The Ultimate Guide: Purposeful Reading for Young Adults Studying in Any Capacity
Article by Sydney Loder
Every year, high school students are asked to read a variety of novels within the literary canon provided by College Board. Among this list is Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (just to name a few). Not only will these students read novels, but also poems and short stories as well. My personal favorite of these was “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, simply because it was so open to interpretation. However, before I could even begin to idealize what the ending meant, I had to understand the story as a whole. One of the most difficult parts of reading classic literary works is actually understanding them; being able to think beyond the words and pages. Sometimes the story lines are outlandish, or just plain confusing. They may have a lot going on at once or not so much at all. Students are told to read each work because they all have a purpose, an important theme, a new idea. The question is, how do you find them?
Thinking beyond a book takes practice, focus, and a lot of time depending on what type of work is being read. While I understand that every student thinks differently, I have also come to understand that there are some underlying tricks to reading with a purpose. To help students on all levels and pieces we will be:
Learning What the Poem Says
Classic poems greatly differ from modern poetry in that the former often has its meaning hidden behind articulate language, complicated structure, and wild figurative language. Modern poetry, on the other hand, is quite simple in its nature as its meaning is blatantly stated or explained. As our modern minds are often fixed on modern ideals of language it can be difficult to deconstruct a classic poem to find its theme, message, and/or purpose.
I have found that the easiest way to begin this process is to identify what type of poem is being read and learning more about the author. This may seem trivial, but many types of poems have a specific focus, such as a Haiku and nature. Knowing this would immediately allow you to shorten the list of meanings. Furthermore, when doing research about authors you will find that they often focus on spefic aspects of life. For example, Lord Byron is a well known romantic poet (these poets often wrote about nature, the world, and the act of feeling) who was quite a scandolous individual and let some of his actions leak into his work. Knowing little, inconsequential facts about an author or the type of poem can and will set a foundation for thinking beyond the literary work.
When it actually comes to reading the poem, defining the tone is the first step. Is the work argumentative, demeaning, joyful, sorrowful, depressing, regretful, persuasive, playful, etc. Attached below is the poem “On the Pulse of the Morning“ by Maya Angelou. When discovering the meaning of this poem, the tone is first identified as having a sense of desperation and determination. The next step is to then find figurative language within the poem, which is often attached to the tone. Figurative language, however, provides depth and purpose to the tone, it allows for meaning to form. Another aspect to identify in poems is diction. Word choice is vitally important as a simple word can provide a backstory, an action that is occurring, or an insight to the conflict/problem at hand. For example, in the poem below, the word sojourn is highlighted because it describes a temporary stay. This gives insight to the poem because it simultaneously describes change.
Through all these different steps, an idea of the meaning can begin to be formed; higher level thinking can flourish. The connection found within the tone, figurative language, and diction, guides the reader to see the meaning. In this case, there is a
desperate need for change within a people, and it is seen that through sheer determination and will, change can occur. Knowing that Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist and then reading her poem, finding tone, figurative language, and diction, a group of students and I were easily able to identify the meaning and message of the poem.
Understanding the Short Story
Understanding shorts stories and their significance is possibly one of the most challenging things to do. This is because its often hard to even imagine meaning behind what most of us view as just a story. They are often quite straight forward, with a clear rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. At the same time, though, short stories can also be complex with open endings that cause reason for discussion. This is why it is important to know that when in a high school class, short stories are rarely there for you to discover meaning. Instead, they are there for students to learn how to understand an authors style and for them to discover various underlying aspects of the story.
What I’m trying to say is that, more often than not, short stories often have underlying details and actions that add to the meaning that is easily discovered. It’s less about trying to find significance and more about asking the question, why. To start locating the hidden gems within short stories, the first thing a student needs to do is simply read it through. Reading it through the first time allows for the reader to grasp what is taking place within the story and to start forming the meaning and purpose the author is trying to convey. Then, the student must read it again. During this time, students should start to annotate the passage, focusing clearly on things they deem important, that stuck out to them, repetition, and metaphors. After doing this, the most important part is for the reader to start asking themselves what and why. Why might this part of the story be significant? What does it mean that this stuck out to me? Why did the author repeat this statement throughout the story? What does this metaphor symbolize within the story and why is it there? By going through, reading the story, and asking these questions, the underlying plot to the actual story will begin to form.
Another important aspect to truly understanding a short story is discussion. Readers must discuss what they found within the story with their peers to allow the formation of a thought to become a completed thought. Discussion allows for the student to hear other opinions and thought processes that might build off of theirs or contrast it. The student might hear a brand new theory about the short story and completely change their mind about their own. Talking with peers and analyzing the short work assigned can be crucial to finalizing thoughts. It allows for the reader to add detail to them and to find where the wholes are and fill them with something else. This allows for broader thinking of the underlying story, backstory, or future, which is exactly what is wanted.
Thinking Beyond the Book
Among the three main peices of literature that have been and are continuing to be picked apart, books have the most variety and contrast between individual pieces. Although books may be under the same genre, the good ones that students study are never the same. Due to this, many of the tips and tricks given within this section may seem vague, but that is because it is up to the reader to build upon these ideas in their own way. They are for a student to have a base of knowledge that they themselves can turn into a plethora.
What ideas am I talking about, you may ask. Well, for starters, books can almost be thought about the same as short stories, except for now, the student isn’t looking for an underlying story, but the meaning. For this meaning to be found, though, students really need to focus throughout their reading and make notes to themselves. These notes should absolutely include similarities, biblical or other types of allusions, questions, thoughts, things the student found important, and clear metaphors. Throughout my studies in highschool, I found that more often than not, novels use huge metaphors to hide their meaning/purpose (so if all else fails, try to find some metaphors). Deeper level thinking within books simply comes from knowing what to look for and putting in the work to find it. This work could range from annotation to research to discussion, it is really up to the reader.
Like I said, this section is quite vague, but again, its up to the student to build their own process off of the direction given. By looking for metaphors, allusions, symbolism, and more, a student can begin to ask themselves and others a series of questions that will, at one point, lead to the meaning. Thinking beyond a book takes patience and focus, but anyone can do it if they try. The key to it all is to be constantly searching while reading, even if it seems outlandish.
These tips and tricks are not fool proof, and never will be. Each student is different, learns differently, takes notes differently, and studies differently. Students find mechanisms that work for them. However, like everybody they may get confused at times and fall short. I would like for the outlook on this guide to be the foundation of purposeful reading, not its beginning, middle, and end (which I am very aware it is not). This ultimate guide is for students to use if they are getting started with or having trouble with an assignment that has purposeful reading and thinking involved. It is a premise for which higher level thinking can be born.
“Creating the next level of results requires the next level of thinking.“
- Rory Vaden
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