Reading Literature

R eading literature is a search for meaning. Even in the most functional texts, your job as a reader is to discover what the writer wants to say. In most functional texts, writers make a point of making their goals and main ideas very clear to their readers. Literary texts, however, are much more subtle in expressing their themes. For both types of texts, and especially for literary texts, you will under- stand more if you read actively. CHAPTER Reading Literature ON THE Language Arts, Reading GED, you will find many different kinds of literature from many different time periods. This brief chapter shows you how to read actively and describes the three time periods included on the GED. 33 317  Active Reading Though reading often seems like a rather passive activity, there are many things you can (and should) do as you read. These active reading strategies will help you better comprehend and more fully enjoy what you read. Before You Read To help you better understand what you read, take a few steps before you begin to read. 1. Read the title carefully. This will give you a clue to the subject and theme of the text. For exam- ple, if the excerpt is from a novel called Crime and Punishment, you can get a pretty good idea of one of the central issues of the novel. Note: On the GED, each passage will typically be preceded by a question. This is not the title of the text, though it may look that way. You will need to look at the end of the passage for the author’s name, title of the text, and date of publi- cation. The GED question still serves the same purpose as a title, though: It gives you a strong clue about the main theme of the passage and what information you should get from reading the text. 2. Note the name of the author and date of publi- cation, if provided. If it’s an author you have read before, you may already know something about the passage or the kinds of themes the writer deals with. Even if you have never read the author before, you may still have some knowl- edge about the writer. (You probably know, for example, that Stephen King writes horror novels, even if you have never read one of his books.) The date of publication can help you prepare for the historical context of the piece and set up your reading expectations. Consider what you know about the time period in which the text was written—the historical, political, social, and religious contexts. 3. Read the questions about the passage. By read- ing the questions before you read the passage, you help “train” your mind to look for those answers as you read. But be sure not to read just for those answers. Often, the answer comes only from understanding the whole, especially with literary texts (and with poetry in particular). As You Read 1. Make notes. Whenever possible, underline key words and ideas in the text. Record your ques- tions and reactions in the margins or on a sepa- rate piece of paper. When you are not permitted to write on the text—and you will not be allowed to write in the test booklet for the GED—use a piece of scrap paper to write down key words, questions, and reactions. 2. Be observant. Look carefully at the words, the structure, everything you see. Did you notice, for example, that the word shame was repeated five times in a passage? Or did you notice that the writer capitalized the words love and hate? In lit- erary texts, meaning is conveyed not just through words but also through form, and writers are always making choices that will help convey their ideas.  Time Periods To cover the breadth of literary forms and themes, the texts on the GED are selected from three different time periods: pre-1920, 1920–1960, and 1960–present. The emphasis is on works from more recent history, with approximately two-thirds of the texts coming from the last 80 years. This is in part because the last century has seen a great deal of experimentation and change in lit- erary forms, and also because modern and contempo- rary literature and themes are likely to be most familiar to, and have the most profound impact upon, today’s readers. Pre-1920: Ancient and Classical Literature This period, of course, covers a very large time span. Texts may be as old as a seventeenth-century Shake- spearian sonnet or a fifth-century B . C . Greek tragedy. Many different literary movements fit into this time period, including Renaissance literature (1450–1600), Romanticism (1800s), and realism (late 1800s–early 1900s). While knowing about these literary periods may be helpful, you do not need this knowledge to do well on the exam. As different as these older texts may be, the reason we still read them (the reason they are classics) is that they have characters and themes that still matter to – READING LITERATURE – 318 today’s readers. As different as life may have been in ancient Greece, today’s readers can still relate to Oedi- pus’s desire to be a good leader and find his true father. Still, older texts are different from today’s texts, and because of differences in language and style and their historical contexts, they can be more challenging to understand. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you read older texts: 1. Setting. Historical context is important. Note when the text was written and try to identify the specific time and place in which the story takes place. Try to recall any significant facts about the social, political, and religious contexts of that time. For example, if a story is set in Virginia in 1860, you know that this was just one year before the outbreak of the American Civil War, and ten- sions between the North and South over slavery was running high. 2. Style. In many older texts, you will find longer and more complex sentences and a more formal style than in contemporary texts. Don’t let this daunt you. Simply take it one sentence at a time. You can also try paraphrasing the text in con- temporary terms (how would you write it if you were writing for a classmate?). 3. Vocabulary. Because word usage and writing styles change over time, you are likely to find some words and phrases that are unfamiliar. Look carefully at context (the words and sen- tences surrounding the unfamiliar word) for clues to meaning. You will not be expected to know these words, and you will not find ques- tions about their meaning unless the meaning can be determined from context. 4. Theme. Most themes will be timeless: the depth of love, the pain of betrayal, how easily power corrupts. Though the setting may be very specific and may provide the circumstances for the theme, the theme is likely to be one that can apply to many different time periods and places. Look for an overarching idea that someone today could still write about. 1920–1960: Modern Literature While scholars may differ on exactly when the “modern” period begins and ends, they do agree on the defining events of the time period: World War I (1914–1917), the Great Depression (1929–1939), World War II (1939– 1945), and the beginning of the Cold War. The setting, style, and vocabulary of modern texts will not differ greatly from contemporary works. But litera- ture is always a product of its time, so historical context is important. As you read works from this time period, remember the key events and how they affected society. Here are some general notes about the modern period that can help you better understand the concerns of modern writers and their themes: ■ questioning of authority and tradition, especially traditional roles; greater emphasis on the rights and importance of the individual ■ demand for equal rights of all individuals ■ tremendous advances in science and technology; increasing mechanization and specialization ■ Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis: new under- standing of the self and of hidden motivations and desires ■ great politico-economic battle: capitalism vs. communism ■ experimentalism in form, style, and theme as ways of more accurately reflecting the reality of our human experience (e.g., stream of conscious- ness writing, fragmented texts) ■ great sense of uncertainty and loss; the incredible scale of World War I (an estimated 37 million dead) left a generation feeling lost, fragmented, and insecure. This was increased by World War II (World War I, after all, was supposed to be the war that ended all wars) and was further intensi- fied by the dawn of the nuclear age. 1960–Present: Contemporary Literature Contemporary literature will present settings, characters, and themes in language that will be very familiar to most readers. Contemporary literature will include a broad range of voices and acknowledgement of writers and themes that, in the past, had often been marginalized (left out). – READING LITERATURE – 319 Some key defining moments, issues, and characteristics of our contemporary period include: ■ the civil rights, women’s rights, and gay rights movements ■ space exploration ■ globalization and increasing interdependence ■ the end of the Cold War and the expansion of democracy ■ the computer revolution and the beginning of the Information Age; advances in and increasing dependence upon technology ■ questioning of reality (artificial intelligence, vir- tual reality) ■ the AIDS epidemic ■ environmentalism ■ multiculturalism and celebration of roots – READING LITERATURE – 320 T he word fiction comes from the Latin word fingere, which means “to make or shape.” Works of fiction tell about characters and events created in and shaped by the author’s imagination. Fiction includes the genres listed earlier: novels, short stories, poems, and plays. But because poems and plays have their own special characteristics and conventions, they will be covered in separate sections. The focus here is on prose fiction. Prose is writing that is not in poetic form (verse) or dramatic form (stage or screenplay). There are eight important elements of fiction: ■ plot ■ character ■ setting ■ tone ■ point of view ■ language and style ■ symbolism ■ theme CHAPTER Fiction THE KIND of literature that most students are most familiar with (and therefore most comfortable with) is fiction. This chapter reviews the eight core elements of fiction, including plot, character, setting, and theme. 34 321  Plot Plot refers to the series of events in a story—the order in which the actions take place. A story’s plot always revolves around some kind of conflict. The conflict may be between two characters, between the main character and an idea or force (e.g., nature or racism) or between the character and him- or herself. Plot is often arranged chronologically (in time order), but authors sometimes vary the order of events to help build suspense and to control how much we know about the characters. For example, an author may use flash- backs to describe events that took place earlier in the timeline of action—events that might help us under- stand the character and his or her traits or motivations. Plots usually follow a five-part “pyramid” pattern, though the pyramid should be lopsided, since the climax typically occurs near the end of the story: 1. Exposition introduces readers to the people, places, and basic circumstances or situation of the story. 2. Complication is the series of events that “com- plicate” the story and build up to the climax. 3. Climax is the “high point” of the story, the moment of greatest tension (the peak of the pyramid). This is often the turning point of the story, when a character must make a difficult decision or take some kind of action. 4. Falling action occurs when the missing pieces of the puzzle are filled in (for example, secrets are revealed, mysteries solved, confessions made). The story “settles down.” 5. Resolution or denouement is the conclusion of the story in which conflicts are resolved (at least to some degree), questions answered, and char- acters are set to move on with a new understand- ing or under new circumstances.  Character Characters are the people created by the author to tell the story. They perform the actions, speak the words, and convey the ideas of the story. As readers, we see what the characters think, do, and say and we try to understand why they think, do, and say these things. Characters can be round or flat. Round characters are fully developed, complex, three-dimensional creatures. They are dynamic characters who embody contradic- tions and undergo change or growth of some sort throughout the story. Flat characters, on the other hand, are one-dimensional, undeveloped, and static. They are typically defined by one main characteristic and do not change. They are often stereotyped or symbolic. Just as every story has a conflict, every story has a pro- tagonist and an antagonist. The protagonist is the “hero” or main character of the story, the one who faces the con- flict and undergoes change. The antagonist is the person, force (such as a disease or natural disaster), or idea (such as prejudice or crippling self-doubt) that works against the protagonist. In fiction, characters reveal themselves through dia- logue and action. In dialogue, characters tell us what they think, feel, and believe. How a character talks can provide information about the character’s background (for example, a Southern dialect may mean that a character grew up in the South) and education (for example, a character who speaks with a highly sophisticated vocab- ulary may have spent several years in an institution of higher learning).  Setting The setting is the time and place in which the story unfolds. This gives the story a particular social and his- torical context. What was happening in the world at that time? What was happening in that particular place at that time? When considering the setting, we should consider the political, social, and overall historical contexts of the time and place. For example, if a story takes place in 1762 in Boston, there are certain historical expectations. You can expect tensions to be high between Americans and the British. You can expect certain details of daily life, such as carriages, torches, and outhouses. If the story does not meet those expectations (if, for example, a char- 3 2 1 5 4 – FICTION – 322 acter rides into town in a convertible), you need to con- sider why the author has broken those expectations. Setting can be specific or universal. Some stories, for example, can take place anywhere and any time; the plot and characters are not unique to any historical circum- stances. Other stories, like a story of the American Revolution, must take place in a certain place and time. Some of the story’s themes (e.g., the importance of free- dom) are considered universal.  Tone Setting is often important in creating the tone of the story. Tone is the mood or attitude conveyed in the writ- ing. For example, notice how Edgar Allen Poe uses set- ting to establish an appropriately gloomy tone for his horror tale “The Fall of the House of Usher”: During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singu- larly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. Poe’s word choice—dull, dark, soundless, oppressively, alone, dreary, melancholy—work together to create a dark and somewhat mysterious tone for the story. Often, the most important tone in fiction is irony. Sit- uational irony occurs when there is incongruity between what is expected to happen and what actually occurs. For example, in Guy de Maupassant’s classic short story “The Necklace,” Madame Loisel spends ten years of her life struggling to pay off the debt she owes for a necklace she bought to replace the one she had borrowed from a friend and lost. In the last lines of the story, Madame Loisel runs into that old friend and learns that she sacri- ficed in vain: “You remember the diamond necklace you lent me for the ball at the Ministry?” “Yes. Well?” “Well, I lost it.” “How could you? Why, you brought it back.” “I brought you another one just like it. And for the last ten years we have been paying for it. You realize it wasn’t easy for us; we had no money Well,it’s paid for at last, and I’m glad indeed.” Madame Forestier had halted. “You say you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?” “Yes. You hadn’t noticed it? They were very much alike.” And she smiled in proud and innocent happiness. Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her two hands. “Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imita- tion. It was worth at the very most five hundred francs!”  Point of View Point of view refers to the person who is telling us the story. All stories have a narrator—the person who describes the characters and events. Note: The author is NOT the narrator. In fiction, the narrator is always a “character” created by the author to tell the tale. A first-person narrator tells the story from his or her own point of view using I. With this point of view, you see and hear the story from someone directly involved in the action. This is a very subjective and personal point of view. Here’s an example: I wiped my eyes and looked in the mirror. I was surprised at what I saw. I had on a beautiful red dress, but what I saw was even more valuable. I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind. —Amy Tan, from The Joy Luck Club (1989) In a story told from the second-person point of view, the writer uses the pronoun you, and thus, the reader becomes a character in the story, thinking the thoughts and performing the actions of the main character: Moss Watson, the man you truly love like no other, is singing December 23 in the Owonta Opera production of Amahl and the Night Visi- tors. He’s playing Kaspar, the partially deaf Wise Man. Wisdom, says Moss, arrives in all forms. – FICTION – 323 And you think, Yes, sometimes as a king and sometimes as a hesitant phone call that says the king’ll be late at rehearsal and don’t wait up, and then when you call back to tell him to be careful not to let the cat out when he comes home, you discover there’s been no rehearsal there at all. —Lorrie Moore, “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” from Self Help (1985) With a third-person narrator, the author uses the pro- nouns he, she, and they to tell the story. This narrator is removed from the action, so the story is more objective. Third-person narrators are often omniscient: They know everything about the characters and tell us what the characters think and feel. Here’s an example: To tell the truth, he found it at first rather hard to get used to these privations, but after a while it became a habit and went smoothly enough— he even became quite accustomed to being hun- gry in the evening; on the other hand, he had spiritual nourishment, for he carried ever in his thoughts the idea of his future overcoat. His whole existence had in a sense become fuller, as though he had married, as though some other person were present with him, as though he were no longer alone, but an agreeable compan- ion had consented to walk the path of life hand in hand with him, and that companion was no other than the new overcoat with its thick wadding and its strong, durable lining. —Nikolai Gogol, from “The Overcoat” (1842)  Language and Style One of the main things that draws us to certain writers is their language and style. How do they tell the story? What sort of words and sentences do the writers use to tell the tale? Language and style consist of diction (the specific words the writer uses), figurative language (sim- iles, metaphors, imagery, and personification), level of description and detail, and sentence structure. A simile makes a comparison using like or as: Your eyes ar e like shining sapphires. A metaphor is more powerful. It makes the comparison directly: Your eyes ar e shining sapphires. Personification is the attributing of human character- istics to animals or objects. For example, in the poem “The Eagle” from the pretest, the eagle is described as “clasp[ing] the crag with crooked hands.” Eagles do not actually have hands. This is personification. Imagery is the representation of sensory experience through language. Imagery helps us see, hear, taste, smell, and touch in our imaginations. Notice the powerful imagery and the similes in the next passage, from Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street (1984): Everybody in our family has different hair. My Papa’s hair is like a broom, all up in the air. And me, my hair is lazy. It never obeys barrettes or bands. Carlos’ hair is thick and straight. He doesn’t need to comb it. Nenny’s hair is slippery —slides out of your hand. And Kiki, who is the youngest, has hair like fur. But my mother’s hair, my mother’s hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and Papa snoring. The snoring, the rain, and Mama’s hair that smells like bread. However, style is more than just figurative language. It is the overall manner of writing, including sentence structure and the level of formality, which is managed through word choice. It is also a matter of how much description and detail the author likes to provide. Notice, for example, the drastically different styles of the two sci- ence fiction writers in the next example. One uses very long sentences and sophisticated, formal vocabulary. The other is much more casual, with shorter sentences and more everyday vocabulary. From Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818): It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of my being; all the events of that period appear confused and indistinct. A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I learned to dis- – FICTION – 324 tinguish between the operations of my various senses. From Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five (1969): Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. Billy has gone to sleep a senile widower and awak- ened on his wedding day. He has walked through a door in 1955 and come out another one in 1941. He has gone back through that door to find him- self in 1963. He has seen his birth and death many times, he says, and pays random visits to all the events in between. He says.  Symbolism In fiction, writers often use symbolism to help convey the themes of their stories. A symbol is a person, place, or thing invested with special meaning or significance. It is a person, place, or thing that is both itself and a repre- sentation of something else (usually an idea). Flags are an everyday example of symbolism. A flag is a decorated piece of cloth, but it is also much more than that; it rep- resents a group of people and the ideas that hold those people together. Colors are also highly symbolic. White may be used to represent purity or innocence; red to rep- resent passion or bloodshed; purple to represent royalty. Birds often represent freedom, while a pair of glasses might be used to represent blindness (ignorance) or faulty moral vision. In “The Necklace,” the necklace Madame Loisel loses becomes a symbol of what happens when we want des- perately to be something or someone we are not, of what we can suffer when we are too proud to tell the truth to others. – FICTION – 325 . if you read actively. CHAPTER Reading Literature ON THE Language Arts, Reading GED, you will find many different kinds of literature from many different. Active Reading Though reading often seems like a rather passive activity, there are many things you can (and should) do as you read. These active reading