Writing about something you have already learned teaches metacognition by promoting problem solving and critical analysis. Metacognition is the monitoring and controlling of thought, a repertoire of thinking processes that can be applied to solve any problem. Metacognitive abilities enable people to act in new situations where habitual or learned responses do not work. Simply put, metacognition teaches students how to learn for themselves. Metacognition, already linked to academic and professional success, is crucial in an ever increasingly changing world. Understandably, college professors believe teaching metacognitive thought should be the most important educational goal in any classroom.
It is now time to access our metacognitive abilities to actually think about the short stories we have read so far in class. Pick one of the stories: "Ms. Brill," "Hills Like White Elephants," "Story of an Hour," or "Use of Force."
Answer the following questions:
1. What new close reading strategy did I learn that helped me analyze this story? Possible answers may include interpreting what characters look at to learn character's thoughts and emotions and questioning the narrator’s views and opinions because narrator may be untrustworthy. Please state 3 new close reading strategies that you have learned and show an example of use within a story.
2. There is no one “official” interpretation of the story. Pick a story and show how this story’s plot or message can be interpreted in 2 different ways. Defend each interpretation by using details from the story.
3. Have you asked a good question today? Start now. Ask 2 questions that you still have on how to interpret literature. I will answer all questions to the best of my ability.
4. Finally, it is your education and your input is valuable. Judge the short story unit so far. Did you find it useful? Why or why not? Did you learn anything? What? What did you like about the unit? Why/ what would you change? Explain.
Show students how to transfer knowledge, attitudes, values, skills to other situations or tasks
164 comments:
i think it when the story just told us what the characters looked like, you can tell what kind of person they are. well, you can estimate. and by the description of the place they are at, you can tell what kind of society they live in, and how life is.
you can also tell if they people are sutck up, rich, poor, or just care about themselves or others.
1. The only reading strategies I've learned are how to read the underlying plot of a story, and how characters can be untrustworthy. (P.S.-These computers suck)
A reading stradegy that i have learned is pointing out the characters personality and the way they act. I have also learned how to visualize the setting of the story and what is going on in a specific setting.
2. The story that best shows how stories can have more then one interpretation is "Use of Force". The story can be interpretited as either man vs. woman, or upper class vs. lower class.
You learned how to find messages in a story, the characters point of view, and understand and point out symbles that are in the story and what they mean.
Rebecca,
Can you show me where you used these skills in your interpretations?
Hills like White Elephants can be interpretated in two ways. You can interpretate it as either they stayed together and didn't have the baby, or you can interprate it as they had they baby and didn't stay together.
3. Can we not read anymore? And why do we read such messed up stories?
Yeah i agree with you Rebecca
4. I hate reading so honestly, no reading strategy is going to help me, cause I'm not going to read it anyway.
Barry,
I agree. It is really frusterating when technology does not work.
Barry, you claim that you learned how to read underlying plots or subplots. Prove it. Show this through analyzing one of the story's subplot.
1. The new close strategy I learned was to analyse things that happened before and think about how it's gonna be forshadowing what will happen in the future. One of the things is how something symbolizes different things about the person. Another strategy was analyses and the third is comparing.
everything i read i always try to make a connection to my personal life. thats the best way for me to understand what im reading
in the "use of force" you can just tell that the doctor's a creep. like, yeah he describes how shes sick and has a cold, but then he goes and says "she has magnificant blond hair." and sayd she could be on the sunday paper.
methods that i have used to get close to the story are by determing the way the characters are acting n how there personaltity is shown.also by what the setting is showing us..
Common Ms. Rotter. I did what you wanted. Can't we leave it at that?
can i get a drink now please?
1. some new close reading strategy that i have learned so far this semester is identifiying the way the characters look at the objects and people around them to identify the mood of the story. Another stradegy that i learned is that all the small details to even somthig falling can be important to the main point or conflict in the story. my third point that i learned is that you must look at all the veiws of people in order to see the conflict before it happenes and why they may or may not be able to enteract without conflict. and if they have a conflict if they are able to solve it in a good or bad way.
Allyssa,
You say you "learned how to find messages in a story, the characters point of view, and understand and point out symbles that are in the story and what they mean."
Prove it. Show me how your read one of the stories for the message, point of view, and meaning of symbols.
2. In the story Hills Like White Elephants the two different ways that i interpret the story is that the women might keep the baby but the couple wont stay together or the couple stays together and keeps the baby.
Taylor,
You say that "A reading stradegy that i have learned is pointing out the characters personality and the way they act. I have also learned how to visualize the setting of the story and what is going on in a specific setting." prove it. Show us how you read one of the stories in this manner.
Fine Ms. Rotter. In "Hills Lke White Elephants" you're not quite sure whats going on through out the story. But if you look deeper and analyze it further, you'll relize that the main characters are talking about an obortion.
Barry,
How did you know it was an abortion? Prove it!!!!!
Sean,
You say that "everything i read i always try to make a connection to my personal life. thats the best way for me to understand what im reading." Very good skill to have!!!!!! That is high metacognitive thinking. Can you please show this through reading one of the stories and making connections to your own life.
Cause you said it in class!
Chris,
"The new close strategy I learned was to analyse things that happened before and think about how it's gonna be forshadowing what will happen in the future. One of the things is how something symbolizes different things about the person. Another strategy was analyses and the third is comparing." Wow, great stategies. Prove you have learned them. Can you show us how you analyzed one of the stories in this manner?
i hate reading if i have to do it by myself because it takes me like a couple hours to read a couple pages. unless someone reads to me then i can glide through reading easily. and the stories we red in this class suck. they are all old fasion and stupid pointless stories we need to read a novel book like where the red fern grows or sumthing like number the stars somthing intreresting like that that is not boring.
2. By lookng at the at the title "The Use of Force" I would think about someone over powering someone like rape or it could be the men having power of females in that time.
Barry,
A student said it in class. But, why did you guys as a class figure it out? What were the clues?
Mrs Rotter,
In the story Hills Like White Elephants when the woman and the man were at the bar i visualized them at the bar and her looking at the hills.
im quoting im (sean) i also try n connect what i am reading to my personal life. you can deterime alot when u do that
1.i learned foreshadowing which helps me predict what will happen in the story without reading.
2. In the "Hills Like White Elephants" the male which is one of the two main characters wants his girlfriend to get an abortion. but she wants to keep the baby and doesn't want to risk her dieing.
in the story hills like white elephants the story can be interpeted in many ways. one way is Man vs. Women and this can be interpeted as they can make it togther if they keep the baby or that they cant stay together if they keep the baby. the baby is the conflic in the storie because of the wants of the two characters.
In The Use of Force, you can tell that you get the doctors point of view and what he saw and what he felt about the whole situation he and the girl were in. In The Story of An Hour you get symbols like "new spring life" because she was happy her husband was gone and she felt free and better off and was like a new better life for her. Then, you can find a message in Hills like White Elephants. The message in my opinion is stand up for what you believe in. The girl believed in having the baby and not getting rid of it. It could be completely wrong but personally that's what I felt the message was. Oh and it's Alyssa just saying.
some methods that i have learned to get close to a story are the way characters perform themselves which is how their personality is shown.alsothe setting is showing us alot about the story
Genisis,
You say that "some new close reading strategy that i have learned so far this semester is identifiying the way the characters look at the objects and people around them to identify the mood of the story. Another stradegy that i learned is that all the small details to even somthig falling can be important to the main point or conflict in the story. my third point that i learned is that you must look at all the veiws of people in order to see the conflict before it happenes and why they may or may not be able to enteract without conflict. and if they have a conflict if they are able to solve it in a good or bad way." Prove it. Show us this techniques through one of your close readings of a story.
Rebecca i agree with you the doctor in the story The Use of Force is a major creep
Eric Gladstone,
Well, let me assure you that besides Othello, every book we read in this class is current. But, i respectfully disagree with you that these stories are boring. They have contradictory, important messages and visions of the world that are still relevant today. If reading is a struggle for you, you need to utilize a repertoire of reading strategies to help you understand stories. That is what I have been trying to teach you. Have you learned any? If so, what? If not, how can I improve instruction in order to address every student's needs.
Alyssa,
Which interpretation to "Hills like White Elephants" do you believe? Why?
Fathertime3,
You say that stting reveal information. Can you show this through one of your readings of the short stories?
Genesis,
"the baby is the conflict in the story because of the wants of the two characters." Brilliant. How does the unborn baby reveal different desires between the two characters?
Nick,
You say that you learned foreshadowing which helps you predict what will happen in the story. Prove it. Reveal some foreshadowing clues you were able to find and tell us what those clues let you predict in the story.
Nick,
You say the title of "The Use of Force" enables you know there is a figurative rape. How does this idea develop plot and theme of the story?
Shane,
You say that characters' actions reveal their personalities. Bravo. Very insightful!
But can you show us this through using one of the stories?
The Story of An Hour you get symbols like "new spring life" because she was happy her husband was gone and she felt free and better off and was like a new better life for her.
To the first question:
What I learned from reading the short stories is the difference from literal and figurative, how some things are not always what they appear to be. Different things, just even objects can symbolize something bigger in the story. Just like Miss. Brill's coat was a main part of the story, even though it was just a piece of fur. Also how the "bigger picture" of the doctor trying to help this little girl turns into him figuratively raping her. All of it deffinately gives different views of how people actually read the stories.
i think the setting helps me understand the story a little bit better(if it's always raining the story usually isn't going to be about something happy or exciting), and how the characters act.
Ben Dover,
Excellent reading. How does this knowledge contribute to the irony of the story? What do we know that the other characters don't? How does this contribute to a surprise ending?
I learned how to analyse Character
more. like in the short story Use Of Force when the described the doctor and the family
The way that that characters look has a lot to do with the way that they are going to be in the story. It shows you how that person is going to be, and how they are going to act in different situations. Also the way that the story can have more than one meaning depeneding on the way that you look at it and see the authors message.
Mike hunt,
How were you able to use clues in the story to analyze the chracters in "Use of Force"? Give exampls from the story.
in the use of force the story was written as a little girl sick but the author made it to be a rape
Response to the second question:
The Use of Force is a good example of how it can be interpreted in two different ways. Some people wouldnt even see how figartively this could be a rape. Some could say this would just be a way of a doctor helping a little girl. Another argument is if the Doctor was right to treat the girl like this, or if the girl was right to hide her secret of Diphtheria, and if the parents had their right to help him force the object down her throat. Yte the official interpretation was that this was an act of a rape, and it was man vs. child.
1. Stratigies ive learn include reading between the lines and realizing when there is something significant in the text. I also learned to pick up on typical words that the narrator uses to describe the story.
1. Stratigies ive learn include reading between the lines and realizing when there is something significant in the text. I also learned to pick up on typical words that the narrator uses to describe the story.
2.I believe everyone has there own interpatation and that is what makes some stories great is when an author can make up tons of symbolistic ideas for people to make up there idea of whats going on
Ashley,
Wow!!!! What an important lesson to learn! You know understand the multilevels to literature, the underling figurative story right below the literal story.
How was Ms. Brill's coat crucial to the story?
I learned how to look for symbols in the story. An example would be the story Hills Like White Elephants how one side of the train station was lush and green and the other side was bare lacking any life sybolizing the life and death of the unborn child.
how he was dressed and how the family treated and acted towards the doctor
Ryan,
Good analysis on the importnace of setting to a story.
But what do you mean by stating that how the characters act is crucial to the story. Explain idea clearer and see if you can provide examples from the stories to defend view.
mike hunt,
"how he was dressed and how the family treated and acted towards the doctor" shows what??????
Finish your brillian thought please.
The irony in the story was that she thought that her husband was dead and everythig srted looking good for her and happy and then no later after that her husband came home and then she died. We know that she hates her husband. It contributes to suprise ending because he really isnt dead and when he finally comes home she dies.
Mattie,
You say the stories can have more than one meaning. True. Great literature usually express many different messages, sometime contradictory. Can you show us this using the stories we read in class?
Larry Hoover,
you have learned many impressive stategies: "reading between the lines and realizing when there is something significant in the text. I also learned to pick up on typical words that the narrator uses to describe the story." can you show us how to use those stategies through your reading of one of the short stories? Thanks!
2. In the story Hills Like White Elephants, we were asked if the couple will stay together and keep the kid. I said they would stay together and keep the kid because there are many context clues that lead me to this. The whole story the couple were drinking, what happens when people drink? they fight and call each other out. But in the end we apologize and make up. Thats how i interpret the story
Miss. Brill's coat was crucial to the story because it symbolized her, how she was old and worn out, and deffinitly out-of-date. The fur is also important because when she realized the type of person she was, that was the first thing she removed and changed about her when she was feeling bad about what the young couple said behind her back.
who has more power
Larry Hoover,
It is valuable to use personal experiences to help read a story. But we need to also look at textual evidence. What happened in the end of the story to convince you that the ocuple will stay togther?
Question 2:
The story The Use of Force has two different meanings. The first meaning is about how this couple's daughter is sick and she needs to seea doctor so one comes to the house. He tries to help her but she restrains and the forces her to let him help her. The other meaning is that he had done inappropriate things to the little girl. The doctor said he had finally got his wooden spatula in her mouth up to her last teeth before she came down and made it splinter. This could mean that she bit the spatula and broke it with her teeth, or it could really mean that she bit him badly for doing that to her and using unnecessary force upon her.
in the use of force it can have different meanings.For example in some parts it shows that the doctor is trying to help the girl but if u look at some other parts it shows that he his raping her..
#3:
My first question would be, how do you know when something (like an object) is so important in the story?
My second one is, does the title usually have something to do with the figurative part of the story?
Ashley,
Wonderful explanation on the importance of coat.
1. The kind of reading strategy I learned that helped me analyze the story The Use of Force is when you read the story and then in a way they describe what the charcters look like, how they act, and where they live. So from that information you can pretty much tell how the characters act or how they live and any other information about the characters. An example is when the doctor comes into the house to check on the girl he tells the parents what he thinks knows whats wrong with the girl. But then the doctor says "I had already fallen in love with the savage brat". So just from that quote you can tell the doctor is very strange.
2.The setting of a story, if interpreted correctly,can tell you whats going to happen and/or what has or maybe even is going to happen. Like the setting in "The story of An Hour" with the birds and the sun out and the happy music playing, it gave you an idea of maybe something wasnt as it seemed and when thought through may of changed the story for you depending on what you thought.
Dev,
You are right to believe that great stories have many different interpretations and a person's individual experiences have a way of coloring those interpretations. That is why I don’t want to you guys accessing Cliffnotes or Sparknotes. While they provide one interpretation, it is not the only one. And sometimes, it isn’t the most interesting one. I rather learn your complex interpretations!
you can tell what happens later in the story, by how the people act, or they may talk about it. like at the end of "the use of force" do you think the little girl lives? or was it to late to get rid of what was in her throat?
Rebecca,
Good question :at the end of "the use of force" do you think the little girl lives? or was it to late to get rid of what was in her throat?
How you answer that interprets your analysis of the story. Based on the story, what do you think? How does your answer influence the theme of story?
Dev,
What about the setting of "Story of an Hour" made you think something was as it seemed? What was the appearance and what was the reality?
Colleen,
Continue your analysis of "Use of Force." What other plot details led to characterization?
Ashley,
Good questions.
If an author wrote it, it's important. It means something!!!! It is our job as readers to try to figure out what it means.
Titles always has some meaning. It may highlight the major theme, conflict, or character of the story. It can relate figuratively or literally to the story. Again, it is our job as readers to figure out the connection. Can you try to do that for one of the stories? Thanks.
I know, personally, that I learned how to read the underlying meanings in a story by writing them. So my question is, why do we spend all this time analyzing what other people might be trying to say as opposed writing stories ourselves and really getting to know what it takes?
You can predict whats going to happen in the story by the title or how they describe the charcters. In the "use of force" he uses force to make her show her throat to him and over powers her.
3. No questions
4. I found the short stories very useful because its making me understand the stories more and more. I now understand what foreshadowing is and how to use it. I didnt like the stories we read they need to be more interesting.
What if we understand how to interpret and we don't really have question or can't think of any questions to ask. I don't have any so.. Can I skip the question..?
4. Yes I've found it useful because it will help me understand regular stories when i read them. Yes, I learned how to analyze stories. I liked that it was easy to understand the unit.
The stories so far have been easy to understand. I learned how short stories can have more than one meaning, can have many ways to interpret endings, and defferent character point of views.
3. I don't have any questions to ask cause all my questions were aswered already.
Grace,
Valid point and great idea!!! We will write short stories after we finish learning how to analyze them.
i think the chances are that she doesnt live. back then you kinda had to do something about it before it's to late, and for her, i think it was to late.
Nick.
That is the literal force. What is the figurative force in the story? How does that force contribute to a theme or message?
Nick,
What would make them more interesting to you? Remember, high interest but not well crafted stories offer limited ways to teach analytical skills.
Alyssa and Nick,
You have no questions? So, you both will get an A on the quiz then? No problems?
i think the short storys are really good to read, because there's so much going on in just 2-3 pages of paper. and you remember it more easily. it's just easier to relate to something that may happen in the future.
Alyssa,
How does point of view work in stories? What can an author use that device to do?
Answer for me and Nick together, yeah we would pass with no problems.
Rebecca,
I don't understand your comment: "it's just easier to relate to something that may happen in the future." can you explain please.
like, theres so much that can happen in a longer story, and it may be harder to understand. like what alyssa said, the were pretty easy to understand and relate to.
If interesting stories dont teach us what you want it to then you pick the stories so we can learn. Is that even a question, Of course im going to get an A.
Rebecca,
What did you find relatable about the stories we read in class?
1. the reading strategies that i learned in this class is to read a little deeper in the story to find the moods of the story or whats going on in the story just like how we analized the show the office i noticed alot of symbols and things becauswe i never really thought of books and movies that way until i took this class.i am able to find different things and notice things in stories and i thik more about the stories as i read them. like how in hte one story there was a dry and dead side of the tracks and there was a beautiful side with grass and that was the good side of pregnancy and the dry dead side was the bad side. 2.the story that we read in here that the doctor rapes the child. he doesnt physically rape her but he does in other waysthat we noticed as we read. he liked to over power her and he liked to shove the wooden tounge wedge in towards her throat. he liked that she was fighting him back but in the end he overpowered her and accomplished his non physical rape.3. i do not really have any questions on how to interpret because i think i do it well. but i would like to ask if we can read and good story novels in here or somthing at least interesting instead of the old boring stories that we almost had to read today. i mean they arent that bad but i would like to read somthing more then that something thats going to catch my attention and keep me awake and want to read. 4.i guess i liked the short stories a little bit. the one witth the hills was actually a symbol of a baby in the womans stomach which was pretty cool and that story was about alot of drinking and i liked it because that caught my attention all the different drinks that they aquired and drank and hopefully we read more decent stories in here and thats about all i haave to say but i did learn somthing in here how to dig deeper in reading and find symbols and things like that and how it all blends into the story
Nick,
Highly literal stories can be interesting, but I guess I need to know what interests you guys. So, what type of stories do? When I ask the class, all you guys say si you don't like reading.
Alyssa and Nick, can't wait to record those "A's".
like in the story miss brill, it reminds me of some movies and about the early 1900's, and a single woman having no body to look after her, but is just filthy rich anyway.
The point of view is to show who has a problem in the story, and using one persons point of view rather than anothers is because it can help to better understand what is going on. In hills like white elephants you don't really get the guy or girls point of view you get basicly a outsiders point of view and they do that because they want you to decide on what will happen in the end and not be one sided because of getting that one point of view. I think that answers the question.
2. in the story "the use of force" for the docter to do whatever he had to do he had to use force. the can just go to show you that you can tell alot from just looking at the title of the story.
Well its all different for everyone because we all have different interest but i like stories that i can relate to my life. And you only have to look at my quiz and youll be like thats an A without a doubt.
3. Is it true when they say u can Judge a book by its cover? like can u really determine just by the cover of the book if you will like it our not?
FatherTime3,
Did the doctor really need to use force? Who is ultimatley right: child or doctor? Why do you think that?
I learned that its easier to look at how the characters react to the different situations and how they are described. Miss Brills coat was a very important clue on the discription of the character cause it showed how she was old and wore out and also out-of-date. But the fur also symbolized how she was as a person cause thats the first thing she changed about herself when she was feeling bad about how the younger people felt about her.
yes he did because the little girl wasnt cooperatiing. and in the end the docter was right because he had to do what he had to do cause the little girl did have diptheria.
Fathertime2,
While sometimes the cover can give clues about the story, because the author is not always apart of that process, it is actually safer to look at the title to learn about the story. So, my advice is to look at the title. So, can you help us out. How does the title "Hills Like White Elephant" reveal stuff about the story?
and also in white elephants, just by reading the first page, you can tell that the couple doesnt have a good relationship. they disagree on what to do, and the husband just thinks for himself. yeah, it doesnt come out and say that, but you can just tell.
Matt,
Throught-provoking comment. Look forward to more.
Eric Gladstone, I am so glad that you learned tiniest details matter in works of art!!! Very good reference to "Hills Like White Elephants" too to defend your point. Now you talk about "Use of Force" and decribe the figurative rape. But, what different conflict does this reveal??? How do you know that?
Awesome.
#2 the story of the lord of the rings has a good interpretation of good an evil frodo an sam are battling each other for control of the ring
2.The hills have Elephants can be interpretated in two ways. One being they kept the child and didnt stay together or they didnt keep it and stayed together.
3. So in the story about the doctor what is actually happening?? is she being raped or is the doctor helping her??
Response to question 4:
I think even though these are just short stories they show alot of value, and thinking just as regular novels do. You just have to keep up with the little details and little hints that show the conflict of whats going to happen. It helps to understand these kind of things because you know what your reading right off the bat. Stories like this are useful in literature if this is something you want to learn and have a good interest in. Deffinitly something useful to use as a reader.
2) In "The Use of Force", it can be interpreted in 2 ways, either the doctor is right for discovering the girls sickness, and you can be on the girls side by saying the doctor was forcing the girl to open her mouth and stuff
4. I'll be honest i don't like to read so there isn't a way that will help me. I try to avoid reading
Will,
You bring up a good question. The story is actually quite ambiguous on that point. The girl is sick and needs medical attention, so it seems that the doctor is right. But, the methods the doctor uses are barbaric and violent. So. do the ends justify the means? What do you think? How do you analyze this story?
Ashley,
What details did you learn to look for? How did reading these stories teach you that?
In the use of force it can get interpreted in many ways but the way i saw it was that the little girl was raped. Also the dad in the story could of standed for another person taking part in the rape and the mom a witness of the rape. Truley this is one messed up story.
Ryan,
Who do you think is ultimatley tight? Doctor or young girl? Why?
I analyzed the story by noticing little bits and parts of the stories and try to put the things that stand out the moast together.
Deatails that I looked for were thinks like what the characters were saying and doing. Even though we havent finished Interpreter of Maladies you could tell already how bad of a parent the mom is to her daughter, Tina, and how lazy of a father he is when telling his sons right from wrong.
Another story that taught me was Hills Like White Elephants. You see a young couple just having fun drinking, but not a serious relationship because the boyfriend isnt happy about his girlfriend having a baby. Usually if you are in a committed relationship, something like that would make you happy, but the boyfriend just wanted her to have an abortion.
Kate,
How did you interpret the ending of the story? Do they stay together? Do they keep the baby? What details influenced your interpretation?
I think the little girl because the doctor was acting a little crazy when he was checking her out and she has the right to do what she does
Ben Dover,
You are right. The author presents a horrible, violent act. But remember that he does this to present his message. Remember that the girl and doctor are symbols of groups with oppressive relationships (rich/poor), (women/men), (colonialist relationships). The author is dealing with an ungly topic, so he present an ugly situation.
Asley,
Very accurate analysis of both stories!
1. In Hills Like White Elephants there was only dialogue, no thoughts were expressed. Being able to interpret what the characters look at to know the characters emotions and thoughts helped me better understand the story.
Other characterization in the Use of Force is you can tell the doctor is upper class, white, and education. While the family is poor, not educated, and there immigrants. The way you can tell this is the doctor is upper class is by they way he is dressed v. how the family is dressed and where they live and where the doctor lives. Although it does not tell you what the living conditions are for the doctor, you can kind of assume what the doctor living conditions are. When the doctor first comes into the family’s home the family in way is afraid of the doctor because the family feels the doctor does not measure up to there society.
Colleen,
Wonderful analysis!
the unborn baby reviels the desires of the two characters becuz the one wants to stay innocent and live care free and love life. and the other wants to live free and not chained down by love and compassion for a infant.. the male wants to be free and travel and not settle down and become a responsible person like a infant needs... unlike the mother who wants to live a life where she can be the one who provideds the suecurity for the baby and the innocence protected.. and this can be her trying and wanting to give the baby somthing she never had or what was taken away from her as a child so she wants to to prpotect someone and be there when she had no one.
Question 3. Why do we inerpret lierature?
Will I use my skills in inerpret literature in the future?
Question 4. I find interrupting literature very useful because it makes me understand the story more clearly. What I learned from interrupting literature is that instead of just reading a story, you can actually assume what might be the ending result might be. You can also find certain details in the story that might make the reader uncomfortable or its just worded different that makes the story sound creepy.
3. Everyone reads from a unique perspective, some people pick up symbols that others wont. If an author wrote something with a specific symbol in mind is that authors intended symbolism more valid then the symbolism that the reader may project onto the work of literature?
4. This lesson was very useful for me. I am currently reading a collection of short stories by Etgar Keret titled "The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God". This helped me better understand the intended metaphors and symbolism in Keret's work and not take his writing at face value.
Question 2. In the story, the Hills Like White Elephants is a man and women who are in a bar in a 3 world country. The woman is pregnant. The man what’s the women to have an abortion, and at one point during the story the women says “I’ll have the abortion for you.” The man says, “I don’t want you to have the abortion for me.” He says that because he probably wouldn’t be a father to that child or a husband to his girlfriend. He also says that because is she does it for him, and then after the abortion she unhappy she will blame him for him telling her what to do. You never really know if the woman has an abortion or not. At the end of the story thought the man asks his girlfriend “Are you okay?” Her reply is “I feel fine, there’s nothing wrong with me I feel fine”.
Genesis,
That was an interesting psychological insight you had about the woman in the story. If she had a bad childhood, it could explain her passivity and her desire for a child.
Bravo!
Kate,
Could you give us an example of how you read one of Etgar Keret stories from "The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God" better?
Colleen,
Good question. There are a couple of reasons that people interpret literature actually. Some people believe that great literatures contain great truths, expressing universal human ideas and emotions. People want to interpret books then to understand those truths. Other people interpret literature because they believe those books express what that particular book's culture was like. They believe by interpreting books, one can gain an accurate citizen's viewpoint and lifestyle at that particular time.
But, why do teachers try to teach students to interpret literature? It is because we are trying to teach you how to think at a higher metacognitive level. We don't want you just to hear the story, thinking in literal terms; we want you to analyze it, thinking figuratively and metaphorically. Remember when we read "Use of Force," and everyone thought on literal terms at first, thinking it was just a doctor's violent visit. But remember when we began to think about it figuratively, interpreting story dialogues, actions, and symbols, we saw it as major conflict between upper and lower class, men and women, or even nations and their colonies. That is the ability to think metacognitively. This is the thinking you use when you enter a new situation and can't rely on habits or learned response. This is the thinking you will use when you enter college and your professional career. This is the thinking you use when you create new ideas. See how important it is indeed!
In one story the main character's Mother has cancer and must have her uterus removed. The doctor finds the uterus to be so beautiful he has it put in a museum. Long after his Mother dies, her uterus remains on display at the museum. He makes yearly trips to visit the uterus. This I think symbolizes the bond a child has with his or her mother, and the longing to return to the womb.
What is the point of reading between the lines? and Why do they hide so many things between the lines...
the section so far is ok.. the stories are boring kinda but when we read between the lines it gets a lil more interesting then they normally would becuz we all interpret the story in so many ways.
Wow Kate. That was very deep. What a great psychological reading of that story.
1.A new reading strategy that helped me analyze the story was interpreting what the character looks at to help figure out the story. For example in hills like elephants when the woman is looking at the mountains it shows the good things she wants. I learned to question the narrators view in Mrs.Brill because Mrs. Brilll is the narrator and not trustworthy. The last thing I learned was to use more marginal notes. This helped me because I picked up on things such as the way the narrator describes the two sides of the station and it really sets the scene for the whole book.
2.In the story Use Of Force it can be interpreted two different ways.One way is that the little girl is just scared of the doctor because her family is poor and she never had to deal with a checkup before.You also can see the story as a figurative rape because the doctor is shoving a wooden stick in the little girls mouth and making her bleed.
3.I don’t really have any questions about how to interpret literature.
4.
I found the short stories unit very helpful I now look more at the minor details of a story and realize everything in a story means something, or the author would not write it. I learned to always take my time and really understand what I am reading.The unit to me was ok I didn’t love anything or hate anything about it.
1)I learned many new reading strategys that helped me analyze these storys. I learned that the setting of the story shows the mood of the story or how the character is feeling or is showing how that character will feel in the future. I aslo learned that you can tell what kind of person a character is by their description and their actions. And that last thing i learned is that the story can have a hidden messege or lesson that is not easily seen when you just read it and don't analyze it.
2) A story that the plot or message can be interpreted in two differnt ways is the story about the docter coming to visit the poor family with a sick daughter. This story can be interpretated as poor v. rich, the family being poor and that docter being rich. And can aslo be interpretated as man v. woman, because it is seen as the docter "raping" the little girl by forcing her mouth open to look at her throut.
3) My two questions on how to interpret literature are: 1) How do you handle analyzing and interpreting a long story in a certain short amount of time?
My secound question is 2) How do seperate and pick out the most important information in a story to analyze?
4)I did find the short story unit useful because I feel that I now have a better understanding of how to interpret certain things to help me understand the story better. I learned that storys can be interpreted in more than way. What I liked about the unit was that we got to read intersesting storys that have a hidden meaning to them that you would not normally catch if you didnt analyze it.
1.) I've learned that when a chaacter is looking at somethig specific it usually represents how they are feeling. For example in the story "The Story of an Hour" Mrs. Mallard was staring outside and saw "new spring life", "deicious breath of rain", and "countless sparrows twittering in the eves". This shows her mood is happy. I've also learned how to tell how the character's personality is like by reading a description about them. Lastly I've learned how to take good margin notes to help me analyze the story by looking at every detail since everything the author writes has a meaning.
2.) In the story "Hills like White Elephants" the story can be interpreted with either the couple staying together or not. Also they can have the baby or not.
3.) I feel like when I read stories in class by myself I dont seem to get it at all, but when we analyze these stories as a class it seems so obvious. Can you give me some tips on how to find important details in the story? Is there any context clues?
4.) I find that interpreting literature in these particular short stories was useful because when we had to read "The Story of an Hour" on our own I didnt understand the storyline at all. After we analyzed it as a class I have a better understanding of the story. I've aso learned how to analyze stories much better than before. I wouldnt have changed anything because the stories we have read were really interesting and they all had a great meaning.
1.When reading i learned what kind of people the characters of the story are by analyzing their actions.Also i beleive reading a few paragraphs at a time then stopping and analyzing them by answering questions has made me a more cautious reader and gives me a great understanding of the story.
2.In the use of force you can use many intertpetations. The doctor is very rich and the family is poor, and the doctor and dad want to help the mom and daughter but they dont want help.
3.My questions are already answered.
4.Before i thought literature was very boring because i would fly through the story. Now as we take more time write marginal notes and answer questions i understand the characters and their actions and the storys are alot more interesting.
1- This is a senior class, we all know how to read between the lines by now. This year is just a matter of reinforcement.
2- Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and othertimes a story about a doctor’s housecall is a story of a little girl’s rape.
3- I do not have any questions.
4- No change necessary.
1: I learned to take a bit of a closer look at what a character is looking at and in accordance to whom or the time. Also that if a whole paragraph is dedicated to just one person or thing then it has much more meaning to it then it's face value.
In Hills Like White Elephants the woman looks through the dark shadows of the forest and sees a river, this shows even though there are dark times ahead that over all she can see the light at the end.(I am not totally sure if that was the correct image she looked at.)
2: The Use of Force is a great example of stories that can have more then one interpretation. You can read it as a figurative rape, a "rich vs. poor" or even at face value where it is just a doctor trying to diagnose a young girl who isn't well behaved.
3: None that I can think of at the moment.
4: I found the short story unit to be a bit longer then I would have expected. I am someone who does prefer short stories and poems over novels though. As for what we learned I felt that for the most part I already had a decent grasp on the subject but it was interesting to learn the subject with a class and to hear others ideas instead of just my own.
1. Analyizing what a character looks at it helps figure out their thoughts
2. In "The Hills Look Like White Elephants" the woman either keeps the baby or doesnt because she may have kept it because she finally stood up for herself.
3. I have asked a good question today.
4. I dont like it because its been the same thing for years just different boring stories.
1. i learned how to read into the figurative story not just the literal meaning
2. in the hills like white elephants you can believe that the girl in the story had an abortion or through the same text you can believe she did not
4. i thought reading the short stories was very helpful because if i read these stories in the beginning of the year i would have never pick up any thing but the literal meanings
(I apologize for the late post, but I would prefer to post late than not at all)
1.I honestly didn't really learn much from these specific lessons. It isn't so much that I didn't undertand the lessons, but more of the fact that I already knew what we were being taught. I knew to look at where the character was looking, like when she thought her husband died and saw a beautiful day outside. I also knew how to take notes (marginal or not) and to question the narrator's view.
2.In hills like white elephants you could have interpreted the ending multiple ways. You could have seen four that I know of. (Any mixture of keeping the baby and staying together.) This is because the ending is ambiguous, and doesn't leave off with any specific ending. In hills like white elephants, the woman says that she is oay, and nothing is wrong with her, which doesn't really say anything about anything, and thus cannot point to anyspecific ending and is completely subject to personal bias.
3.I don't really have any questions to ask about what we have read so far, I believe that I understand it perfectly.
4.I did not find this unit very useful to me, since as I said, I knew everything taught so far. I did like how you went about the unit, which I figure would help those who did not know what was being taught yet. I wouldn't really change anything though, since it seemed strong as a unit, I just happened to already have the skills that were being taught.
From Shane:
1. The stategy Ilearned is how to take in deep thought of what a story is trying to tell you because it has a purpose behind it. Also I learned how to read between the lines. Another stategy I learnd is how to make connections with my personal life to the story.
2. In the story, "Mrs. Brill" she is showing a point on how you can never trust anyone but yourself. Also that doctors are not always right.
3. How does literature affect the way other readings are written? About how long does it take an autho to write a complete true literature novel and how do they set the mood?
4. Yes, I found the short story unit helpful for me beacuse that gives me an idea of what to expect in a novel. Also I happened to learn how taking little notes can be useful to answer questions about the book, and give m a better understanding of the book. I liked how the unit was different in themes and emotions because I like when it changes the mood of the story. I would change the mood of the story. I would change the endings of the book because they keep you hanging, and I like to give the audince every detail and nd it on a good note.
Shane,
I am unsure of the meaning of the question: How does literature affect the way other readings are written?
But, I can tell you that authors are aware of literature and other books, and they respond to them in some way, either through incorporating or perverting other books' themes or situations.
It depends how long it takes authors; some take days, other years, to finish their literature.
Authors set mood though details of the story: weather, color of objects, the situations, etc.
1. I learned to analyze the characters appearance and the setting, look at the varying views of the characters, and question what the narrator is trying to illustrate. For example, in the story Ms. Brill, I analyzed the significance of the fur.
2. In the story Like White Elephants, the ending can be interpreted in a number of ways. They may have stayed together and kept the baby, seperated and she kept the baby, stayed together and got an abortion, or seperate and get an abortion. These are all possibilities in the closing.
3. How do you recognize when something, that appears insignificant, is actually important? You get several different views throughout a story, how do you know which one is trustworthy?
4. I found this lesson useful because I learned how to properly analyze literature and that everything in a story has a purpose.
1. one new way i've learned to read and analyze stories is by what the character looks at. although it may seem insignificant at first, it always has some importance to the story.
2. at the end of the movie Inception they leave you with a cliffhanger. the two ways you can interpret it is; he's dreaming, or he's not.
3. how can you know to trust a characters point of view? and i always find it's difficult to determine what's important and what's not?
4. I think that the short stories are useful. they help me to better analyze stories.
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