Oh, hey there! Justin here. I was just reminiscing about our journey through literary analysis. Do
you remember when I thought that close reading meant jamming my face as close to the book as
possible? Well, I was wrong, and that kind of hurt. No, close reading means analyzing and
interpreting the text. It means re-reading and digging deeper, evaluating the author's choices
and synthesizing new ideas. That's a lot to keep in mind while you read. That's why they call it
active reading. These close and active reading skills are necessary when we really want to
comprehend what we read. So today, we will be going on a road trip review through units one
and two, and we'll be doing some close reading along the way. Our first stop will be at unit
one, understanding ideas, reasoning, and relationships, and then we'll visit unit 2,
citing textual evidence. Buckle up because we're going to go through these kind of quick, while
also obeying all local speed limits and traffic safety laws. Are you ready? Let's get started!
The first stop on this road trip review will be at unit one, understanding ideas,
reasoning and relationships. There were three component skills in that unit,
and the first one was implicit versus explicit ideas. You remember those, right? Go ahead,
tell me what explicit ideas are. That's right! Explicit ideas are directly stated in the text.
There's no hidden meaning. The words literally mean what they say. So what are implicit ideas?
Correct again! Implicit ideas are ideas that are implied by the author, but they're not directly
stated in the text. You have to use logic and inference to interpret their meaning.
So let's take a pit stop here and practice this. Let's analyze some text, shall we? Do you remember
Della from the classic O. Henry story, The Gift of the Magi?
$1.87, that was all. She had put it aside one cent, and then another,
and then another in her careful buying of meat and other food. Della counted it three times. $1.87
and the next day would be Christmas. There was nothing to do but fall on the bed and cry.
What are some explicitly stated ideas in this text? Okay, yeah. $1.87, pretty straightforward.
How many times did she count it? Yep, three times. Says it right there in the text,
very explicit. All right, now let's look for some implicit ideas. Like what do you think Della's
financial status is? Yeah, she's definitely not wealthy. We can figure that out by the way she
put money aside cent by cent, and by her careful buying. And what's the date when
all this is happening? Aha, December 24th! Does the text explicitly say that? No, but it does say
the next day would be Christmas. So we can use that clue to figure out this is already
Christmas Eve, and I'm thinking maybe Della is a bit of a procrastinator. But no judgment
here. Okay, that's enough time with explicit and implicit ideas. Let's move on to our next stop,
analogical reasoning. You know, like an analogy? An analogy being a comparison between two things
that are pretty different on the surface but have something in common underneath. Like life and a
road trip. Both of them seem pretty different, but both in life and on a road trip, you go on some
crazy adventures and make some new experiences. You revisit some old favorite spots, and maybe
you get a little lost along the way. Hey, that's really good. I need to write that down.
Let's apply some analogical reasoning to O. Henry's words when he writes,
"So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown
waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her." Okay, exactly what is
he trying to say here? He's literally talking about her hair, right? Okay, yeah. I see now. He
compares her hair to a cascade of brown waters. So we can figure out he means it's brown and long and
flowy, and then he compares her hair to a garment just to emphasize how long it is. Like it could
be a dress. I wonder if O. Henry was a fan of Rapunzel? So you get that authors depend on your
ability to use analogical reasoning in order to see how one thing could represent another.
That means it's time for our next stop, understanding relationships, which includes
both explicitly stated and implied relationships between individuals, events, and ideas.
In literature, that could mean the relationship between two characters, like Elizabeth and Mr.
Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, or between character and setting, like the Jack London story where the
guy thinks he can go it alone in the frozen Yukon territory, and he really needs to build a fire.
And there are cause and effect relationships, like Della's desire to buy a gift for Jim caused her to
sell all that cascading garment-like hair. But understanding relationships goes even further
than that, particularly in informational pieces. Of course there's cause and effect,
but there's also compare and contrast, and even the relationships between data and trends.
Read this informational passage with me and think about relationships.
The initiative is a 10-year plan for bison conservation that emphasizes
shared stewardship and ecological and cultural restoration, including transfers of bison from
Department of Interior lands to native nations. The term shared stewardship really gives it away
that we're talking about a relationship between the Department of the Interior
and the native nations that's going to result in some pretty great outcomes for the people,
the land, and the bison. Do you see how the relationships here are mutually beneficial?
It's a win-win, or as we say in literary analysis, it's a symbiotic relationship.
Our next stop on the road trip review is unit two, citing textual evidence. There's
only one component skill in this unit, and it's aptly named citing textual evidence. [clapping]
As I'm sure you remember, citing textual evidence involves understanding and being
able to articulate the ways in which authors present, develop, and support their ideas, claims,
and points. There's plenty of ways that authors can provide evidence to support their claims.
Can you name a few? Oh yeah, that's right. They could give a fact, a concrete example,
an authoritative quote, or an anecdote. They could do a comparison, an analogy, a definition,
a bulleted list, statistics, a graph. Let's just say that there's a lot of ways that authors use
to provide examples to support their claims. Remember this scene from The Most Dangerous Game?
"The dining room to which Ivan conducted him was in many ways remarkable.
There was a medieval magnificence about it. It suggested a baronial hall of feudal times with its
oaken panels, its high ceiling, its vast refectory table where two score men could sit down to eat."
So the claim here is that this dining room is remarkable, but then the author goes
on to support this claim with descriptions like medieval magnificence and baronial hall
of feudal times. What's he trying to say here? Okay, yeah. He's comparing this dining room to
something you'd find in a castle. Do you see any concrete examples? Yeah, yeah, the high ceiling,
the table that can seat 40 people. Oh, I wouldn't want to get stuck with the dishes after that
dinner party. If you were analyzing this passage, is there any claim you can make and then support
with evidence? Like maybe the narrator seems to be impressed with this dining room,
or perhaps the character who owns this place really likes to show off.
You get the idea. Whether it's a literary work or an informational piece, if an author makes
a claim, they support it with evidence. And if you ever make a claim as a reader, you need to
be able to support that claim with evidence from the text. All right, at this point of the trip,
let's pull off the road and take a break. You're gonna be sightseeing in your PDF as you review
key ideas from units one and two. Then you'll hop on over to the online question sets and practice
your skills. While you do that, I'm gonna get us some snacks. Road trips always make me hungry.
I forgot to pack my sunglasses. I need to get new sunglasses.
Oh, that's great. Justin, you're going on a road trip today. Don't forget your sunglasses. Oh,
how could I forget my sunglasses? I have 12 pairs because every
other time I've forgotten to pack them, and I've had to buy new ones on a trip!