CLOSE TEXTUAL READING: WHAT IS IT?

What the &%#$ is close textual reading?

à It is the examination of an author’s choices (in the context of the novel).

Examples from texts we’ve read so far:

1) “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Why does he choose the birthmark as the imperfection on his wife that bothers him? Why did Hawthorne make the husband a scientist?

2) “To Build A Fire” by Jack London: Why does London decide not to give a name to the protagonist? Why the Yukon as a setting? Why a dog as a companion?

3) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Why does Fitzgerald choose to represent Daisy as both a villain or a victim? Why does he have Gatsby die? Why does he choose for Daisy to ultimately choose Tom at the end, and not Gatsby? Why does he choose Nick as a narrator?

4) Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison: Why does Morrison associate flight with Milkman? Why does she have Hagar try to kill Milkman and then die herself? Why does she choose a peacock as an image/metaphor? Why does she leave the ending open-ended? Why is Pilate most alienating feature the lack of a navel? Why isn’t the novel told in chronological order?

Plot Summary vs Other Analysis

§ It is not that plot can never be evidence or an important choice or aspect to examine.

§ But as your reading and writing get more sophisticated, you are able to engage in an analysis of the other literary elements of the novel: style, metaphor, symbolism, structure, tone, allusion etc.

§ Truthfully: plot as evidence won’t really cut it on the Regents or in college.

§ More importantly: the richness of novels, all they can convey and speak to about human experience, does not lie only in plot but in the layers and subtleties of language etc.

§ So think about: what is happening or what is a character like or what is the meaning behind a scene, symbol etc and HOW is that being conveyed.