The Art and Craft of Analysis

1
Close Reading

• The Art and Craft of Analysis

2
(No Transcript)
3

• Close reading asks you to do the opposite of what
  you
  spend most of your time doing
  in other classes boiling down large amounts of
  information to thoroughly understandable/memorable
  chunks that are possible to reproduce on exams.
• I, on the other hand, am asking you to begin with
  a very small amount of information and infer from
  it, meditate on it, weave back and forth between
  it and the rest of the text.
• This makes it a totally foreign, and often
  frustrating process, especially for good students
  who have learned to read quickly, looking for
  only the most important information.
• Sothe NUMBER ONE thing to remember
• is to SLOW DOWN!!!!!

4
Close Reading

• But it is also a conversation.which you are all
  VERY good at.

5
Teaser.

• What do Kim Kardashian and Channing Tatum have to
  do with close reading???
• Stay tuned.

6
Close Reading

• Understanding and interpreting the text based on
  the words
• Start with the small details firstthey will
  affect the texts larger meaning
• Once you have discovered the larger meaning, go
  back to those small details you started with and
  use thesethe language itselfto support your
  interpretation

7
Close Reading

• close reading becomes easier with practice and we
  use it unconsciouslyand instantaneously every
  day as we respond to people and situations.

8
For example.

• What do you see?

9
For example

• You probably noticed her hair, maybe her facial
  expression, first. THEN you started making
  interpretations of who you thought she might be.
• Same idea with reading.you notice smaller
  details, like certain words the author might use,
  and then you start to make interpretations based
  on all of those small details you found.
• You can then go back and SUPPORT what you think
  this woman might do for a living, based on those
  small details.
• Yes, it takes a little longerbut you understand
  the text in a different and deeper way!

10
Close Reading

• We are aware of the interaction between subject,
  speaker, and audience
• We also consider style body language, gestures,
  facial expressions, tone of voice, volume,
  sentence structure, colloquialisms, vocabulary
  and more

11
Close Reading Textual Example

• Read alone Ground Zero
• Identify the passages context and purpose (and
  speaker)
• Context- the circumstances around a certain event
  or situation. For example, if I see a person
  yelling Shut up! to another person on the side
  of a street, I might think, Hey, that person is
  rude! But perhaps what I did not see was the
  other person call them a poopy head. That is the
  context- the calling of names before the incident
  I saw.
• Purpose- Why would the author write this piece?
  What motives? What inspiration?
• After reading alone and finding these out, when
  you think you have it- turn to your partner and
  see what they think. Decide together.

12
Close Reading

• Context and Purpose
• Speaker The writer, female, and not a New Yorker
• Context Visit to ground zero and is awed by the
  emptiness that was once the World Trade Center
• Purpose to describe the experience to readers
  who seven months later still feel the immediacy
  of that September morning.

13
Close Reading
Audience

• Analyze the passage through the Rhetorical
  Triangle
• Consider the interaction between subject,
  speaker, and audience.
• Consider how she appeals to ethos, pathos, and
  logos

Writer/author /speaker
Subject/ text
14
Close Reading

• Ethos ethical appeal to convince an audience of
  the authors credibility or character
• Pathos emotional appeal to persuade an audience
  by appealing to their emotions
• Logos logical appeal to convince an audience
  using logic or reason
• Now for some fun with pictures.

15
Examples

• If he tells you to buy a certain brand of cereal,
  are you more likely to buy it? SO, what appeal is
  this company using?

16
Examples

• This cigarette company is trying to let everyone
  think that their brand is natural and therefore
  safe. What appeal is this company using?

17
Examples

• Mrs. Sellors cries every time these commercials
  come on TV (and then gives her Chihuahuas big
  hugs). This company has achieved their purpose
  which is to appeal to my ________.

18
Close Reading

• So, who is the audience?
• Where can you find ethos, pathos or logos?
• Read again (alone) and once youve got it, check
  with a partner and come up with your answer!

19
Close Reading

• Bernes audience, readers of the travel section
  of a national newspaper, may be planning their
  own visit and thus interested in her personal
  experience.
• Ethos established by actually going to Ground
  Zero
• Pathos established by the emotionally charged
  subject.
• Logos to show that visitors to the site are
  repopulating the area that was decimated on Sept.
  11th.

20
Close Reading Style

• Examining Bernes style provides information
  about the choices she makes at the word and
  sentence levels.

21
Close Reading Style

• Just as we pay attention to more than the spoken
  words during a conversation, when we read
  closely, we look beyond the words on the page.
  And just as we notice body language, gestures,
  facial expressions, and volume in our
  conversations, we examine text in the same manner.

22
Close Reading Style

• We can understand a text better by examining its
  tone, sentence structure, and vocabulary.
• These elements make up the style of the written
  piece and help us to discover layers of meaning.
• Style contributes to the meaning, purpose, and
  effect of a text, whether it is visual or written.

23
Style
sunglasses
Hair up
Oversized baglooks like she is in an airport
garage
Smiling- on the phone
Sowhat is the tone you get from her style? The
structure of her look? This same method applies
to WORDS.
24
Close Reading Style

• Why is the first paragraph one sentence?
• In that paragraph, why does Berne call the empty
  space the disaster?
• Why does the third sentence begin with Gathered
  rather than Firefighters?
• What examples of figurative language appear in
  the fourth paragraph?
• Does the word huddled in the fourth paragraph
  remind you of anything else youve read?
• What is the effect of the dashes in the final
  sentence?

25
Close Reading Style

• These questions fall into two categories
• the choice of words and
• how the words are arranged.
• We call the choice of words DICTION and the
  arrangement of words SYNTAX.

26
Close Reading Style

• Tropes is essentially artful diction.
• Metaphor
• Simile
• Personification
• Hyperbole

27
Close Reading Style

• Scheme is artful syntax.
• Parallelism
• Juxtapositions
• antitheses

28
Close Reading Analyze Diction

• Which of the important words in the passage
  (verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs) are
  general and abstract. Which are specific and
  concrete?
• Are the important words formal, and informal,
  colloquial, or slang?
• Are some words non-literal or figurative,
  creating figures of speech such as metaphors?

29
Close Reading Analyze Syntax

• What is the order of the parts of the sentence?
  Is it the usual (subject-verb-object, or is it
  inverted?
• Which part of speech is more prominentnouns or
  verbs?
• What parts of speech is more prominentnouns or
  verbs?

30
Close Reading Analyze Syntax

• What are the sentences like? Are they periodic
  (moving toward something important at the end) or
  cumulative (adding details that support an
  important idea in the beginning of the sentence?
• How does the sentence connect its words, phrases,
  and clauses?

31
Close Reading Talking with the Text

• Pay close attention to the choices a writer makes
  in the way he or she connects subject, speaker,
  and audience as well as the choices the writer
  makes about style.
• Style is a subsetit is a means of persuasion.

32
Close Reading Talking with the Text

• As you interact with the text, keep in mind that
  youre not only identifying techniques and
  strategies, but you are also analyzing their
  effect.

33
Close Reading Talking with the Text

• Essential Question
• How do Didions choices in diction and syntax
  help her achieve a particular purpose?
• Read Didion essay Los Angeles Notebook

34
Close Reading Annotation

• Read with a pen or pencil in hand.
• Use Post-it notes if writing in the book is not
  possible.
• Circle words you dont know, or write them on
  Post-it notes.

35

• Circle words you dont know, or write them on
  Post-it notes.
• Identify main ideasthesis statement, topic
  sentences words, phrases, or sentences that you
  dont understand.

36
Close Reading Annotation

• Identify main ideasthesis statement, topic
  sentences words, phrases, or sentences that you
  dont understand.
• Look for figures of speech, or tropes, such as
  metaphors, similes, and personificationas well
  as imagery and detail.

37
Close Reading Annotation

• If you dont know the technical term for
  something, just describe it.
• Use the margins or Post-it notes to ask questions
  or to comment on what you have read.

38
Close Reading Graphic Organizer

• Divide the text to begin your analysis by using
  the paragraph divisions in the text as natural
  breaking points, or perhaps consider smaller
  sections that reveal interesting stylistic
  choices.
• This should not be used during a timed writing
  because if the amount of time it takes to
  complete.