As we are closing our Short Fiction Boot Camp, let's evaluate our own literary analysis skills. Watch the following video and then, in the comments, discuss what you've been doing lately in the context of the video. Compare! Are we doing what Ms. Harter advocates?
Treat the video as text--quote the video in your response!
Remember the rules we've discussed about blog entries. Respond thoughtfully to your peers (unless you are the first to comment, of course).
Recently in class, we have been asked to analyze different works of literature. As both Ms. Rouleau and Ms. Harter said, it is important to use insight while doing so and try to understand the complexity of the literature. In class, we have been analyzing the author's language and direct quotes from their works to understand the deeper meaning overall. Ms. Harter says, "if you're practicing insight you will be able to use observations about character's behavior to figure out their true emotions and motivation". In class and at home while writing essays, we have been asked to do just that. By using our insight, we are able to successfully analyze both the literal meaning of the text and also uncover what the author is trying to convey through the feelings, status, and thoughts of the characters. By using insight we can properly understand the complexity of the literary work, which includes understanding what the author is trying to convey through their character's thoughts and emotions.
ReplyDeleteAs with what Katelyn said, we have been taught throughout our short-fiction unit to focus on the finer details in a work to reveal a deeper meaning. Harter's definition of insight is to "use small steps to arrive at a greater conclusion". Throughout our short fiction section, we have been taught to recognize the author's usage of elements such as imagery, setting, and symbolism in a literary work. These three elements can help the reader to identify the key theme that the author is presenting in his/her literary work. Amy Harter also urges her viewers to acknowledge complexities in a piece of writing. This includes noting the beliefs, backgrounds, and influences of various characters. In our lessons we have been taught to avoid making generalizations about the characters in our readings. Through our understanding of various influences on the characters that we read about, we are able to better understand their motivations and roles in the story at hand. Our lessons in class have allowed us to recognize these important steps and to use them in our own analysis and writing process.
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ReplyDelete"Fishing for deeper meaning" is the basic foundation that Harter is conveying to us, but also serves as a foundation for our English class. As Leighlin commented on, the identification and application of literary devices within the stories throughout short story boot camp has allowed us to finally dive into the stories. As Kate mentions, the short story boot camp has given us the opportunity to develop our insight, as Harter also comments on. The development of insight and acknowledging the complexity of life through passing of "generalizations" and judgments", which was a common mistake for us. Harter also says that the "first thing should be going back to the text to find the small moments, and the complicated moments and line them up to form big ideas.” In the beginning of the boot camp, many of us would skip over the seemingly insignificant moments, which was the missing piece in forming our big ideas. The formation of "big ideas" allows us to finally dive deeper into the meaning of the novel, which Harter introduces and we have been trying to master in English during this unit.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Leighlin and Kate's reiteration that using insight to find the complex meaning of a piece of literature is critical to literary analysis. As Ms. Rouleau has taught us, and as Harter points out, the meaning of a literary work is usually not as simple as it seems. I like how Harter used Beloved as an example of this. The plot was not as simple as Beloved haunting Sethe due to her mother murdering her. From our insight of character's emotions and actions, we can draw a greater meaning than this myopic observation. The method of using insight and complexity to understand the theme of a literary work can even be seen in poetry. Take the poem we read today, for example. In Seamus Heaney's Sonnet, the speaker appears to be folding a sheet. But, based on insight from the context, we can identify the speaker's fluctuating relationship with a woman, something much more complex than folding laundry! As Leighlin said, these lessons in class allow us to use these methods to properly analyze works of literature.
ReplyDeleteMs. Hartner points out two strategies for understanding the deeper meaning of a literary work: insight and complexity. She defines insight as an "intuitive understanding of a big idea using only small clues to get there." This is something we do collectively on a daily basis. While we read examples of short fiction each of our brains focuses on different "finer details" as Leighlin calls them. Fortunately for us, working in a small setting directly exposes us to each other's thoughts and encourages us to open up to other possibilities. Towards the beginning of the unit, we would pick up on only a few of the "clues" as Hartner calls them. Now that we have progressed to the end of the unit, I find myself and others piecing together all of the "clues" to get to the bigger picture. As far as acknowledging complexity, this unit has helped us to zero in on specific details in order to properly analyze a literary work. This encourages students to look at not just specific situations, but background information as well. Just look at the quotes we are using within our analysis; only a few simple words that convey the point we are trying to make. Ms. Hartner uses the example of Sethe's motivation to kill Beloved in "Beloved" to show how important understanding the complexity is to the analysis. As a class, we have been "fishing" for the small and complicated moments like Ms. Hartner suggests throughout the whole unit. Just as she says, we are brought to "big ideas and deeper meaning" by piecing together the smaller ideas.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kayla in stating that working in a small class setting has definitely worked to our advantage because we are able to learn from each other and make closer observations based on the insights of our classmates. This advantage has worked greatly in practicing Ms. Hartner's two-step method for analyzing literature and arriving at a deeper meaning. Our goal at the beginning of Short Fiction Boot Camp was to develop our literary analysis skills to better understand the true meaning of several short stories. Ms. Hartner's video agrees with Ms. Rouleau's emphasis on "deeper meaning." Hartner refers to "small clues" that can be built up into big ideas through acknowledging the complexity of a story. Now that we are at the end of our unit we can analyze stories with a more critical eye and are able to pick up on the smaller details that would have gone unnoticed a couple weeks ago. As Daniel said, "fishing for deeper meaning" has been the foundation for our English class and we have begun to grasp the fact that all of our analysis builds upon itself to lead to a story's "big idea."
ReplyDeleteAs Kayla mentioned before, the topics Ms. Harter wants us to take away from this are complexity and insight. These two are necessary during the construction of an effective, analytical essay. What Ms. Harter refers to as "fishing" for the deeper meaning, we are expected to do this with every essay we write. This past month, we have written essays on seemingly simple stories with a great deal of complexity upon further investigation. I agree with Auston's example of the poem by Seamus Heaney. It took thorough investigation to understand the layers behind it, making us realize that the laundry was only a miniscule part of the deeper meaning behind the story. Ms. Harter explains that in order to write an effective analysis, we must not make broad, simple generalizations, nor small, hasty explanations. To write a thorough analysis, we must use insight to discover devices such as setting, symbols, background information, etc. to create a collective theme.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kate and Leighlin that, in order to discover the greater meaning, it is really important for us to focus on the details. In fact, we have focused a lot on analyzing a story through the use of literary devices, including settings, symbols, characterizations and etc. In the video, Harter mainly talks about two ways of approaching a story, “practicing insights” and “acknowledging complexity.” In the past month, Ms. Rouleau has mentioned that small things can bring out greater meanings. By looking at small details, we can sometimes discover the true emotions and thoughts of the characters. I also agree with Maureen that to create a “collective theme,” we need to avoid quick judgments and broad generalizations. And in order to write an insightful essay, we need strong textual evidence to support our analysis. As mentioned by Ms. Rouleau many times, finding appropriate and effective quotes is crucial of backing up our analysis. Basically, to produce an insightful essay, we should focus on details, make discreet observations and avoid simple judgments.
ReplyDeleteI agree most with Kayla’s take on Harter’s two most emphasized points; using insight to analyze literature and recognizing literature’s complexity. As we have seen throughout the course of the last two months, literature is always more than what meets the eye. We have read short stories no more than a few pages long that seem to be meaningless, but, when reread with a sharper eye and better analytical skills, are laden with symbolism, motif, and thematic development. Throughout our short fiction boot camp, we have learned firsthand what the narrator tries to teach us, “It is impossible to sit down and write an amazing essay about literature without first thinking about it”. Harter tells the viewer to avoid “simplistic analytics”, which is parallel to our training in AP Lit; we have now gone from simply reading short fiction and other literature to analyzing. We have all learned that writing a paper about solid and concrete analysis is easier than writing our way into papers and hoping we find something. In turn, developing concrete analysis comes from understanding literature and its complexities by using insight to see past what is on the paper.
ReplyDeleteKayla and Natasha are absolutely right about the small class environment giving us an advantage. The idea of “fishing” out small details and “deeper meaning” becomes much easier with more than one set of eyes. I think everybody can agree that we have been doing exactly what Ms. Harter advocates throughout the course of our Short Fiction Boot Camp. As Daniel and Natasha said, Ms. Harter’s method has been the foundation of this class. We have spent weeks working to develop an eye for the “small details” that Ms. Harter is talking about. Kate pointed out that we have been analyzing not only what the author writes, but also how they write it, and I think that is an important part of what we have been doing in AP Lit. Language analysis allows us to pick up on even more of the “small details” that an author inserts into their story and that Ms. Harter advocated through observing word choice. In short, Short Fiction Boot Camp has taught us to do exactly what Ms. Harter advises and has helped us all develop an eye for detail.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Katelyn and Leighlin that the use of insight is essential in literary analysis. As Ms. Harter said, we “mentally dive below the surface in order to come back up with big ideas,” when we read the short stories assigned in English class. Ms. Rouleau taught us to “practice insight” as Ms. Harter advised. There is always a deeper meaning behind a story and it is our job as AP students to “fish out” that deeper meaning. Harter also advises her viewers to analyze a piece of literature by “acknowledging complexity.” As Leighlin points out, understanding the forces behind why a character acts a certain way is crucial. To write an effective essay, we must look at the literary devices, such as allusion, to understand a story’s meaning. For example, in “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne makes several references to the bible, which emphasizes that the character lives in a Puritan society. In summary, Ms. Rouleau taught us to write an effective essay by using the concepts which Harter discusses in the video.
ReplyDeleteBy: Vanessa Dos Anjos
I completely agree with Daniel's take on "fishing for a deeper meaning" being the foundation of the class. I also agree with Kate and Leighlin about using insight in order to go deeper in the piece of literature in order to find the meaning. Ms. Rouleau also taught us this, by focusing on the little things in literature in order to find a greater meaning. Insight is a very important part of putting the pieces of a story together. Ms. Harter emphasizes the same thing because the small details often lead to the development of characters and the plot. Small details about characters, as Ms. Harter mentioned about Mr. Darcy from "Pride and Prejudice", can shape who they are and rationalize certain behaviors, and therefore alter their effect on the reader. Ms. Harter's statement about complexity is also true in literature. Ms. Rouleau works diligently to break down stories and their meanings to teach us to be able to do the same thing.
ReplyDeleteAs Ms. Hart (and Vanessa) mentioned, the idea of "mentally dive below the surface in order to come up with bigger ideas," as a way of brainstorming or perfecting your writing is like Ms. Rouleau always says about filling your balloon with ideas. I think that's really avoid and important with our entire class, because all of us spend so much time wondering what we're supposed to be doing instead of actually doing the work. It also coincides with what Daniel said about "fishing for a deeper meaning" as a base for our class and searching for the depth and meaning that we otherwise would not find. As we learned with short fiction boot camp, some of the most important details are the ones that we could very easily overlook, like the pink ribbons in "Young Goodman Brown" or the single grey hair in "A Rose for Emily." It's the little things that we have to look into in order to find out what the author is really trying to get at. And while sometimes we don't interpret the author's words correctly, we always end up finding an interesting or useful piece of information that we can use as analysis for later on. So I suppose what I'm trying to say is that in order to find the "deeper meaning" in a short story, you need to see the surface things first, and that's what Ms. Rouleau is trying so hard to teach us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Leighlin and Kate that insight is imperative to writing a detailed literature analysis. As Ms. Harter explains, the "obvious" explanation to a story does not necessarily touch upon the overall meaning. As Vanessa stated, we as AP writers must "practice insight" and "fish out" the deeper meaning through analysis of the literary techniques that the author used. In our Short Fiction Unit, Ms. Rouleau stressed this with every essay we wrote, explicitly stating that we needed to get past the superficial descriptions that we made prior to the lesson. A writer who does not "practice insight" would read Ernest Hemingway and write that Hemingway tells the story of an deaf old man who stalls the closing of a café. Through the use of insight and looking beyond the surface of the story, a writer can recognize that Hemingway creates a "safe haven" setting (the café) as a refuge for the pain of war, loneliness, and death outside. In conclusion, through our unit on short fiction, Ms. Rouleau instructed us to analyze the deeper meanings of literary devices and their connection to the overall meaning, similar to the lesson that Ms. Harter explains in the video above.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, everyone!
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