5. How to read lit.

Interlude : One Story

So this comes up again...How everything any writer ever wrote about, it's all part of one story. I like how that is because we can recall some of the things that we see in the new books that resemble the old texts and possibly see a connection.

Ch.21 Marked for Greatness

I never thought about what it meant when characters were marked....but after this chapter, I finally learned a little as to what it means when characters have physical imperfections.

Ch.22 He's Blind for a Reason, You Know

I like how Foster explains how the author introduces blindness in the story because he or she intends to, "...emphasize other levels of sight and blindness beyond the physical." Now, I also know that when authors want the readers to know something important about their character, they will introduce it early...

ch.23 It's never just heart disease...

This chapter was interesting, the significance of heart disease never dawned on me in literature, until I read this chapter. Part of it was slightly obvious, since the heart is symbolically the place of emotion. And much like the other things mentioned in this book, heart disease can mean a number of things, depending on what the author wants to intend. But it usually has to do with the characters having emotional trouble...

ch.24 ...And rarely just illness

So... I don't know too much regarding diseases, so it'll be a difficult for me to understand the symbolism behind the different types... But I like how Foster outlines the importance of diseases in this chapter.

ch.25 Don't read with your eyes

That's what I've been doing all along. I usually read from my perspective, which I realized is ineffective if I am trying to analyze literature. I guess in order for me to not read with my eyes, I would first have to understand or have a little background knowledge of the social, historical, and cultural happenings of the time of the author.

ch.26 Is He serious? And other ironies

Irony...That word brings back the memory of ninth grade English. That was a thought provoking class, it challenged me more than any of my English classes that I've taken. But back to this, Irony can be easily misused or misunderstood .. but that's what makes irony interesting... at least to me. I remember reading Hemingway from English class in Junior year, and I didn't catch the irony that Hemingway basically layered on again and again in his work. But, basically irony = a sign that is used in a way other than the intended one.

ch.27 A Test Case

After reading this and the section after the story, I did catch certain symbols and meanings from the story but others completely flew past me

For ex. I recognized the social class struggle between the rich family and the latter
The weather posed questions to me, but I wasn't exactly sure of what to make out of it. Then it clicked when I realized it had to do with the social class struggle

I completely and utterly missed the bird imagery. Besides the fact that she, "floated", and after I read the answer to the story, I was shocked.
The title also made me wonder...what about the garden? Do the roses symbolize the upper class because they are rare and the daisies the lower class since they are so common? Maybe.
Overall, there were some symbols that were apparent to me, while others I did not even think of.