SWIFTT
An Advanced Placement
Close Reading Strategy
The Most Awesome Thing on the Planet
Symbolism –
When an object or action stands for more than it
really is
• Look for characters, names,
objects, actions,settings, or
situations that could be
symbolic
• The stars in The Sneetches
represent differing status, or
social class, among the
Sneetches. Those Sneetches
with stars were seen as
superior among the beach
dwellers. Since stars are not
earned, but are only
decorative, stars also stand for
vanity, or beauty for it’s own
status. Also, the character of
McBean stands for all those
who are willing to take financial
advantage of people who are
divided and thus vulnerable.
One could sumise that
McBean could symbolize the
devil.
Word Choice/Diction-
The meaning behind the
author’s choice of certain words. Words have denotation and connotation.
• Word Choice – Look for
specific or unusual
wording that could bring
additional, or hidden
meaning in the text.
• Suess uses the words
“friends” when McBean
talks to the Sneetches.
This is McBean’s way of
persuading the
Sneetches to spend more
money in their search for
superiority. The use of
“Star-belly” and “Plainbelly” furthers who’s the
division among this
population.
Imagery –
the use of the five sense in writing to create interest and
paint a mental picture (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)
• Imagery – look for words
or phrases that use the
five senses (sight, sound,
smell, touch, taste).
Things you can see with
your eyes are not
imagery. DESCRIBING
how things look IS
imagery.
• Suess uses the words
“cold” and “dark” to
describe the beaches that
the plain-belly Sneetches
are relegated to. This is
not the usual mental
picture of a beach. Suess
is showing how isolated
and miserable the beach
can be.
This is a cow for your
entertainment. Enjoy!
Figurative Language –
All the Englishy stuff and
literary terms and devices.
• Figurative Language
– Look for Literary
terms and devices,
especially when they
create more
meaningful writing
and show you clues
about characters or
situations.
• There are many
examples of Suess’s
use of onomatopoeia,
such as, klonked,
bonked, jerked,
berked and bopped.
Suess also uses
rhyming as a natural
device for children’s
literature.
Tone – The writer has a particular attitude towards the
subject, he/she uses the other parts of SWIFTT to transmit
that attitude; all those elements create tone.
• Tone – Figure out what
the subject is (love,
death, friendship) and
find evidence to
determine how the author
feels about that subject.
Try to pinpoint between
one to three words that
sum up his/her attitude.
• The writer obviously feels
strongly about how vane
and petty people can be.
He may referring to racial,
or socioeconomic issues.
Yet he chooses a
children’s story to
illustrate his personal
values. Give this
evidence I believe that
the following tone words
would fit The Sneetches:
moralistic, optimistic.
Theme – The theme is the central idea, universal
meaning, or the “moral” to the story.
• Theme – What is the writer
trying to teach or show you
about the world. The theme
can be written in one sentence.
There can be multiple themes.
Themes can be found in
fiction, nonfiction, poetry,
music and art. Be CAREFUL
that you are identifying the
theme and not the subject.
Friendship is not a theme.
Friendship being more
important than romantic love
could be a theme. Themes
MUST be backed up by
evidence from the text to be
correct.
• There are several themes in
The Sneetches.
• Society’s importance of
physical beauty as a means of
judgment is wrong.
• A divided society is a
vulnerable society.
• Being victimized by a common
evil can bring society together.