Name: _________________________________________
TedEd Viewing Guide
“Mining Literature for Deeper Meanings” by Amy E. Harter
Insight: arriving at an intuitive understanding of a big idea using small
____________________.
Use observations about character behavior to figure out their true emotions and
___________________________.
Example: Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and
Prejudice declares his dislike for Elizabeth Bennett,
but his eyes linger on her face, and he gets flustered
when she’s around. Knowing that he’s in a much
higher social class than she is, we can come up with
some insights into his behavior.
BIG IDEAS
Appearances vs. reality
Thinking about all those small clues gives us insight about
some of the big, ___________________ ideas within the
novel that we can approach in an essay.
The second step to a sophisticated analysis is
acknowledging ________________________________.
Explain the ________________________ of multiple
forces that create the story.
BEFORE YOU HIT THE KEYS, GO BACK TO THE TEXT, FISH
OUT THE SMALL MOMENTS, LINE THEM UP, PRACTICE
INSIGHT, ACKNOWLEDGE COMPLEXITY, ARRIVE AT
SOME BIG IDEAS.
The power of wealth and
social stratification
The unpredictable nature of
love and attraction
The parameters of maternal
instinct
The consequences of
injustice
Whether or not ethics can
even exist in a corrupted
moral system