Close Reading and Annotation #6
Due Fri May 3, 2024 10:00 pm EDT
Objectives: This assignment will prepare you produce an analytically sound close reading with attention through annotation. The primary aim of this assignment is to practice a method of close reading that will allow you to construct the foundations of an arguable, well-supported thesis.
Directions: Read the selection from There There and complete the steps below.
Step One (30 min): Read through the selections and ask yourself, “what do I notice?” Avoid jumping to analysis!Spend at least 15-20 minutes simply making observations. You may not even need all of the things you observe for your written analysis.
Questions to consider:
What is interesting? What is strange? What is revealing?
Use of a literary device such as metaphor, personification, simile, allusion, etc.?
Do certain sounds, words, images, repeat?
How do words, images, tone, action, dialogue, etc. compare across the two texts?
Are there words I need to define, terms I need to look up, or references I should research?
Make as many observations as you can, but no less than five (5) thoughtful annotations.
Step Two: Part II is subtitled “Return” and opens with an epigraph from James Baldwin: “People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them” (157)
Select either Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield, Octavio Gomez, Daniel Gonzales, or Blue and discuss how their section relates to the subtitle and epigraph. Be sure to include evidence from the text that you annotated in Perusall.
Write a 250-500 word (approx. 1-2 pages double spaced but I will be noting word count) close reading response that synthesizes some of the themes, patterns, anomalies, confusions, and more that you made note of in your annotations and observations. How do your observations help you answer the questions above? What are they retuning to or from? How does the narrative voice suggest a feeling of “trapped”?
You should not worry about crafting a thesis or developing an argument. Instead, your response should indicate your process of reading, what you noticed and why, and what you think your observations mean.
Step Three: Revise your close reading and submit to Blackboard by 10pm Friday, May 3.