Autobiographical nonfiction focuses on the retelling of the author's life.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Media also has a place as a nonfiction genre.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Don't always trust what you read as "news" or "fact" on the Internet.</span></li>
</ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-21648693671664091752010-11-17T21:43:00.000-08:002010-11-17T21:43:01.321-08:00Types of Literature in the Way of Critical Reading: Fiction<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" /> <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><u><i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Types of Literature: Fiction</span></b></i></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In This Page:</div><ul><li>Why categorize literature into genres?</li>
<li>Fiction genres and subgenres</li>
<li>The origins, change, and growth of genres</li>
<li>How critics have influenced the uses and meanings of genres</li>
<li>What genre means to you, the reader</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In life we tend to categorize things to make them easier to understand.We categorize jobs, art, news, and, unfortunately, sometimes even people.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Literature is no different, and the study of literary categories (or genres) is an art in itself.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In this page, you will learn about different types of literary genres with a broad look at how you should approach them as a reader. After giving</div><div class="MsoNormal">you an overview of genres, I'll focus on fiction & some about nonfiction in this page.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Genres in General</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As a reader, you may already know that there are several different categories of literature, but let's start from the beginning anyway.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Literature basically falls into two category types:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">fiction and nonfiction. Within the fiction and nonfiction categories are several other subcategories that help to define literature in terms of its type. These subcategories are called genres.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Fiction comprises the following genres and subgenres:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">1. Prose fiction. Stories that are invented</div><ul><li>Novel</li>
<li>Novella</li>
<li>Short story</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">2. Poetry. The use of words that tell a story, create an image, or reveal an emotion</div><ul><li>Dramatic poetry</li>
<li>Lyric poetry</li>
<li>Epic poetry</li>
<li>Prose poetry</li>
<li>Haiku</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">3. Drama (plays and film). A performance on stage or in film using dialogue and/or scene setting to tell a story</div><ul><li>Comedy</li>
<li>Romance</li>
<li>History</li>
<li>Tragedy</li>
<li>Horror</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Nonfiction comprises the following genres and subgenres:</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">1. Autobiographies/biographies. True stories about a real person's life either written by that person or by someone else</div><ul><li>Memoirs</li>
<li>Diaries (or journals) and letters</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">2. Essays. Commentaries that build an argument or hold to an opinion about any topic (often found in academic journals)</div><ul><li>Social commentary</li>
<li>Political commentary</li>
<li>Philosophical essays</li>
<li>Satiric essays</li>
<li>Theological essays</li>
<li>Literary criticism/reviews</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal">3. Journalism. Current information about events and people in the world</div><ul><li>Newspapers</li>
<li>Magazines</li>
<li>Internet</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal">All creative arts fall into specific categories—for example, painting, writing, music, and film. Each category is represented by a genre. Literature is classified into genres as a means of better understanding what to expect from the writing and a means by which to compare similar types of literary forms.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Why Bother with Genre?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are many reasons for categorizing art forms, but let's start with the most basic. Think of it this way: A friend tells you there's a great new movie starring Nicole Kidman. You haven't heard of the movie so you ask what it's about. You're not asking for a detailed plot summary; what you really want to know is what genre of film it is.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">When you're told the movie is about a woman who lives with her children in a haunted house, you say, "Thanks, but no thanks." You hate scary movies; they give you the willies. By placing the film into a horror genre, you know what to expect when you get there (and you'll make sure you aren't there, in this case). Let's turn to categorizing literature. Your sister happens to know that you enjoy history and you love a good romance, so she recommends a historical romance that she has recently read. If it were just history or just romance, maybe it wouldn't interest you as much, but put the two together and it's a slam-dunk must-read for you. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">You and Your Great Expectations</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Let's say you've read the poems of William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)—British poets who are often compared to each other by literary scholars. In fact, most romantic poetry classes spend some time focusing on and comparing these two poets. The question is: What do they have in common? Wordsworth and Coleridge were both poets of the romantic era—a time when nature, love, and life were introspectively reflected as intertwining entities. Nature is love; nature is life; life is nature and love, and so on. The romantic poets not only personalized romantic ideals, but translated them into a form that their readers could relate to.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Although Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote quite differently from each other, they basically wrote in the same genre—not just as romantic poets but as lyric poets as well. Coleridge is best known for epic poems such as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan. Wordsworth is best known for his Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood. Together they published Lyrical Ballads in 1798— a combination of their work.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They were contemporaries—friends who often wrote together and influenced each other's work, ideas, and styles. But they shouldn't be pigeonholed as lyric romantic poets. They were known to cross genres as well.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Although it's important to recognize the uniqueness of each writer in terms of his or her style and artistry, it's also important to realize how genre can affect writing styles as well as evoke further expectations of the reader. Pick up a Stephen King book and you're ready to have your wits scared right out of you, but King is also responsible for the short story that went on to become the movie Stand By Me. Because it's not gruesome or terrifying, many people have no idea that the master of the horror novel penned this story as well. They just don't expect such a tame tale from him.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19pt;">The Origins of Genre</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In A Glossary of Literary Terms </span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">(1957), M. H. Abrams describes genre as follows: "The genres into which literary works have been classified are numerous, and the criteria for classification have been highly variable; but the most common names still are such ancient ones as tragedy, comedy, epic, satire, lyric, plus some relative newcomers, like novel, essay and biography." Not much has changed since the 1950s. Categorizing literature into specific genres has always been a useful tool for writers, readers, reviewers, critics, and scholars.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.5pt;">In the Olden Days</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">We can take the concept of genre back even further. Plato and Aristotle placed literary works into three different genres: lyric, drama, and epic. Believe it or not, these genres, which are well over 2,000 years old, are still useful today. What makes them different from each other, according to Plato and Aristotle, is the way they are presented in terms of action and characterization:</span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Lyric</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">. Poetry usually written in the first person (using I) with the "I" being either the author or another character telling the story.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Drama. </span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">A play with different characters who have separate identities from the author. Their dialogue reflects their respective personalities, and the author is invisible except in stage direction.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Epic. </span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Poetry written as a long narrative in the third person with the poet occasionally making his or her presence known through using first person references.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Keep in mind that there were not as many styles of writing in ancient times as we have now. They had poetry, plays, and nonfiction writing (usually philosophy). Now we have short stories, novels, novellas, autobiographies, memoirs, prose poetry, and so on. Within each of those literary forms are a host of genres and subgenres. We take a closer look at each of these types of classifications in later pages.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">The Bard and His Genres</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">If you've ever studied the writing of William Shakespeare, you may know that he is one of the most heavily categorized writers in history, not only because he has been so intensively studied, but because he crossed so many genres in his writing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Shakespeare's plays generally fall into four main genres: history, tragedy, comedy, or romance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Teachers often find that categorizing Shakespeare's work is a helpful way to introduce students to his plays, which are heavily laden with unfamiliar words, antiquated expressions, and archaic theatrical conventions. As a result, educators often have their students begin with one of the lightest Shakespeare genres as an introduction—the comedy (maybe <i>Twelfth Night </i>or <i>A Midsummer Nights Dream). </i>These plays tend to focus on comical errors and are even fun to read, which makes diving into sixteenth-century </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">England</span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> all the more appealing. Teachers then move on to his tragedies such as <i>Romeo and Juliet </i>or <i>Hamlet. </i>Finally, students are ready to begin reading the "heavies"— histories such as <i>Richard III </i>or <i>Henry V. </i>If you decide to take your Shakespearian studies even further, you</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">will probably find yourself reading the romances like <i>Pericles, The Tempest, </i>or <i>Cymbeline.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19pt;">Genres and the Critics</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Critics have employed the genre approach to literature in a number of ways over the centuries. From the Renaissance through most of the eighteenth century, for example, they often attempted to judge a text according to what they thought of as the fixed "laws of kind," insisting upon purity—meaning staying loyal to a type of writing. In other words, there was a tendency to pigeonhole various types of writing. So the placement of comic episodes in otherwise serious works was frowned upon, and</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">hybrid types of genres such as tragicomedy were dismissed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">There was also a tendency to rank the genres in a hierarchy, usually with epic or tragedy at the top and shorter forms such as the lyric at the bottom. Over the ages, literary genres have taken on many forms from the logical to the ridiculous. When Shakespeare was alive, he used to poke fun at some of the critics who categorized, subcategorized and even sub-subcategorized his plays. For some scholars, this kind of categorization helped them understand not only the writing, but the writer himself. But try telling that to Shakespeare!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19pt;">Genres Through the Ages</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Genres cannot be set in stone. Wouldn't it be easy—and boring!—if you could put things in their place and leave them there? Easy, because you would have a clear-cut idea about where it belonged and how to understand it, and boring for the same reasons. If things could be so easily grouped and labeled, there would be no room for growth and exploration.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">When studying genres, it's tempting to look for a theory that will hold fast. But it's just not possible. The whole point of reading is to be able to change and grow as a person. If new ideas don't emerge, and genres don't intersect, there will be no room for new interpretations.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Time marches on, people change, writing develops, readers grow, and new critics come into the picture bearing new ideas. This automatically forces genres to shift and to change as well. Writing styles and themes have taken on different forms over the ages, and so the way we classify literature has changed, too.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">A Great Leap Forward</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">In the latter part of the eighteenth century, a drastic alteration took place in the ranking of genres in English literature when the short lyric poem came into existence, which shifted critical theories about genres.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The theory of the big three genres of ancient </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Greece</span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">—lyric, epic, and drama— suddenly shifted when the English romantic poets such as William Wordsworth and Lord Byron came on the scene. Suddenly they were writing introspectively with new ideas and themes—and keeping it brief. Their intention in the short-form lyric style was not to tell an epic tale, but to take a snapshot of a smaller piece of life and give it a philosophical or emotional perspective. They spoke to the everyday persons in terms that they could relate to.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Here is an example of a short lyric poem of the romantic era. It is titled <i>O Do not Love</i></span><i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> too Long:</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">SWEETHEART, do not love too long:</span></div><div> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">I loved long and long,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">And grew to be out of fashion</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Like an old song.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">All through the years of our youth</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Neither could have known</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Their own thought from the other's,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">We were so much at one.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">But O, in a minute she changed</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">O do not love too long,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Or you will grow out of fashion</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Like an old song.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">—William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">This romantic era of writing changed the concept of genres for eternity. Since then, genres have become arbitrary and convenient ways to classify works of literature.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Crisscrossing Genres</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">As you saw with William Shakespeare, genres are not always so cut and dry. Sometimes a novel (or a movie, or a poem, or any work of art) can fall into a couple of different subgenres. For example, let's return to the <i>Harry Potter </i>series, written by J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter is an unusual <i>coming-of-age </i>story. A boy who discovers he is actually a wizard (and perhaps one of the greatest wizards of all time) and learns the </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">hardship, joy, and responsibility that go along with it. Although it's highly unlikely that any adult or child will relate to this specific revelation, that's not what makes people read the books. It's a story that almost anyone can identify with: The aches and pains of growing up, the sadness of loss, the joys of friendship, dealing with bullies and unfavorable teachers—all are depicted in a realm of magical imagination. Within the stories, Harry and his friends usually encounter some horrifying evil that they must conquer to save themselves and sometimes the rest of the world. There is also often some secret that is disclosed in the book that helps Harry understand more about himself and where he comes from. So how many fiction genres does this series of novels fall into?</span></div><ul><li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Coming of age</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Horror</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Mystery</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Fantasy</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">You can look at the books from each of these perspectives. The books crisscross genres, making them more interesting to evaluate as works of literature.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19pt;">What It Means to You</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Think about some of the books you've read in your life and try to categorize them. Why? Well, aside from it being a fun exercise, it's a way for you to really grasp the concept of genre. If you can understand the classification of books, you will be a much better critical reader. For example, if I said the word <i>Frankenstein </i>to you, you would most likely conjure up images of a seven-foot monster with green skin, nodes on the side of his neck, walking without bending his legs, his arms outstretched, moaning as he totters from side to side on stiff legs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">But did you know that long before Frankenstein was a popular Halloween costume, Boris Karloff look alike, or Herman Munster derivative, he was a character in a book, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, written in 1818Frankenstein wasn't even the monster, but the creator. Dr. Frankenstein decided to experiment and create a human being using body parts from cadavers. The result was a "monster" that the doctor immediately rejected out of horror at its hideous appearance. The creature was then left on his own to negotiate a world that didn't want him. Contrary to popular belief, the monster didn't choose victims arbitrarily. Dr. Frankenstein became the focus of the creature’s revenge.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19pt;">The Nature of the Beast</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">So you've picked up Frankenstein and started out with the wrong impression, thanks to pop culture. You have this image of a heartless, murdering giant, so immediately you may think you're picking up a horror novel. And you are, sort of. It's a tale of horror because of the gruesome descriptions of Dr. Frankenstein's work while creating his "monster." But when you read it, you might find that you have a different reaction to the story—one that makes you think the story fits another category as well, such as drama or tragedy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">You can even make the argument that the book is also a Bildungsroman, or novel of formation. Frankenstein begins with a creature who is given a brain and is able to think, learn, and feel strong emotions. When he is abandoned by his creator, he is like a sad orphaned child left to learn the hard, cruel ways of the world all alone. All he wants is to be loved by the man who made him. He is innocent when he begins his "human" existence, and by the end he is bitter and angry. His experiences, then, form him. It's possible that you will relate to the lost monster in some way. After all, many of us, at some point in our lives, have felt the same way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In most horror stories, the author writes so that you sympathize with the victim and not the assailant. Shelley, however, makes us think beyond that. She takes a risk, as every good author should, to make us see the horror with more pathos. By allowing us to know the monster, by allowing us to hear his thoughts and experience his feelings, Shelley is allowing her readers to empathize with the creature and question the behavior of the creator. The reader is left wondering what the heck happened to their preconceptions about the book, and just who the heck the bad guy is in the story. That's an interesting twist on the traditional horror story, isn't it? This is a great example of how pigeonholing a book into a single genre can end up being a wildly inaccurate practice.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">In the Eye of the Creator</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Isn't it amazing that you can empathize with a monster? Because of this newfound angle on the story, don't you want to find out more about Mary Shelley, the author of the book? Why did she take this approach? Was it intentional, to make you feel sorry for the monster, or did she want you to feel sorry for the doctor? Did she feel that she was like Dr. Frankenstein in that she was the creator, too, by virtue of being its author?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Scholars have surmised that the monster was actually Shelley herself. She ran away from home at the age of 16 to be with her future husband. As a result, she was cast out of society and shunned by her parents. Perhaps Shelley created the monster from her own painful real-life circumstances. Does this knowledge change what genre you think the book might fall into? Shelley may have written this book as a condemnation of the restrictive society she was a part of; maybe she wrote it as a way to purge her own demons, seeking her own kind of revenge on the family who abandoned her. It might also be interesting to look at the book from a strictly historical perspective. How did</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">the early-nineteenth-century readers view the book? Did they feel sorry for the monster, or is</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">that a modern-day concept? Would nineteenth century people feel sorry for the doctor the way you might have? Did they see any analogies to their political or social climate?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">By knowing more about the author's life and intentions, you have a better shot at correctly categorizing any work of art. And when you understand genre, you will be able to define the book in so many different ways. Some books will remain in one genre, whereas others will span over several different ones—depending on your interpretation and your ability to build a case for your arguments.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">The Least You Need to Know</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Categorizing books into genres means to find the type (or kind) of book it is.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">You will know what to expect from a book if you know what genres it fits into.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The concept of the genre has its roots in ancient </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Greece</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">The standard for genres took a drastic turn in the eighteenth century with the introduction of the short lyric poem.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Some books fit more than one genre.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></li>
</ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-60220795815262526842010-11-11T10:14:00.003-08:002010-11-11T10:14:08.518-08:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="color: #443b34; font-family: Arial; font-size: 36pt;">Notice</span></b></span><span style="color: #443b34; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #443b34; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;">Those, who could not appear in the 1st class of Critical Reading (Date: November 8, 2010, Room 121), are asked to communicate with me before the University closes for the Eid-ul-Azha vacations. The University will remain closed from 12 to 22 November.</span></span><span style="color: #443b34; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
<br />
<span class="apple-style-span">I just discussed about the Critical Reading Course and its Course Content. Nothing more. I also provided a sheet to read at home for the preparation for the next class which will be available here.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #443b34; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><a href="http://critical-readings.blogspot.com/2010/11/sheet-i-provided-on-8-nov-class.html">Click Here To get the Text I provided for your preparation for the next Class</a>.</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #443b34; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">My Cell Phone Number is: 01935188091 (9'O Clock Morning to 6'O Clock Evening)</span><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">Eid Mubarak!! &</span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">Thank You</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-71260892755816522002010-11-11T10:13:00.000-08:002010-11-11T10:13:01.770-08:00Critical Reading Slide Shows<iframe frameborder="0" height="560px" src="https://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=false&api=true&embedded=true&srcid=0BweAWz6FxuQNY2Y0OWM4YzEtYjI0Yy00M2I3LTlkMzktMTBjYTRmYTVkNGU5&hl=en" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-50580452074513147832010-11-08T22:57:00.000-08:002011-01-23T21:47:26.832-08:00Assignment to Submit by the Students:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black"; font-size: 22.0pt;">Assignment Topics:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">Define ‘Critical Reading’ according to your studies on Critical Reading. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Which text, you ever read, seems the best in you? And make a critical analysis of that text according to your studies on ‘Critical Reading.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Recommend what should be taught in ‘Critical Reading’</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Or<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Analyze the Membership Requirement Rules and regulations for TOAB.</div><div class="MsoNormal">How much it is applicable for a new child Tourist Organization?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Make your comments which will have proper conclusion, reasoning without fallacies. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black"; font-size: 22.0pt;">Submission Format:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">PDF (Through e-mail) with an Application </div><div class="MsoNormal">Font Size: 12</div><div class="MsoNormal">Font: Times New Roman</div><div class="MsoNormal">Margin: 1inch.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black"; font-size: 22.0pt;">Submission Deadline:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">The day before the (within 12.00 am) Final Exam Date for “Critical Reading” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black"; font-size: 22.0pt;">Submission Address:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:hzmrrabbi@yahoo.com">hzmrrabbi@yahoo.com</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black"; font-size: 22.0pt;">Remember:<o:p></o:p></span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">I will check your copies with software also. Avoid copy from others. If copy and paste is being detected, none the copy provider and the copier will be given any marks.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Those will be failed to submit within due time they will be marked as INCOMPLETE.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">The best three Assignments (if they get more than 80% marks) will be in this blog, so that the later students might a guideline from your assignment.</li>
</ul></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-68745455071319252592010-11-08T22:38:00.000-08:002010-11-08T22:38:30.334-08:00The Sheet I Provided on 8 Nov. ClassSelf-discipline seems to be extraordinarily difficult for us. One area in which we see this lack of self-discipline is health, specifically with diet and exercise. People too often lack motivation to exercise on a regular basis. Although individuals typically think of exercise as a private matter, they are generally not aware of the consequences of their apathy on the well-being of others. If people were more aware of the detrimental effects that their not exercising has on themselves and on other people as well, perhaps they would be more motivated to visit the gym.<br />
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But they are not. Hence, we need something more than an appeal to self-discipline to encourage healthy behavior. To fulfill this need, states should be permitted to impose taxes on individuals, primarily those who are seriously overweight or obese, for their failure to comply with state-mandated exercise and dieting programs.<br />
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Statistics show that only 3 out of 10 people exercise regularly. Unfortunately, these individuals who do not exercise, in combination with their unhealthy eating habits, have a higher risk of developing certain life-threatening illnesses, like heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and diabetes. For instance, a diet that is high in fat<br />
and cholesterol leads to a buildup in the arteries, potentially causing a heart attack when the buildup occurs in an artery carrying blood to the heart, or causing a stroke when the buildup restricts blood flow to the brain.<br />
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Similarly, exercise forces your heart to pump more blood, increasing your body's efficiency and possibly reducing the bad cholesterol in your body that could clog your arteries. But those persons who neglect healthier food and regular exercise run a higher risk of developing these kinds of diseases. Regular exercise and a healthy diet could also reduce the risk of prostate cancer and Type 2 diabetes, as individuals who maintain a high-fiber diet could slow prostate cancer cell growth by 30%, and individuals who reduce their sugar consumption also reduce their likelihood of acquiring Type 2 diabetes.<br />
<br />
But beyond the physical benefits of regular exercise and a good diet, individuals also are more likely to experience better mental acuity when they adopt a healthier lifestyle. Brain research suggests that demanding exercise produces greater numbers of nerve cells, which may enhance memory skills. This benefit of better mental acuity due to exercise extends to the entire community, in that the community is less likely to have a need to care for unhealthy individuals who lack the mental capacity to care for themselves. Furthermore, experts say that another benefit of exercise is that exercise reduces anxiety and stress.<br />
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Compare the consequences of poor diet and infrequent exercise on the community with a nation's budget. Just as a person gains weight by taking in more calories than they burn, a nation incurs a greater deficit when spending exceeds what a nation produces. But a government's spending, even when there is a large deficit, does affect not only the government, but the entire nation, just as an unhealthy person, who consumes too much and does not burn many calories, affects the community as well as the individual, while effectively running a "health deficit."<br />
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Consider some of the statistics related to obesity, which is caused by a lack of exercise and poor dieting. One recent study found that states are paying $75 billion to treat obesity, indicating that expenditures for obesity are approaching spending levels for treatment of smoking-related illnesses. Because states are using so much<br />
money to pay for obesity-related treatments, states are less able to use these limited resources to fund other programs, like services under Medicare and Medicaid. For example, 15.7 percent of California's Medicaid spending is used to treat obesity, meaning that those funds could be used to treat other diseases like most cancers, physical and mental disabilities, and common viral infections. In addition, obesity, unlike many other illnesses, is largely preventable, as individuals suffering from obesity could easily alter their unhealthy condition with regular exercise and a more nutritious and well-balanced diet.<br />
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Furthermore, a state tax on individuals who do not regularly exercise and diet would offer an additional source of funding to assist with treatment of obesity related illnesses because there could be funding for additional research and development to prevent and treat obesity. But supposing these funds were not used to treat obesity-related diseases, they could then be applied in areas outside of healthcare, to pay for educational and social programs, police and fire divisions, or homeland security. Therefore, states, along with communities in<br />
general, have a responsibility to encourage healthy lifestyles.<br />
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When we consider that many individuals seemingly lack the motivation to exercise and properly diet, the state has every right to intervene, specifically by imposing a sort of health tax on those who do not comply with state exercise and dieting standards. Although this practice may seem somewhat discriminatory, it remains a fact that states and communities in general end up paying for most obesity-related treatments, and a state tax becomes the necessary alternative to individuals' inability to make careful decisions about exercise and diet.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-17864179277100827372010-11-08T21:58:00.000-08:002010-11-08T22:03:48.851-08:00Video: Critical ReadingThese Collections are from <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">youtube.com</span></b>, here I do not have any contributions!! My Video collections will be added later! If there is anything, that conflicts with my course content, you may skip it... but it is "Critical Reading".... any subject matter is included in its area... its a development of critical sense....<br />
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<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/acK_27d_tvs?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/acK_27d_tvs?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
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You must Critically evaluate this Video :<br />
It will summarize the Critical Studies ......<br />
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<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tOlIuIfs8jM?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tOlIuIfs8jM?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
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Another Example....<br />
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<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HuUKlPuMNeM?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HuUKlPuMNeM?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-77464669293893998992010-11-07T05:16:00.000-08:002010-11-07T20:57:10.268-08:00Reading Organisation<link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CROHUL%7E1.IBA%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">Read the statements below and study the paragraph which follows. Decide which statements about the paragraph are true or false.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="a"><li class="MsoNormal">The paragraph talks about drivers and their opinions.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">The paragraph contains three examples which illustrate driver’s high opinion of themselves.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">The second sentence is a transition sentence.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">You could remove the second sentence and put for example, at the beginning of the sentence 3.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">The paragraph has no focus sentence.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">The basic organization of this paragraph is: problem/solution</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">The paragraph needs more text remarks like then, indeed etc</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">The author wrote the paragraph to show what happens when drivers are arrogant about their driving abilities.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal">A suitable title is: <b>Driver arrogance and the consequences.</b></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;">“Driver often have an over-inflated opinion of their own driving abilities and think that most other people on the road fall well below their own high standard. Some even take it upon themselves to show their fellow road users how to drive. Car drivers commonly treat the road as a stage where they can show other motorists how skillfull they are by out-maneuvering them. Another frequent sight on t he road is an irate man hanging out of the window of his car instructing other driver on the art of road craft. A similar situation is the football stadium full of referees, yelling instructions at the man in back.”</div></blockquote><b><span style="font-size: large;">Instructions:</span></b> <br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In the passage, there are 105 words. Each of the words has a meaning. These words and meanings are then divided into five sentences. Each sentence has, in tern, a specific meaning, which comes from the sum of the words in the sentence. This meaning is different from the sum of individual parts, i.e. the words of each sentence. Take the following sentence, for example:</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Museums and art galleries should be free of charge to the general public.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If you add all the words together, the total proposal or suggestion about the issue of charges for museums or art galleries. You can see that when you put the words together you get something different: meaning at another level. And not just one meaning! The sentence does, in fact, have other meanings, but you will see that later.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Another way of looking at the sentences is that the word proposal and is summaries of sentence. If you can add up the meanings of the sentences in a paragraph, you will have a different level of meaning. In other words, the sum of the meaning of sentences can help you work out the title of a paragraph.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Obviously, therefore, it is more economical to be read the organization of the meaning of a paragraph and dip into sentences, where necessary. Individual words then become much less important. This exercise develops further the basic techniques about organization.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-26702977899320457332010-11-07T02:18:00.001-08:002010-11-07T02:18:09.870-08:00StudentsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-5418402672700523022010-11-04T02:09:00.001-07:002010-11-04T02:09:38.035-07:00Critical reading with Different ThemesUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-23361637342993161332010-11-04T02:05:00.003-07:002010-11-04T02:05:32.303-07:00Reading Human FacesUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-44413407456807232632010-11-04T02:05:00.001-07:002010-11-04T02:05:06.773-07:00Critical Reading ImagesUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-50427220049607400252010-11-04T02:03:00.001-07:002010-11-04T02:03:57.129-07:00Critical Reading TextUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-90392863900779538812010-11-04T02:00:00.001-07:002010-11-07T03:16:01.635-08:00Download Reading Related Books<h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</h1><h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</h1><h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</h1><h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</h1><h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</h1><h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</h1><h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">Natural English: Reading and Writing Skills Pre-intermediate level</h1><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #757575; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 11px;"> </span></div></span><div class="clear" style="clear: both; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div class="top-info" style="color: #888888; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="Natural English: Reading and Writing Skills Pre-intermediate level" src="http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/5957/019438862x.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; cursor: move; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Natural English: Reading and Writing Skills Pre-intermediate level" /></div><div style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Natural English: Reading and Writing Skills Pre-intermediate level</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Oxford University Press | 2005 | ISBN: 019438862X | 64 pages | PDF | 12 MB</div></div><div style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">This is a modern, speaking-centred general English course that helps students use language naturally. About the Author Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman have been involved in English language teaching for over twenty-five years, and have a particular interest in vocabulary learning and materials development. They have both taught in the United Kingdom and overseas, and have considerable experience of teacher training and in-service teacher development. They have written coursebooks, books for teachers, reference, and resource books.</div></span><div id="228060" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</h1><h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</h1><h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Speed Reading For Dummies</h1><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> </span><div class="rating" style="color: #757575; float: right; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 11px; height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 85px;"><div id="ratig-layer" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="rating" style="color: #757575; float: left; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 11px; height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 85px;"><ul class="unit-rating" style="background-image: url(http://www.freshwap.net/templates/FreshWap/dleimages/rating.gif); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; height: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; width: 85px;"><li class="current-rating" style="background-image: url(http://www.freshwap.net/templates/FreshWap/dleimages/rating.gif); background-position: 0% 100%; display: block; float: left; height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -9000px; width: 85px; z-index: 1;">85</li>
<li style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -90000px;"><a class="r1-unit" href="http://www.freshwap.net/ebooks/195574-speed-reading-for-dummies.html#" style="color: #39a7e0; display: block; height: 16px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9000px; width: 17px; z-index: 17;" title="Bad">1</a></li>
<li style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -90000px;"><a class="r2-unit" href="http://www.freshwap.net/ebooks/195574-speed-reading-for-dummies.html#" style="color: #39a7e0; display: block; height: 16px; left: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9000px; width: 17px; z-index: 17;" title="Poor">2</a></li>
<li style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -90000px;"><a class="r3-unit" href="http://www.freshwap.net/ebooks/195574-speed-reading-for-dummies.html#" style="color: #39a7e0; display: block; height: 16px; left: 34px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9000px; width: 17px; z-index: 17;" title="Fair">3</a></li>
<li style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -90000px;"><a class="r4-unit" href="http://www.freshwap.net/ebooks/195574-speed-reading-for-dummies.html#" style="color: #39a7e0; display: block; height: 16px; left: 51px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9000px; width: 17px; z-index: 17;" title="Good">4</a></li>
<li style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -90000px;"><a class="r5-unit" href="http://www.freshwap.net/ebooks/195574-speed-reading-for-dummies.html#" style="color: #39a7e0; display: block; height: 16px; left: 68px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9000px; width: 17px; z-index: 17;" title="Excellent">5</a></li>
</ul></div></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div align="center" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="Speed Reading For Dummies" src="http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9916/0470457449.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Speed Reading For Dummies" /></div><div style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div align="center" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Speed Reading For Dummies</b><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div>For Dummies | 2009 | ISBN: 0470457449 | 288 pages | PDF | 13 MB</div><div style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The fun and easy way to become a more efficient, effective reader! Want to read faster — and recall more of what you read? This practical, hands-on guide gives you the techniques you need to increase your reading speed and retention, whether you're reading books, e-mails, magazines, or even technical journals! You'll find reading aids and plenty of exercises to help you read faster and better comprehend the text.</span><div id="195574" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Yes, you can speed read — discover the skills you need to read quickly and effectively, break your bad reading habits, and take in more text at a glance Focus on the fundamentals — widen your vision span and see how to increase your comprehension, retention, and recall Advance your speed-reading skills — read blocks of text, heighten your concentration, and follow an author's thought patterns Zero in on key points — skim, scan, and preread to quickly locate the information you want Expand your vocabulary — recognize the most common words and phrases to help you move through the text more quickly Open the book and find: Tried-and-true techniques from The Reader's Edge® program How to assess your current reading level Tools and exercises to improve your reading skills Speed-reading fundamentals you must know Helpful lists of prefixes, suffixes, roots, and prime words A speed-reading progress worksheet Exercises for eye health and expanded reading vision Tips for making your speed-reading skills permanent<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="quote" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-left-style: dashed; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-right-style: dashed; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-top-style: dashed; border-top-width: 1px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal sans-serif, Tahoma; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div><div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
<b><h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Read, Remember, Recommend: A Reading Journal for Book Lovers</h1><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><div class="rating" style="color: #757575; float: right; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 85px;"><div id="ratig-layer" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="rating" style="color: #757575; float: left; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 11px; height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 85px;"><ul class="unit-rating" style="background-image: url(http://www.freshwap.net/templates/FreshWap/dleimages/rating.gif); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; height: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; width: 85px;"><li class="current-rating" style="background-image: url(http://www.freshwap.net/templates/FreshWap/dleimages/rating.gif); background-position: 0% 100%; display: block; float: left; height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -9000px; width: 0px; z-index: 1;">0</li>
<li style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -90000px;"><a class="r1-unit" href="http://www.freshwap.net/magazines/192770-read-remember-recommend-a-reading-journal-for.html#" style="color: #39a7e0; display: block; height: 16px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9000px; width: 17px; z-index: 17;" title="Bad">1<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><div class="rating" style="color: #757575; display: inline !important; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 11px; height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 85px;"><div id="ratig-layer" style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="rating" style="color: #757575; display: inline !important; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 11px; height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px; width: 85px;"> (Votes #: 0)</div></div></div></span></b></span></a></li>
</ul></div></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div class="top-info" style="color: #888888; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div align="center" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="Read, Remember, Recommend: A Reading Journal for Book Lovers" src="http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/7632/0014fa96j.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Read, Remember, Recommend: A Reading Journal for Book Lovers" /> <br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Rachelle Rogers Knight, "Read, Remember, Recommend: A Reading Journal for Book Lovers"</b> <br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />Sourcebooks | 2010 | ISBN: 1402237189 | 320 pages | PDF | 10,3 MB</div><br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">The ultimate organizing resource for book-lovers and a self-published hit, Read, Remember, Recommend gives readers a one-stop shop to keep track of their reading. Featuring 60 cross-referenced lists of literary awards and notable picks (Pulitzer, National Book Award, 100 Best Books of the Century),</span><div id="192770" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">this journal offers more than 2500 suggestions to help readers discover great literature and new authors. The journal also pres room to record books read, jot down thoughts and ideas, and keep track of recommendations, books borrowed and loaned, and book club history. </span><br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Unlike anything on the market, Read, Remember Recommend keeps readers coming back to bookstores to purchase recommended books, creates opportunities for add-on and return sales, and celebrates the readers' love of books. </span><br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; 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padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />Mirror: <br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://sharingmatrix.com/file/7572525/Read__Remember.rar" style="color: #39a7e0; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://sharingmatrix.com/file/7572525/Read__Remember.rar</a> </span><br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /></div><div class="quote" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-left-style: dashed; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-right-style: dashed; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-top-style: dashed; border-top-width: 1px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal sans-serif, Tahoma; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Critical Reading Workbook for the SAT</h1> <div class="rating" style="color: #757575; float: right; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 85px;"><div id="ratig-layer" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="rating" style="color: #757575; float: left; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 11px; height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 85px;"><ul class="unit-rating" style="background-image: url(http://www.freshwap.net/templates/FreshWap/dleimages/rating.gif); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; height: 16px; 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<li style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -90000px;"><a class="r1-unit" href="http://www.freshwap.net/ebooks/175342-critical-reading-workbook-for-the-sat.html#" style="color: #39a7e0; display: block; height: 16px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9000px; width: 17px; z-index: 17;" title="Bad">1</a></li>
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<li style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -90000px;"><a class="r3-unit" href="http://www.freshwap.net/ebooks/175342-critical-reading-workbook-for-the-sat.html#" style="color: #39a7e0; display: block; height: 16px; left: 34px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9000px; width: 17px; z-index: 17;" title="Fair">3</a></li>
<li style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -90000px;"><a class="r4-unit" href="http://www.freshwap.net/ebooks/175342-critical-reading-workbook-for-the-sat.html#" style="color: #39a7e0; display: block; height: 16px; left: 51px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9000px; width: 17px; z-index: 17;" title="Good">4</a></li>
<li style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -90000px;"><a class="r5-unit" href="http://www.freshwap.net/ebooks/175342-critical-reading-workbook-for-the-sat.html#" style="color: #39a7e0; display: block; height: 16px; left: 68px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9000px; width: 17px; z-index: 17;" title="Excellent">5</a></li>
</ul></div><div class="rating" style="color: #757575; float: left; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 11px; height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px; width: 85px;"> </div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></span></div><div align="center" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="Critical Reading Workbook for the SAT" src="http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/3663/0764133810.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Critical Reading Workbook for the SAT" /></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></span></div><div align="center" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Critical Reading Workbook for the SAT</b><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Barron's Educational Series | 2006-02-01 | ISBN: 0764133810 | 272 pages | PDF | 13 MB</span></div></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Concentrating on the Critical Reading section of the newly structured SAT college entrance exam, this test-preparation workbook presents tips, questions, answers, and answer explanations for the section’s two main question types—sentence completion questions and reading comprehension questions—as well as extensive vocabulary review. Both the sentence completion and the reading comprehension exercises are organized according to level of difficulty and presented in three sections, labeled from A to C. Students who master Level C in both parts are well on the road to achieving a high Critical Reading score when they take the actual SAT. This new workbook replaces Barron's Verbal Workbook for the New SAT, 11th Edition.</span></div><div id="175342" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></span></div><div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><h1 style="color: #555555; float: left; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Reading and Writing to Learn: Strategies across the Curriculum</h1> <div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="Reading and Writing to Learn: Strategies across the Curriculum" src="http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/6990/1591585856.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Reading and Writing to Learn: Strategies across the Curriculum" /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Reading and Writing to Learn: Strategies across the Curriculum</b><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div>Publisher: Libraries Unlimited 2008 | 244 Pages | ISBN: 1591585856 | PDF | 12 MB</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div>Reading and Writing to Learn is a content area resource for teachers and discusses reading and writing instruction research and puts it into practice across curricular areas. Grades 3-12.<div id="181354" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="quote" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-left-style: dashed; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-right-style: dashed; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(204, 102, 51); border-top-style: dashed; border-top-width: 1px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal sans-serif, Tahoma; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Download Links (clickable):</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://depositfiles.com/files/80pqriyty" style="color: #39a7e0; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Download from DepositeFiles</b></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div></div></span></div></div></b></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387629707064782955.post-67180123434174325992010-11-04T01:58:00.000-07:002010-11-11T10:02:30.145-08:00General Reading: Tactics with Examples<iframe frameborder="0" height="560px" src="https://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=false&api=true&embedded=true&srcid=0BweAWz6FxuQNMzdjY2RjODctZTVjMS00ZjUxLWIxZTUtMGJiYmYzYjliOGFi&hl=en" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0