Alright, so I'm in 10th grade, and I'm taking Honor's English. In this class, we do a lot of literary analysises, analysiss... analysi? Anyway, we do a lot of those, and I cannot for the life of my analyze literature. You could tie me up, stick me in a box full of literature, leave me there for a week, and I would have analyzed only the fact that I'm in a box filled with random books.
My point is, in this class, they ask us, what is the theme of this book? Heck, I don't know!
The book we just read is Fahrenheit 451. It's about a guy, ironically enough named Guy, who starts off by burning books. He gradually realizes how bad it is to censor everything, and he changes and becomes someone who wants to save the books. Now, the theme in all of this? Not a clue. My best bet is, and you can quote me on this: "One who burns books, burns all of humanity." I know, it's horrid, but I can't think of any others. Others in my class, they're all over it. "Censorship will eventually lead to the downfall of any society." "Knowledge is key to any society." How am I supposed to get that from: "It was a pleasure to burn"?
I can't tell what the author is trying to do, but I think I know why.
Most of the writing I do, it's just straight action. No similes, no metaphors, no underlying meaning, just straight fighting, thinking, strategy making, and lots of people in black trying to get out of a base before a bomb explodes with vital information on the enemy's computer systems. That's it. I don't try to blend politics into it! Ray Bradbury, he gets up on that little soap box of his and scolds us about censorship. I, personally, don't see it, and so I've had a hard time in the analyzing part of the class.
Now, let me explain myself. This class isn't just read, analyze, and discuss. This class is mostly analyze. We analyzed Ayn Rand's Anthem, Elie Weisel's Night, poetry, and now Fahrenheit. The list goes on and on, and I can't analyze any of it.
However, the guy who teaches the class, Mr. Davis, is helping me out a ton, and he's also a very forgiving teacher. I got an A in the class, but I'm not sure I GOT the A....
Oh well, and so goes my high school.
3 comments:
I remember trying to analyze things. Mom was my greatest tutor. She knows a lot. I actually enjoyed reading Farenheit, if I didn't have to anaylize it. That is what I have realized in adulthood, to read for my enjoyment. Good luck with poetry. That seems to be the hardest.
digging deep never was my forte either. If you are going to say something.......I'd rather you just SAY that instead of hide it all in some fancy wording. But that's what gives all the English majors something to do.
Let me analyze your blog post. The author shows frustration with the fact that he has to analyze literary work. He doesn't seem to have the knack of reading a piece and making an overall judgement as to its deeper meaning or content. However he has a friend in Mr. Davis that is helping him learn and is very forgiving.
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