I sit in this AP Language and Composition class trying to decipher the essence of the unending annotations and floods of random texts for the past quarter. Little did I know that I would be taking flight and soaring through the smallest details and threads of literary devices and techniques of analyzing language. Before this class, I looked at a book, aware that it was filled with potential symbolism and crucial themes that were definitely worth considering. Yet, I often paid far less attention to the way words are crafted in efforts to create a beautiful masterpiece. Who knew that the jargon used in Snow Falling on Cedars could significantly shape the overall tone of the book? From the years leading up to this class, the main goal I had …show more content…
Welty describes the first steps of reading as “human, but inward...It is to me the voice of the story or poem itself” (Welty 11). Picking up from my knowledge of personification, I gained a new perspective on how books play an impact on how one thinks when reading a piece, as it describes the voice of the book as a human. Having said, this gave me the idea that books establish a personal connection between itself and the reader. Following through with the next chapter, Welty recognizes the value of the summer trips she experienced with her family. She makes an interesting analogy between her trips and reading by calling them “stories. Not only in form, but in their taking on direction, movement, development, change...each trip made its particular revelation, though I could not have found words for it” (68). Connecting this to the title of chapter two, “Learning to See” when reading requires looking closely at the small details and soaking it in, in a way that one can look back upon it later. Once one starts to carefully listen and look at the fluidity and rich ingredients a book has, he/she can find their own voice, which leads into the next chapter. Reading spurs imagination which then allows one to explore their own inner being. Welty best describes her encounter of this by explaining “my imagination takes its strength and guides its direction from what I see and hear and
In this passage from her autobiography, “One Writer’s Beginnings”, Eudora Welty recalls early experiences of reading and books that had later impact on her craft as a writer of fiction. Welty’s language conveys the intensity and values of these experiences with the use of imagery, with the use of diction, and the use of details.
While Alexie states his voice by using metaphor, he emphasizes the meaning of reading repeatedly in his essay. He stresses how he strives to read variety of books, and he records that,” I read the books my father brought home from the pawnshops and secondhand. I read the books I borrowed from the library. I read the backs of cereal boxes… I read magazines. I read anything that had words and paragraphs” (18). Alexie lists out all the material he has read with the same sentence structure, yet he does not conclude all these things in one sentence. He exemplifies his passion to reading, for he tries to save his life. Due to his parallel repetition, Alexie impresses the audience by these
Billy Collins uses dark rooms, oceans, hives, color slides and mouse mazes to describe his poem “Introduction to Poetry”, but also a way to analyze poetry in general. Growing up, students are advised by teachers how to analyze poetry. The speaker of Introduction to Poetry, Billy Collins, attempts to guide the readers by teaching them a unique and appropriate way to analyze poetry. The use of personification and imagery, by the author, gives the readers a new perspective to interpret and find the significance in poetry. In this particular poem, the speaker does not want the reader to listen to the teachers of the reader’s past, “tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are,” (Cooley). Throughout our lives, reading has impacted us in many ways. Often times books give people different perspectives on their lives. People with high stress levels often find comfort in reading books to take their mind off of their concerns. Sometimes, people just need to take a step back from their lives and relax for a while; therefore, reading is a great tool. In fact, all kinds of books have also helped me become a better writer. There are many different books that have impacted me over the years.
From this point, he concludes that literature is concerned with symbolic action, that literary or mythological characters are typical, and that the world of poet imagery is “totally symbolic” (p. 75). He then moves to the principle of “literature as a whole” (p. 49): “you don’t just read one poem or novel after another, but enter into a complete world of which every work of literature forms a part” (p. 69). Hence there is a progressive element in the study and teaching of literature: as we read more works, we become able to generalize from our experience of literature.
The occasion of the story is a crucial advice about critical reading: one has to “read between the lines” to fully understand an idea. According to the speaker, he not only wants the readers to “read between the lines” but also to write between the lines to effectively enhance one’s critical reading skills. The speaker encourages readers to take notes inside a book to fully retain one’s knowledge about the book and make it a
David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars contains many characters in which are characterized in very detailed ways. One character of which is Kabuo Imada. Kabou is characterized by his anger, guilt, fear, depression, and his spiritualness. These details of Kabuo culminated from the war and what he had conducted throughout. These acts conducted include the taking of life and this could be described by the repetition of words such as; dark, suffer, and anger. It can also be described by the symbolism of his soul as well as the world. “ He saw only darkness after the war, in the world and in his own soul, everywhere but in the smell of strawberries, in the scent of his wife and of his three children.” (Guterson pg. 169) This example shows Kabou’s character through his thoughts by how he views the world and even himself, and
In the first chapter, Prose already addresses the central hypothesis of the book - to be become a good writer, you must be a good reader. She recalls, of how she too remedied her own obstacles and monsters in her writing through close reading.
The novel Snow Falling on Cedars, written by David Guterson, is about the events that occurred during Pearl Harbor. The novel focuses on the trials and tribulations that the Japanese race had to deal with in America. During the war there were many American concentration camps that held Japanese and Japanese-Americans. The novel is about a Japanese man who is on trial for a murder that he did not commit. The novel exploits all of the fallacies of Japanese treatment, which nearly led to the conviction of an innocent man. The man in the novel was nearly convicted for the sole reason that he was Japanese, and because he was of Japanese lineage he never had a chance for a fair trial.
I chose this particular novel because I enjoy reading about the wars in the past, but this novel included a murder trial for someone who did not commit the crime.
“Art Moran interviews a fishermen named Dale after Carl Heine’s death. The fishermen steers Art towards the direction of Kabuo Miyamoto, who had been out fishing that same night that Carl was killed. Dale really doesn’t remember which family member of the Miyamoto family was the captain of the Islander so this is how he explains his uncertainty by saying. “Suckers all look alike,” said Dale. “Never could tell them guys apart.” (Guterson 43). This quotes supports the theme of prejudice the author is trying to depict against the Japanese race for attacking America during World War II .Even though these were Japanese American citizen the white American believes that somehow they were responsible in some way with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Likewise, the novel shows Kabuo Miyamoto was being held responsible for committing the murder of Carl Heine because of his race instead of the facts of the
While reading the poem “Introduction to Poetry,” Billy Collins sends a message to the readers that they should be patient and impartial when it comes to analyzing a poem in order to see the true meaning behind the without being over analytical. There is a revieting situation that takes place because Billy Collins is delivering his message to all readers about the way that one should be able to read a poem. This poems educates the reader on how to be able to read and plunge into a poem, through using many techniques like mood, tone, and literary devices to do so. In the first two lines Collins demands that we tackle a poem with a invigorating eye. There should be an exploration of what the poem means to us. How does this poem apply to our
The Green Grass Grows All Around, All Around: The use of Proper Nouns, First and Third Person Pronouns and Imperative Verbs in Carl Sanburg’s Grass Authors deliberately make certain linguistic choices in order to convey specific meanings within their written texts. Linguistics, the study of language, is a fundamental tool that authors rely on when both structuring and crafting their pieces. In particular, grammar and word choice are elements that work together to create the authors’ message or theme. However, authors must match their word choice to their characters’ motives within their story. For instance, Carl Sanburg, author of the poem Grass, writes from the grass’ perspective.
Welty's use of sensory education portrays a nostalgic memory; her definition of sensory education includes her family's seemingly endless "library". As a child, Welty loved reading; her parents read to her until she became literate enough to read on her own. Welty believes books can transport the reader to different worlds and bring the author's and reader's imagination to life; thus creating Welty's vision of sensory education. Reading uses all of the senses; a reader must visualize the world the author sets her/him in.¬¬¬¬ When a reader immerses himself/herself in a great novel, he/she is captured in a whole other universe created by the author; the reader pictures the sounds of a wolf’s cry, smells the baker’s fresh, warm bread, tastes the
Paulo Freire discusses the concept of perceptual activity in his article The Importace Of the Act of Reading. Unlike Tingle who father extends his arguments with statements made by other schlors, Freire explains the importance of reading and how the moments in each stage of his life shaped how he read and interpreted the world. Freire argues that the world that an individual is raised in affects the words that they read therefore affecting their concept of the world. Freire flashes back to his childhood where he gives a indepth description of his childhood surroundings. He uses figurative language such as “the tres were like persons to me”(6). He gives such descriptive details of his “first world” that if a reader was to close their eyes, they can imagine the old house, the