44 Thematic Chapter: Reading Literature
Reading literature can be a bit more involved than reading expository writing. There isn’t always a set format for how a story is put together. However, there are some common ways of analyzing a piece of literature.
Below are a number of links to some short stories. With a partner, choose one. You will have to sign up for the Narrative Magazine, but it is free.
A Matter of Vocabulary
A STORY BY JAMES ALAN MCPHERSON
A Small Blip on an Eternal Timeline
A STORY BY IFEOMA SESIANA AMOBI
Afterlife
A STORY BY ALICIA GIFFORD
https://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/stories-week-2008-2009/story-week/afterlife-alicia-gifford
Fathers and Sons
PATHVIEW, ALABAMA, 1981 BY JEFFREY COLVIN
https://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/fall-2005/fiction/fathers-and-sons-jeffrey-colvin
John Redding Goes to Sea
A STORY BY ZORA NEALE HURSTON
Night Watch, 500 BCE
A STORY BY CHARLES JOHNSON
The Black Hole
A STORY BY PATIENCE WALLACE
The Story of a Scar
A STORY BY JAMES ALAN MCPHERSON
https://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/spring-2016/classics/story-scar-james-alan-mcpherson
Toggling the Switch
A STORY BY ALICIA GIFFORD
https://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/fall-2004/fiction/toggling-switch-alicia-gifford
Underaged
A STORY BY AVIANCA JACKSON
What We Left Behind
A STORY BY MŨTHONI KIARIE
Women from Mars
A STORY BY WESLEY BROWN
https://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/winter-2006/fiction/women-mars-wesley-brown
The Devil in America
Kai Ashante Wilson
https://www.tor.com/2014/04/02/the-devil-in-america-kai-ashante-wilson/
Spider the Artist
by NNEDI OKORAFOR
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/spider-the-artist/
Sweetness
By Toni Morrison
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/sweetness-2
Read through the short story as a Subjective Reading, meaning, pay attention to the feelings a story gives you when you read it. When you read subjectively, you follow your intuition about characters and plot points. Make a few notes as you read about how you feel. What’s the mood? What’s the tone?
After reading, with another student, compare notes.
What’s the tone of the story?
The attitude writing can take towards its subject or audience. Tone generally applies to specific sentences or paragraphs, not to the text as a whole.
What’s the mood of the story?
The general feeling the reader gets from the story.