Close Reading: A 6-Step Process
A close reading describes the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text. Such a reading places great emphasis on the particular
over the general, paying close attention to individual words, syntax, and the order in which ideas unfold as they are read. A close reading attempts
to link “key” words or phrases to the text as a whole – for instance, a close reading of a passage from chapter 1 may enlighten and further develop
ideas which occur later in the text, such as the final chapter or paragraph.
Step 1: Choose a short passage, one that you believe may carry significance to the work as a whole.
Step 2: Annotate the passage – highlight, underline or circle “key” words or phrases; ADD NOTES!
Step 3: Look for patterns in the things you’ve made note of. For instance, if the author is using a specific word numerous times, this may be a
hint to uncovering something noteworthy.
Step 4: Ask questions about the patterns – especially how and why: Does this pattern appear in other places of the text? What might these
patterns mean? (Think of the connotations of words or the order of words.)
Step 5: Attempt to answer your own questions – look back at the text!
Step 6: Come to a conclusion. You want to formulate some sort of theory or argument about your chosen passage. Usually, this will look like a
thesis statement.
Practice Close Reading
Step 1: from The Great Gatsby, Chapter 3
Annotations
I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the
satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines
gives to the restless eye. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out
romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was
going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove.
Sometimes, in my mind, I followed them to their apartments on the
corners of hidden streets, and they turned and smiled back at me before
they faded through a door into warm darkness. At the enchanted
metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in
others—poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it
was time for a solitary restaurant dinner—young clerks in the dusk, wasting
the most poignant moments of night and life.
Again at eight o’clock, when the dark lanes of the Forties were five deep
with throbbing taxi-cabs, bound for the theatre district, I felt a sinking in
my heart. Forms leaned together in the taxis as they waited, and voices
sang, and there was laughter from unheard jokes, and lighted cigarettes
outlined unintelligible gestures inside. Imagining that I, too, was hurrying
toward gayety and sharing their intimate excitement, I wished them well.
Step 2: The key words or phrases I noticed…
Step 3: I noticed these patterns…
Step 4: These are my questions about the patterns…
Step 5: My answer to these questions…
Step 6: My conclusions about Nick and/or New York…