Getting Started on the Close
Reading
Surface Meaning / Deeper Meaning
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To start, try to think how the text benefits
from a re-reading.
On first reading the text might be . . . . But on
a close reading something else.
Or you might be respond one way, but see
that the text wants to also do something else.
This helps give a thesis.
Re-read as if with a “magnifying glass.”
Choose a Text
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Sonny’s Blues
Love Medicine
The Open Boat
Others?
Choose a Text . . .
Theme
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How to characterize it specifically (but not too
much)?
Where is something said that is ambiguous,
overwrought, that lends itself to scrutiny?
Write that theme, idea . . . (find evidence)
Part / Whole
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How do the “parts” get us there . . ,.
Character / Conflict
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Describe the main character.
How would you describe and/or categorize the other
characters? How does the character interact with other
characters. Is another character an alter ego or the “flip
side” of a character’s personality?
Does the character grow or stay the same (“round” or
“flat”)?
Describe the conflict or problems these characters face.
What are the character’s motivations, inner conflicts,
doubts?
What are the characters virtues or vices?
Plot
Think of the story as a sequence of stages or
steps. Mark where each new stage begins,
and consider how the sequence could be
understood
Analyze aspects that might not appear to have
anything to do with the plot (such as dreams),
and look for ways to arrange these images.
Setting
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What’s the setting of your story? Does it change, stay
the same?
How does the setting signal what is happening? How
does it change?
Look for cause-and-effect connections between
descriptions of the setting and what the characters are
feeling or thinking (objective correlative?)
Assume that the setting symbolized something outside of
their control (nature), then consider what the setting tells
you about the pressures and rules under which the
characters function.
Point of View
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Is the narrator a character in the story or all
knowing?
What does the narrator distort. What does he/she
not see that we do?
What tone or attitude does the author take at
various points in the story?
What special agenda led the narrator to a particular
way of describing characters or scenes?
Annotations
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Explore your pre-critical response: what you
have already written in your posts, in the
margins of your books.
Drafting the Thesis Statement
Write down some ideas, and then try to come
to a tentative thesis.
Or try this
 Although ________X (opposing view, first
appearance), nevertheless ________Y (your
own view, a more careful, reasoned view),
because _________ Z (evidence).
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Testing Your Choice
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Writers: Take turns reading your tentative thesis
statement out loud. Then take notes as your partner
tells you what your thesis statement leads them to
expect from your essay.
Listeners: As the writer speaks, note what you think
are the key terms in the thesis statement. Tell what
you expect. Also indicate if you think the writer will
have difficulty supporting any of these ideas.
Goals for Drafting
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Analysis: Where to do micro-analysis? Which parts to
analyze? Beginnings and endings often give you the
“whole.”
Organize: A Chronological approach: what happens as
the story unfolds (reader in the act of reading). One more
topical: these are the patterns.
Audience: they have read the book but not as
insightfully as you have. Your purpose: to enhance their
reading and understanding.
Argument: say something that someone else might not
believe.
What to title?
Evidene, Evidence, Evidence
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Support your points.
Break down and unpack words, meanings. OED
Denotation / Connotation