A question has been presenting itself to me throughout the year in my AP English class each time we discuss something we've read, be it a novel or a short story or a poem. We are given a list of things we need to recognize about the piece of literature and be able to explain it. And we are then told to write an essay about how the author used literary elements to portray a theme or an idea or something.
And the question that always plagues me: Did the author actually think about this stuff when writing it?
As a writer, I tend to take a different approach to analyzing litereature than my classmates. They have no problem at all with these assignments. I, however, find myself caught in a black abyss of eternal confusion. They see symbol after symbol, anaphorism and metonomy, syntax techniques supporting the theme, and I'm sitting in my own little corner with an insight into human nature that has nothing to do with anything but the actions of the characters in response to the events. I understand that there is symbolism, but at the same time, I know that the writer may not have even known it was there. Things like that tend to sneak by when they are engrained into the society a writer lives in.
I know for a fact that I have a hard time grasping this sort of thing simply because, as a writer, I merely seek to portray my characters as real, to give the reader a look into his/her own soul, so that they may better understand themselves and the world around them while etting some entertainment out of it. Occasionally I'll throw in my view on, say, politics, or something else along those lines, but it is always apparent and is not the reason I am writing.
And so I am left wondering, am I alone, or do other writers also not think about every little literary element when writing? I know for a fact that some did. My hero and inspiration, Edgar Allan Poe, was one who obsessed over each and every word he wrote, wanting to make it perfect and get his message across so powerfully that it could not be ignored. But do we study Poe in my advanced classes? No, we study novels that to me come across as being written to entertain first, and make a point second.
Sometimes I wonder if one of my novels will one day be studied in a literature course. I wonder if people will try to dissect it and find hidden meanings that are merely placed there by the reader. It makes me laugh, and at the same time, it makes me wonder why literature is taken so seriously. You don't have to understand an idea completely to take it away with you. You don't have to be able to put what you learned from reading something into words to prove that you learned it.
I know that not every great writer could possibly have fretted over such things as metonymy. It's just something that works its way into the words one writes. And it frustrates me that my mentality as a writer prevents me from understanding and being aware of these literary elements I've never even heard of before. It would be nice if my teacher would accept an essay from a writer's point of view, instead of a scholar's. Perhaps then she would understand that I am not being lazy, and that it is simply the way my mind works that makes the class difficult for me.
I want to know if any of you deal with these same difficulties. Is it just me, or is it a writer thing?
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I feel the same way. In my AP English class last year we got these sheets to analyze rhetorical devices. Okay, not that bad, but I look down and see two sentences on my sheet. Honestly, how can there be literary devices in two sentences? Well according to my teacher it was possible, she pointed out 5 things. To me that is ridiculous. Lucky for me this year I have a much better teacher. We don't focus so much on what the writer did but what they were trying to say about society, why they wrote the novel. It is much better that way and once you can answer the question: what was the writer trying to prove, the other stuff is so much easier. The worst book from last year was The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. WE spent two months talking about the "Custom House". Which I don't know if you have read the book, it is the introduction, it has absolutely nothing to do with the plot or the message. Upper level English classes are ridiculous!
I HAVE read The Scarlet Letter! And I enjoyed it very much! And you're right, the intro really doesn't have much to do with the plot or message.
I'm so glad to hear that I'm not alone, though. I've been feeling very isolated concerning this all year because I just don't understand any of it while everyone else does. And it doesn't help any that my teacher keeps thinking that because half the class took AP English last year, we all know that stuff she's supposed to be teaching us. Miserable! Honestly, I'm wishing I had stuck with the honors class, because at least there I wasn't feeling isolated and put down because I just couldn't grasp what we were doing.
It makes me glad I found the college I'll be attending next year. The entire curriculum is built around reading the Great Books and understanding their meaning. Just what literature classes should be about!
Both viewpoints are valid. The way readers perceive and analyze literature is important, and as an author, you should try to open your mind to elements outside of organization of plot and character development. As an artist, not only is your motive and meaning important, but so is the meaning ascribed to your work by others.
That being said, you have a very valid point about the complete lack of emphasis on author's perspective in high school English. The assumption is that you spent the first 8 years of education learning about the building blocks of language and writing, and should spend high school learning to analyze; authors are only mentioned to help your analysis of their work. There should be some additional focus on literary elements that authors focus on, but at the same time I personally enjoy the different examinations of the work, the possible hidden meanings and the higher qualities that readers ascribe to it. I think it's good for developing critical thinking skills.
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My Project
"Endure. In Enduring, Grow Strong."--Dak'kon, Planescape Torment
I agree with what you're saying. The finer points of literature are important, especially since that's the field I'm going into. I would just like to not be expected to know, understand, and recognize the millions of sub-categories of the elements. It drives me nuts because for some reason, no matter how hard I try, I can't wrap my mind around it. I know the basics...must I now be graded according to my knowledge of all the sub-types of literary elements? Isn't a symbol a symbol no matter how you look at it?
Sigh...I suppose I'll get there eventually. It would help if that could be tied into the meaning of the work and explained in a way that someone who's hardly learned a thing from her (nearly) fourteen years of trudging through the public school system can understand.
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
"I understand that there is symbolism, but at the same time, I know that the writer may not have even known it was there. Things like that tend to sneak by when they are engrained into the society a writer lives in."
It doesn't have to be intentional to be there. You answered that question for yourself. Much of literary analysis is sociology and psychology. The time period informs the literature and the literature informs your knowledge of the time period. If you see the connections, don't dismiss them as accidental, and therefore, incidental. Call them out and see what your teacher and classmates have to say. There are so many different styles of literary criticism...feminist, Fruedian, Marxist, historical, and New Criticism. If you love writing, words,and stories, one of them must fit you!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman