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CLOSE READING:
READING: Important stuff to notice as we read
POV – the point of view from which the story is being told
• FIRST PERSON POV – “I went to Macdonald’s and ate three Big Macs and then began to question
my life’s purpose.” With fiction, the author is NOT the narrator; the author created the narrator. So
when writing about a fictional story, use the character’s name, or refer to “the narrator” or “the
speaker”. However, with nonfiction—a memoir for example—the “I” is almost always the author
of the piece.
• SECOND PERSON POV – “You go to Macdonald’s and eat three Big Macs and then begin to
question your life’s purpose.” This POV is rarer in fiction (See the Annotation model handout over
Dave Eggers’s “Accident for an example). This POV is common with directions or a how-to
• THIRD PERSON LIMITED – “Fred went to Macdonald’s and ate three Big Macs and began to
question his life’s purpose. He watched his co-worker Helga sweeping the floors and thought she
appeared to be attempting to sweep away every mistake of her life.” (The writer creates a narrator
who is limited to entering the mind of one character.)
• THIRD PERSON OMNISCENT – “Fred went to Macdonald’s and ate three Big Macs and began to
question his life’s purpose. Sweeping the dust under Fred’s table, the 16-year-old Helga suddenly
wondered if Fred might be her long lost father.” (The writer creates an all-knowing narrator who
can enter the minds of multiple characters)
CHARACTERIZATION – the method the author uses to develop a character
Writers reveal a character by showing us any of the following:
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What a character does/believes (actions, decisions)
What a character says (dialogue)
What other people in the story say about a character
What the character looks like, what she wears, how he moves, the environment he or she lives in
How a character changes as a result of the events of the story
SETTING – where and when the story takes place
Setting can include the following:
• a specific geographic location (India, Burger King, the Death Star, the snake pit at Hugo’s ranch)
• adjectives and details (a dingy, damp basement infested with cockroaches)
• a clear time period (“In 1972 I became a man.” “It was 3000 years after earth’s destruction and
the evil robots were finally happy.”)
• time-specific clues (If a character uses Facebook, the story can’t take place before 2004. If people
are driving around in horse-drawn wagons or all the men are wearing wigs or a character is
renting a VHS movie—we can make inferences about the time period.)
PLOT – the events of a story and how they relate to one another, such as cause and effect
A story’s plot is not necessarily chronological. Also, the author might use flashbacks or flash forwards.
a commonly used plot
structure in fiction,
film, TV, plays, etc.
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CONFLICT – this is where we get drama. There’s a problem. Somebody wants something
and there is an obstacle to that want. Types of conflict include:
• EXTERNAL Conflict
(You want to win a race but somebody faster passes you; a family is eating dinner but are then attacked
by zombies; a drought causes the lake to be too low to water ski)
• INTERNAL Conflict
(a guy has a crush on a girl but is too shy and insecure to talk to her; a detective knows she arrested the
wrong man but is too arrogant to admit her mistake; taking the SAT and battling your nerves)
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If there is a protagonist and an antagonist, what are they fighting over? (It’s often love, money,
dignity, life or death)
THEME – the specific issue, human behavior, observation, or abstract idea the story
addresses (What does this text have to say about the human condition?)
• A text can have more than one theme, but the ending must be carefully considered when
evaluating a central theme.
• With theme, we want to look for something the text expresses about nearly all of us—a universal
observation. Some dog owners become closer to their pets than the humans in their lives is too
limited for a theme statement because there are millions of people who don’t own dogs.
• THEME EXAMPLES: selfishness can destroy relationships; positive change can come from suffering;
we often find it difficult to face difficult or ugly truths about ourselves; what makes us happy is
often not what we originally planned or expected
• When writing a theme statement, remember that theme is NOT…
o …plot. When writing a theme statement, do not include names of characters. Think of
the story as an example and apply it to yourself and others.
o …a neat and tidy moral or lesson. It can even be a dark observation about life or human
behavior. Example: There is often no way to escape the pain of loneliness.
o …advice! Yes, many of the books we read as children contain themes like Cherish your
friends forever or Never talk to strangers or Always believe in your dreams, but a theme
statement is not a command.
o …a cliché that everyone’s heard or an allusion to another work, like There’s no place like
home or It’s always darkest before the dawn or Fake it ‘till you make it. Now any of these
ideas might be found in a text, but when writing a theme statement, use your own words.
Steps to help you figure out a work’s theme:
1) In a few words think about some life subjects the text addresses.
Keep it simple. Don’t get fancy and deep. Examples: unrequited love, death, fear of the future,
friendship, competition, happiness, unforeseen loss, goal setting
2) Pick one that runs throughout the text (not just one paragraph), and then ask yourself…
What does this particular story specifically have to say about that life subject? And don’t forget to
consider how the writer chooses to end the story. Endings are very important.
3) Now write it out in a statement. Some helpful thematic sentence starters are the following:
• Sometimes people…
• We often…
* Qualifiers like “sometimes” and “often” help us avoid writing an unreasonable absolute that
suggests all people do this or that we always behave this way.
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VOCABULARY/WORD CHOICE – the specific words a writer chooses
• We MUST look up words, terms, or references we don’t know to understand the author’s intent!
Yes, sometimes we can get by using context clues, but not always. (In fact, according to research,
this is only effective about 15-20% of the time.)
• Remember, often a word can have multiple definitions. You must consider the context of the text
to determine the definition the writer is using.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE, LITERARY DEVICES, RHETORICAL TECHNIQUES –
metaphor, simile, imagery, sensory language, symbols, repetition, personification, irony, allusion,
alliteration, assonance, parallel structure, paradox, etc.
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Just spotting these is not the game. Rather, we want to think about…Why did the writer use this
metaphor? What idea is he or she trying to express? Why did the writer compare the character’s
smile to an oak tree? Why not an omelet or a gorilla? What’s the point?
WRITING STYLE, SENTENCE STRUCTURE, and ORGANIZATION
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Think about film directors, musicians, or artists. Once you’ve seen a number of films by one
director, you begin to get a feel for his or her style. Tim Burton’s and Quentin Tarantino’s films
look very different. The music of Radiohead expresses a different style than Katy Perry’s.
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Notice how the author structures a story. Are the paragraphs long and dense or short and
sparse? Is there suddenly a short sentence after many long, complex ones? Does the writer use
slang or formal language? What makes this writing different from the work of other authors?
MOOD – how the writer wants you to feel when you read the text
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The mood of one paragraph, stanza, or sentence might shift in the next.
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Often the description of a setting creates a mood:
“She huddled in the corner, clutching her tattered blanket and shaking convulsively, as she
feverishly searched the room for the unknown dangers that awaited her.” (The underlined words
create a frightening and anxious mood for the reader.)
TONE – the author’s/speaker’s/character’s attitude toward the subject matter
Think about tone of voice when speaking. You can ask, “What are you doing?” with a caring, angry, or
sarcastic tone of voice—the words are the same but the attitude changes because of the TONE.
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Tone is often easier to identify with nonfiction. The subject of an editorial might be standardized
testing in schools. If the writer has a negative attitude towards this subject, the tone might be
angry or bitter.
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With fiction, identifying tone gets trickier. Pay close attention to the style of the writing—the
sentences, word choice, descriptions. Listen for an attitude in the words.
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Tone is NOT plot or subject matter. A story about a devastating hurricane could be written with a
humorous tone. Or a reader might find a story about circus clowns especially funny because it’s
written in a serious tone.
Steps to help you figure out tone:
1) In a few words think about the subject the writer, character, or speaker is addressing:
Keep it simple. Don’t get fancy and deep. Examples: romantic relationships, childhood, women’s
hair, cows, space exploration, beauty
2) Now ask yourself…What’s an adjective that describes the writer’s/character’s/speaker’s attitude
towards that particular subject?
SPECIAL ALERT: This is a NEVER-THROW-AWAY English III document! Keep it all year long.
tone = author/speaker’s attitude
POSITIVE TONE WORDS
admiring
adoring
affectionate
appreciative
approving
bemused
benevolent
blithe
calm
casual
celebratory
cheerful
comforting
comic
compassionate
complimentary
conciliatory
confident
contented
delightful
earnest
ebullient
ecstatic
effusive
elated
empathetic
encouraging
euphoric
excited
exhilarated
expectant
facetious
fervent
flippant
forthright
friendly
funny
gleeful
gushy
happy
hilarious
hopeful
humorous
interested
introspective
jovial
joyful
laudatory
light
lively
mirthful
modest
nostalgic
optimistic
passionate
placid
playful
poignant
proud
reassuring
reflective
relaxed
respectful
reverent
romantic
sanguine
scholarly
self-assured
sentimental
serene
silly
sprightly
straightforward
sympathetic
tender
tranquil
whimsical
wistful
worshipful
zealous
NEUTRAL
(+, -, or neutral)
commanding
direct
impartial
indirect
meditative
objective
questioning
speculative
unambiguous
unconcerned
understated
NEGATIVE TONE WORDS
abhorring
acerbic
ambiguous
ambivalent
angry
annoyed
antagonistic
anxious
apathetic
apprehensive
belligerent
bewildered
biting
bitter
blunt
bossy
cold
conceited
condescending
confused
contemptuous
curt
cynical
demanding
depressed
derisive
derogatory
desolate
despairing
desperate
detached
diabolic
disappointed
disliking
disrespectful
doubtful
embarrassed
enraged
evasive
fatalistic
fearful
forceful
foreboding
frantic
frightened
frustrated
furious
gloomy
grave
greedy
grim
harsh
haughty
holier-than-thou
hopeless
hostile
impatient
incredulous
indifferent
indignant
inflammatory
insecure
insolent
irreverent
lethargic
melancholy
mischievous
miserable
mocking
mournful
nervous
ominous
outraged
paranoid
pathetic
patronizing
pedantic
pensive
pessimistic
pretentious
psychotic
resigned
reticent
sarcastic
sardonic
scornful
self-deprecating
selfish
serious
severe
sinister
skeptical
sly
solemn
somber
stern
stolid
stressful
strident
suspicious
tense
threatening
tragic
uncertain
uneasy
unfriendly
unsympathetic
upset
violent
wry