WHY CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IS STILL RELEVANT TO ADULTS PART II

This post is part of an earlier installment which you can find here, talking about the importance of adults reading classical children's literature. As a brief recap, though many adults find children's literature to be infantile and immature, many of the themes presented in classic children's literature are better understood by adults and are inappropriate for the modern child. In the last segment, we analyzed the theme of abandonment, death, and abuse in PETER PAN, THE SECRET GARDEN, and WINNIE THE POOH. Today we will be discussing sexuality in PETER PAN and THE SECRET GARDEN.

PETER PAN by J.M Barrie is a great book to study for this theme. The first obvious point of sexuality in the novel is Wendy's role as mother and Peter's attraction to her. This is suggestive of Sigmund Freud's Oedipal Complex. Taken from Socrates' Oedipus Rex - where Oedipus, through a bizarre turn of events, unknowingly kills his father, marries his mother, and has children with her - Freud exemplifies the sexual attraction a son may have for his mother. Freud states that the male son may be jealous of the relationship the father shares with the mother as the mother is a source of comfort and stability for the son. The Oedipal Complex is present not only in Peter's attraction to Wendy, his awe with her specific to her nurturing and motherly traits (telling stories, giving him medicine, fussing), but also in how Peter kills the father figure of the story (Hook). Peter effectively destroys his rival (the father figure) and ensures that he is the sole focus of Wendy's attention and affections.

Hook also presents an interest in Wendy. This is not expressed in an overtly sexual way in the novel but always struck me as slight nefarious. Though in present day, a possible relationship between the two may seem perverse because Wendy is a child of maybe twelve during the novel and he is an adult, this may not have seemed as strange during the Victorian Era, when women often married much older men and could be married at such an young age.

The other small detail that I found while reading the novel as an adult that I could not believe was present was the fact that at some point in the story, Tinkerbell is said to have come back to Peter's hidden tree house from an orgy. While this word may or may not have meant something else during the time at which it was written, it was bizarre to see this in a "children's" novel.

Sexuality is also present in THE SECRET GARDEN by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The Victorian theme of quasi-incestuous relationships is also present in this novel. In THE SECRET GARDEN, Mary (our protagonist) goes to England to live with an uncle she has never met. Through the exploration of her new house she meets Colin, her cousin who has basically been quarantined because of a perpetual nondescript illness. Once the two meet, they form a bond because of their shared loneliness. Throughout the story though, Colin covets Mary and her attention. He becomes jealous of Dickon (their friend) when Mary takes an interest in Dickon's affinity to animals.
--> As a disclaimer, though modern readers may find the relationship between the two cousins disturbing, the marrying of cousins was not altogether inappropriate in England where the aristocracy would marry within the family to maintain titles and wealth.

Read through a lens of sexuality, the two boys can be seen as a symbol of virility and impotence. Dickon, who has a green thumb, has intimate knowledge of the land, and is a healthy and strapping young man, is an obvious representation of virility. Colin, who is sickly, whinny, and emotionally needy, is representative of impotence. Though throughout the story Colin becomes healthy and he too learns about the land, he remains more an intellectual counterpart to Dickon's physicality. Colin experiments with "magic" to see how the land and the animals will be affected while Dickon continues to weed and plant and care for the animals. Furthermore, by the end of the novel, the reader feels that Mary's affections lean more towards Dickon than her cousin.

Despite being children's novels, both novels can be read through a sexual lens and reference interesting concepts like that of Freud's Oedipal Complex and the dichotomy between two characters in their representations of male virility and impotence.

I hope you've found these analyses interesting and that it may have touched upon something that is new to you. If you have any questions or would like to start a discussion, please do so in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Keep on reading on!

Three Common Study Misconceptions

As a tutor, lifelong learner, and someone who is studying to for the GREs, I can tell you that there isn't one right or wrong way to study. Studying is a personalized thing that is specific to each individual student. Different people can optimize their studying by gearing their notes to the kind of learner they are (kinesthetic, visual, auditory, etc - but more on that another time).

What I can say is that instead of telling people how they should or shouldn't study, it's important to point out common misconceptions about studying to students who feel they are putting in the work and not seeing results. Not knowing these misconceptions may be the reason why you're not seeing the fruits of your labor. 

So without further ado, here are some misconceptions to look out for:

1. Color Coding Is The Most Effective Way to Take Notes

Now, as a disclaimer,  like most of the things that I will mention in these misconceptions, I'm not saying that color coding is a BAD method for studying or note taking. Instead, I'm saying that there a lot of ways that color coding can be misused to make your notes completely undecipherable. Here are some of my issues with color coding.

• First, it takes so much time switching back and forth between different colored pens. Even when you use multicolored pens like a coleto pen, it takes a lot of time just switching back and forth between the different tabs to switch colors. This my not be an issue for someone who has a lot of time on their hands, but let's be honest, most students just don't.
• A lot of the time, if misused, color coding makes a page look too busy with color and the eyes have a hard time looking for specific kinds of information.

http://gcsestudy.tumblr.com/post/80798358725/taking-notes-to-another-level

In order to combat this:

• Pick TWO CONTRASTING colors to color code with. Or, set up two specific colors for different functions in your notes. --> Make sure that these contrasting colors are from opposite ends of the color wheel - think purple and orange, green and pink, blue and yellow, etc. Colors like orange and red and too similar and won't contrast enough to be effective.
• I use a red, blue, and black system. I write down general notes in black, put definitions down in red, and important information in blue. I sometimes underline in purple or highlight (depending on what pen I'm using) with a blue Mildliner. Generally, I stick to three text colors and one accent color for underlining or highlighting. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLXgbB1AE4W/?taken-by=amreis213

2. Reading Through the Material is Enough For Studying

This one I decided to add not because it's not true. Sometimes it is. Some people are able to read something, learn the concept, and apply it without much review or repetition. What's important to note is that these people are the exception. You probably aren't one of these people. I know I'm not. My problem with this is that when pressed for time, or when feeling just plain lazy, a lot of students fall back on "oh, I'll just read my notes" or "oh, I'll just read my textbook" to review. 

Please don't. I mean, do read assigned texts and do review your notes but know that just rereading something is not usually enough to prepare you for any sort of extensive exam or assignment. Need to know scientific terms and equations? Reading or rereading won't have you remembering these facts. 

Instead, take notes on your reading and make them interactive. These may be Cornell notes, mind maps, flashcards, bullet point notes - whatever works for you and the subject you're studying (and I suggest mixing it up depending on the subject and topic). Then after taking these active study notes, quiz yourself on the material. 

As an aside, you can skip the note taking if you're in a serious bind BUT read actively by quizzing yourself on bolded terms, saying the term's definitions before the textbook can. Also, answer questions that come up in at the end of chapter sections, in margins, or under pictures in your textbook.

The point is to be an active participant in your studying. Reading is a passive activity. Your brain can read through the words without registering what it's reading and without making larger connections. This can lessen focus and keep you from getting the "bigger picture" the material is trying to show you. Personally, I find notes are better than nothing. The physical act of writing something down can help with memory and with a question response study method (like Cornell notes and flashcards), you'll be much better prepared for exams. 

3. Highlighting Is an Active Study Method

It can be. Usually though, it's not. I cannot begin to count the number of used books I've bought for school where more than half of the page was highlighted. I mean, half of the page? REALLY?

https://joyandcontentment.wordpress.com/category/things-i-like/

My issues with highlighting is not that highlighting isn't an effective way to parse information, but that this is a skill that needs cultivating. Most people highlight absentmindedly, highlighting WHILE they're reading which means that the highlighter isn't doing its job (of separating important information from the rest). Most likely, you'll have to reread the entire page with highlights AGAIN in order to pick out the important things at which point, what was the point of highlighting really?

Another of my issues with highlighting (especially in textbooks or handouts) is that most highlighters (with the exception of the Pilot Frixion highlighters) are not erasable. So if you make the above mistake of highlighting damn near everything, there's no fixing that problem. Now you're stuck with an incredibly busy page.

Some minor issues (that do not affect some people) is that while you can color code your highlighting, it makes the page too busy for me to process the information. When I turn to a brightly colored page, it just overwhelms me.

Finally, I hate that some people believe that highlighting is in and of itself an active studying technique just because you are physically completing a task. This is incorrect. If you are someone that is highlighting absentmindedly, then you are not interacting with your text. When done correctly - you should read your text through one page at a time, then go back and find the parts you thought were important, then highlight keywords or terms to trigger a bigger concept - highlighting can be slightly active. But you have to do the pre-work.

You have to read your text and think about what information is important. This is a great first step to good quality reading skills or taking precise notes. I would even go as far as to say that when reading out of a textbook, just highlighting is never enough, and that you should use highlighting to make precise notes. You should highlight your notes but sparingly.

I hope these exposing these misconceptions has been helpful to you. Some people study their butts off and don't understand why their grades aren't reflecting their hard work. Sometimes, it's not that you aren't studying but that you're not studying effectively. I have a few more misconceptions I want to touch on on a later blog post so stay tuned for that!

As an aside, please remember to go out and vote! It's Election Day!

Have a great Tuesday! See you guys next time!

How To Start a Bullet Journal

Having a planner is a necessity to anyone who wants a more structured and efficient life. But trying to figure out what planner to buy can be overwhelming because of the number of planners available on the market and same of the high prices for the more popular planners. Because of this, bullet journaling has become a popular alternative to conventional planners.

But what is bullet journaling?

Bullet Journaling is an analog system created by Ryder Carroll meant to have the combined functions of an agenda, a to-do list, a journal, and a cork board. By using it, you can take any notebook and can track calendar events and write different sets of to-do lists, logging lists (like movies you want to watch or book you’ve completed), or habit trackers all in one place. You can also write journal entries where you talk about your day or just ideas that you have about something that made an impact on you. In addition, you can add any outside papers (like receipts or business cards) by taping them into you bullet journal or putting them into a pocket folder (which can be as simple as taping an envelope to the inside cover of a notebook) in order to keep all of your information in one place. 

Bullet journaling is easier than it sounds. All you need is a notebook and a writing utensil. Instead of buying agendas (some of which have become extremely expensive), ANY notebook can be used for bullet journaling.  

Follow these steps in order to set up your own bullet journal.

1. Choose a notebook. 

2. One of your first blank pages should have your Icon Library. The bullet journal system functions the way it does because it uses symbols to represent different kinds of tasks. The new bullet journal system used a series of different symbols to signify different kinds of tasks (bullets for tasks, circles for events, and a line for notes). I personally remember the Icon Library being a bit more complicated and looking like this (as per my first bullet journal):

But the Icon Library can be customized to suit each journaler's individual needs. In my current bullet journal, I've down sized to a small number if icons I used regularly:

3. After creating an icon library, leave two or more pages free for your Index. The bullet journal system suggests that you number your pages so that you will be able to reference any information stored in the bullet journal by logging entry page numbers in your index. 

As you fill in the pages of your bullet journal with daily to-do's, appointments, and general lists (like Movies to Watch), you can add a subject to your Index and log the page number so that you can go back and check off the movies on your list as you watch them. 

4. Create a monthly spread. The suggested bullet journal set up tells you to writhethe numbers of the days of month in a vertical line going down the page and the first letter of the day of the week right next to it, like so:

On the other side of the page, you can write a monthly to-do list, goals, or track your spending. 

This layout didn't work too well for me. Visually, it's too different from the monthly calendars I look at on my wall. A lot of people draw their own calendars but if you're a lazy journaler like me, printing out cute personal size monthly calendar printables is much easier. This as a result, this is what my monthly calendar looks like: 

My spread includes monthly printables I receive from Design Is Yay. I receive a new monthly calendar at the end of every month for the next upcoming month. In my spread I include a list of monthly goals, notes or reminders for the month, and a list of things to buy. I also include a No Spend tracker where I circle the days I spend and cross out the days I don't. The No Spend does not track how much money I spend or what I've spent to amount on (that I log in my weekly spreads) but it does show me how often I spend money throughout the month. I made my No Spend section by using the calendar wallpapers for Mac and iPad that are sent with the Design Is Yay printables. I cut down the part that only had the dates or the month and pasted that beside my monthly calendar. 

5. Now you can move on to your daily spreads. You can do anything you want with your daily spreads. They can be as simple as writing the date are listing some tasks you need complete. In fact, when I first began bullet journaling, most of my posts looked like this. 

But as time went on, I found that creating a weekly spread in order to plan ahead for the rest of the week was a real lifesaver. I loved that I could use only as much space as I needed for each of my days but couldn't figure out how to remember information/tasks I needed to complete for later that week or for the next week. So I created weekly spreads that look like this:

My weekly spread includes my schedule for the week, has a week of weekly goals I want to accomplish, has space for things I am grateful for throughout the week, and a spending log. For planning ahead of the current week, I leave a blank box that I put post-it notes on, in order to remember information to put on next week's weekly spread. 

After this, I move on to my daily pages. Like stated above, your daily pages can be as simple and functional as you need them to be, but I have recently gotten into minimal decorating. Because of this, I use two pages for each day in my bullet journal. My recent spreads look like this:

I need the space because I like to include a quote and word of the day (seen in the jar and the sticker besides it), a food and fitness tracker, a water intake tracker, along with my schedule for the day, any tv shows I don't want to miss, a general to-do list, a section for work where I include lesson plans, or notes for future tutoring sessions, and a space for daily reflection. 

This can look a bit involved but all I've done is separate my day into sections that I think are important to keep up with or that I want to track and decorated with a small amount washi tape and stickers.

In between your daily pages, feel free to include general lists like these (wishlist, a future goals to accomplish, and bookstores to visit in NYC):

I like the bullet journal system because you can put literally anything in it. On top of these sorts of lists between your daily pages, you can also include business cards, postcards, ticket stubs, and small flowers like these (which are Baby's Breath from a bouquet of roses I received on Valentines day):

What can you do to make your bullet journal easier to use?

First, you can create a dashboard in order to house any post-its or page flags you might need. I really like the idea of carrying these supplies with me not just for my bullet journal but also for tutoring sessions. Often times, students don't have their own post-its to write notes in for books they've gotten from school or to plan small parts of their writing assignments. 

You can make your own dashboard by taking a thing number of post-its and sticking them to the inside of the front cover of your bullet journal. You can set this up in any way that is aesthetically pleasing to you. 

Mine looks like this:

Next, you can create small pockets in the back of your bullet journal to house receipts, stickers, or other small papers. Many people make their own pockets with craft paper and you can find these tutorials on youtube. But if you're into minimal effort like I am, you can just stick differently sized envelopes into the inside back cover of your bullet journal, to make these pockets.

What kind of notebook should you use?

A majority if bullet journalers use Moleskin or Leuchtturm1917 notebooks for their bullet journals. These notebooks have a minimalist classic look and are very plain on the inside, which is great for people who are artistic and like to decorate their bullet journals. 

As I am not one of these people, I personally like to choose notebooks from Barnes and Nobles that have cute covers and that have either quotes or slight decorations on the pages. The notebook I am using now is a traveler's notebook I purchased at Barnes and Nobles and has quotes and map-themed drawing throughout. 

Finally, why should you bullet journal?

Bullet journaling is a great tool for organization and efficiency. It's one of the best methods available for getting all of the details of your life in one place. It's very much like having a planner that caters to your individual needs. you can use it for memory keeping, journaling, and scrapbooking. Or not. You can use it to keep appointments, work related tasks and plans, or goal setting. You can use it to be creative and practice your drawing or stretch your artistic muscles. Or not. 

At the very least I hope that this post has been helpful and has made you more interested in the bullet journal system. It's a really good system to try if you're ready to downsize from bulky binder planners and a great system to implement into your conventional planning even if your not.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to put them in the comments section. 

Have a great Wednesday!

  

Why Learning Journals Are Important

Learning journals are a great tool for reviewing new material, setting and tracking academic goals and progress, and can act as study guides come test time. As a tutor, I use learning journals to have students review the material we've covered in the day's lesson. As a student, learning journals can be used to create an encyclopedia of information that is easy to find and that is precise and all in one place.

How does it work?
For younger students (ages 5-10) it works very much like a journal entry. For these students, who are less likely to review material on their own, learning journal assignments force them to look at the material we've covered and go through it again in their own words. I tell students to write me an entry telling me about three (out of the many things) we've covered in the day's lesson. They must explain rules of new concepts in as much detail as they can (for things like grammar and spelling) and patterns they've learned or picked up on (in things like reading comprehension - for example, that the moral of fables is often the last sentence in the story). All of the topics they choose to write about must use examples and if they choose, they can also write about how they feel about the material - if they thought it was hard or if they like it or not.

Keep in mind that with this age group, it may take a few tries to get the learning journal process right. Children this age aren't used to writing as much (or in as much detail) as learning journals demand.

For example:

In this first entry, the student needs to do more work. While they did name things that they learned in the lesson, they did not explain or show examples of the material we covered.

This second entry shows what was covered in the lesson and gives enough information that the student is reviewing the material and shows some knowledge as to how to apply the information.

Though I don't often see teachers using learning journal entries in homework, as a tutor who sometimes sees students only twice (if not once) a week, learning journal makes sure that kids are looking at the material again sometime between when I taught the material and when I see them next. Parents can use learning journal assignments with their kids to see what their children are learning and how well children understand the material they are covering in class. Learning journal entries shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes and are a really great review for things like spelling tests (what spelling rules are you learning in this week's spelling words), grammar (what rules did we learn about sentence structure and plurals), etc. After assigning learning journal entries, I've found that students that complete the assignment not only retain more, but can apply they information they've written about better than students who don't complete their learning journal assignments.

For older students (in middle school and beyond), learning journal becomes less like a journal entry and more like a bullet journal for school material. Students can dedicate an entire notebook to their learning journal. With a table of contents and a color coding system for different subjects, learning journals become incredibly useful encyclopedias of school material.

A learning journal for higher level students will look somewhat like this:

If you are using a notebook specifically for learning journal entries, the bullet journal would be a good model for how to set up your learning journal notebook.

On the left, page, is a post-it note color coordinating classes so that difference in class subjects are easily distinguishable. Also, the sticky note shows an icon library to organize what kind of information is being written down. The categories are just a sample of what a student might use but can be adjusted to each individual student.

On the right page is an index of all the work/ material that you are putting in your learning journal. Using a table of contents makes it so that you will not longer have to flip through a notebook to find the material you are looking for. Instead, students will log page numbers on the bottom corners of their notebook pages so that they can find they information they are looking for quickly and easily.

This is what a full two page spread might look like. A header is written at the very top (and you can color coordinate the heading if you choose). On the sides of each page is a colored tab to show what subject the page is on. In this case, green is English. For this notebook, the margin of the first two lines of the notebook were colored green for English, the next two after that were blue for Music, the next to after that, pink for Math, and the last two were colored orange for French - in the same order that they were written on the Icon Library post-it note.

This creates a great effect on the outward sides of the pages so that you can see where each color is without opening the notebook. Because this is a mock learning journal (used to show these techniques), there aren't enough pages to show the full effect of the color coding system. But, you can begin to see from this picture that certain pages are obviously distinguishable in color and subject.






As you can see, learning journal would be a great tool for reviewing before exams as all of the information is easily accessible and the material should be precise. Learning journals really are a great tool for review. They SHOULD NOT be used as a notebook for taking notes in at school but more as a review book for material you covered in school.

Please let me know if you use learning journals or if you would like a more detailed post about what learning journals are and how they should be used. Or let me know if you would like me to post more pictures of what learning journals should be like for either age group.

Hope you guys have a great Halloween.

Happy Studying!

App Review: Hemingway

Hemingway is an online text editor app started by two brothers Adam and Ben Long who had realized that their writing was hard to understand because of long, imprecise sentences. This text editor is said to help writers have bold and clearer writing and while bold and clearer writing - much like Hemingway's signature style which was direct and precise, with short sentences that said volumes.

You can access Hemingway App on your web browser by going to www.hemingwayapp.com. The app is also available as a desktop app or program is you are willing to pay $9.99. I would personally stick to the website since the website doesn't specify any special features for the desktop version.

Hemingway opens to a page full of writing that explains how the app works. There are color coded highlights to show you possible writing mistakes that Hemingway has found in the writing. These mistakes include: hard to read sentences (how clear what you are saying is), superfluous word choices (see what I did there? :P), adverbs (which may be place-holder words that don't add meaning to your sentences), and when you are using passive voice. The Hemingway App also tells you what grade level your writing is in. Hemingway can also be used as a tool to see if your writing level is suited to your audience.

Keep in mind that most articles in newspapers are written at a 6th - 8th grade reading level.

In order to put your text into Hemingway, just click on the writing explaining the program, delete what's there and either start typing or paste your text in. These tools are great may be helpful in some situations but not all. Here are some instances where using the Hemingway app would make sense:

1. Blog Writing
   
   This is when your writing really does need to be precise and to the point - and writing at a 6th grade reading level may be to your benefit. For the most part blog articles are expected to be short and sweet and to the point. Make it too long - and your readers don't make it to the end. Make it too short - and you might as well have just posted that on twitter. In this Hemingway will root out unnecessary words and make your writing clearer.
   
   
2. Creative Writing
   
   Now, this depends on your writing style. Hemingway was known for being the opposite of flowery so if you like long flowing sentences that sound pretty - this app will just highlight everything you write. After testing some of my own creative writing, I found that this was not really for me. I like my adjectives and adverbs and honestly, as long as you're not overdoing them, what's the harm of keeping them in your story?
   
   
3. Essay Writing (BUT only for grades 6-10)
   
   Hemingway can be used as an effective editing tool for essay writing if you know how to use it properly. For younger students, Hemingway will point out when your sentences need to be separated into smaller sentences (usually when your sentences are hard to understand) or when you are using too many unnecessary words. For younger students, this tool is extremely useful because you're still learning to communicate your ideas in writing. It will root out common mistakes like passive voice (which really shouldn't be used in essay writing) and overuse of adjectives and adverbs.
   
   As you start to get older though, you may start to outgrow the Hemingway App. I tried putting in one of my A grade college essays into Hemingway ( I was a British Literature major in college) to see what it would say and well, Hemingway was not happy with me. The overall paper was grade level 13 (which is deemed "okay" in clarity) and I had a lot of long (though grammatically correct) sentences Hemingway was more than happy to highlight. My introduction paragraph as a standalone was grade level 18 and the clarity was considered poor. Suffice it to say, there were a lot of highlights in my intro.

Honestly, I was a bit bummed. I got an A on this paper and I remember being really proud of it. And because of this, Hemingway may not be suited for college grade essay writing.

To learn more about the Long brothers and how the created the Hemingway App, check out this New Yorker article.

If you've been using the Hemingway App please let me know how and if it's been working for you. If you've never heard of it before, check it out and let me know about your experience with the app. I hope this helps some of your with your writing. Good luck with your assignments. 

Historical Fiction Literature Study Guide

With classes right around the corner for middle and high schoolers, back to school means handing in summer assignments and beginning-of-the-year in class essays. In-class essays are especially nerve-racking because you're never told what your essay question will be, and you'll be expected to make your argument in a limited amount of time. If these parameters make you nervous, you're not alone. But but if you have in-class essays in Social Studies or Humanities, here's a guide to make you an expert on your historical fiction novel so you'll be able to essay plan on the spot.


Before you read the book:
1. Research the time period the book takes place in. In historical fiction, researching the historical event that the book focuses on will help you better understand what certain characters are supposed to represent and the hardships they are facing. Also, historical fiction will reference and hint at historical events but the author may not have time to fully explain each event. Prior research will help fill in the gaps.


While you are reading the assigned novel:
1. Start an "important characters" list. You should add to this list as you continue on through the book. Each character should have a two or three sentence character summary explaining character traits and what their role is in the story.
2. After every chapter you should write 3-5 bullet points explaining important plot points (summarizing what happened in that chapter).
3. After every chapter, write a list of social or historical facts you have learned about the time period. How do these things affect the characters and the book?
4. After every chapter pick 2 quotes that you think are important in that chapter and analyze it. Why is the quote important? What does it say about the characters or events it involves? What theme/idea does it hint at and why?


After you a finished with the book:
1. What did you learn about this time period?
2. What are three themes that were repeated in the book? (draw on your quote analyses to pick these themes)
3. What do you think the author was trying to say/teach about this time period?
4. Pick two characters. How did they change and grow throughout the story? Why were these transformations important?

I hope this guide helps you in preparation for your essays. Guides like this can be used throughout the year to prepare for midterms and finals, as well as being used as "active reading" exercises for your assignments. Please let me know if you find this guide helpful and good luck with your new school year/semester. 

Big Ideas That Are Referenced in Literature and How to Spot Them (Part 1)

Literature is a pool of ideas that are expressed through characters and scenarios that reflect our lives, the way that we feel about society, our thoughts on power struggles between social and economic groups, etc. So when we read literature, it’s these things that are referenced, over and over again. One of the skills that students are taught in order to analyze literature is to be able to find the ideas, explain how the author is demonstrating it, and flesh out why the author is trying to say what s/he is about that topic. In order to help some of the younger students (middle and high school students) in English classes, here are 6 big ideas that can be found in most literary works:

1. The Allegory of the Cave


   
   The Allegory of the Cave is a story told by Plato, a Greek philosopher, in book VII (7) of his work, The Republic, in which he muses about his ideal society. The allegory represents the rejection of reality, usually because of a fear of the unknown.
   
   Let’s take a look at the allegory itself (a translation can be found here and a video explaining the allegory can be seen below - from TEDtalks).
   
   
                                 
   
   The allegory goes as follows:
   
   A group of men are tied to up in a cave, facing away from the cave's entrance. They have lived their whole lives in this cave with a fire to keep them warm. They cannot turn their heads and have no knowledge of the outside world. From the fire, they see shadows on the walls and sometimes sounds echo through the cave (as people and things pass by the mouth of the cave). They name these shadows and sounds and this small view of the world is their reality because it is all they know.
   
   Suddenly, one of the men escapes his bonds and goes outside. He sees the world but does not believe it is real. He is told that everything he is seeing outside of the cave is indeed real and that it was the shadows that were not real but fake representations of the more complicated real things from outside the cave. For example: the shadow image of a dog was a fake representation of the complex life form that is a real dog.
   
   At first, he resists this knowledge but after continuing to experience the world, knows that what he is told is true. The man returns to the cave and feels displaced (like he doesn’t belong) from everything he had known. He tries to tell the other men inside the cave about the outside world but they do not believe him. He knows what this is like, he had gone through it too and decides he must show them so that they can understand. They must see the “real” world with their own eyes to understand how much of an illusion (fake) the world inside the cave is. But the men refuse to leave the cave, refuse to believe in anything outside of the world they have always known.
   
   And this is the key point in the allegory - that someone who has seen the truth is not believed by others who choose to remain ignorant. Another variation of the this is that people choose to close their eyes and don't see what they don’t want to believe.
   
   My favorite most recent example of this is from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The novel in a nutshell is about a society where books are illegal and firemen are paid by the government not to stop fires but to start them - specifically to burn books. The novel's protagonist Guy Montag has been compulsively collecting books for years and hiding them without ever reading them. This is problematic because he is a fireman. The reader sees him start to question his society and the values that the society pushes onto its citizens. But as he realizes the emptiness in his life and the lives of others around him, he feels responsible for helping them to see what a sham their overly simulated lives are. This is shown in his relationship with his wife who is obsessed with TV and is so unhappy with her life in the beginning of the book that she tries to commit suicide. But the more he tries to include his wife in his awakening, the more she withdraws from him, despite his discovery possibly brining her happiness. In the end, she throws his knowledge out the window (literally, in the form of books) and leaves him, acting as though she's never known him. All this because it was easier to be unhappy in her unchanged world than to struggle through a new reality and work towards her happiness.
   
   This is an AMAZING example of the allegory because it is so clear that Guy is the man from the cave who saw the real world and that his wife is symbolic of the men in the cave who refuse to see the truth.
   
   Because of this, you know that a text is referencing the allegory when a character refuses to see the truth about a person or situation, especially when his/her fear is motivated by a fear or change and a need for things to stay the same.
   
   
2. Gender Issues
   
   Now, this topic can be incredibly complex but at its core, it is generally analyzed in one of two ways:
   
   1. The way an author depicts which gender has greater power in a society (patriarchy v. matriarchy).
   2. Whether or not a character portrays his/her stereotypical gender role and what it says about this person and their society.
   
   In the first instance, a text will show a clear difference in the power that men or women have in a society. Traditionally, in literature and in history, men have had more power than women, and women were forced to rely on men economically (for money) and for social status (to have a social group to belong to). Societies where all of the power goes to men simply because they are male is known as a patriarchy (the opposite of this, matriarchy, a society that favors women with power, is seen a lost less often in literature). This is an important keyword that you'll use from the time you enter middle school until you're dead. If a book has too many male characters and not enough female ones, you can bet someone will say it is because of the patriarchal values of the writer or of the time period it was written in.
   
   My favorite example of this theme is Beowulf. In Beowulf, an epic story so old no one knows who wrote or when, a warrior named Beowulf defeats a monster name Grendel, goes on recount his life as a King (which only happens because he is able to slay Grendel), and how he killed a dragon while being King. The story is filled with men warriors who are trying to slay these beasts but the only prominent female character is Grendel's mother who doesn't even have her own name... What does that say about how the author and the society of that time feel about women? Well, a whole lot.
   
   The fact that she has no name and is mentioned in relation to a male character shows that she is not her own person but that she is an extension of Grendel. This is ridiculous because if Beowulf was a video game, Grendel's mother would a be a boss battle. In the story, Beowulf kills Grendel in a scene that is remarkably short and then has to deal with the wrath of the beast's mother. His fight with Grendel's mother lasts much longer, is filled with drama and building tension. Grendel's mother literally shows up in the castle Beowulf is staying in and start killing people in anger. Obviously, she's a lot more formidable than her son. Beowulf even cuts off her head (very big Medusa reference here) and holds it in triumph. And yet despite being the bigger opponent of these two fights, because women at the time the story was written were mothers and and wives who had to listen to their husbands, were not allowed to have money of their own, and could be punished by their husbands as though were children - or daughters who were raised to be silent and get married to whoever their fathers chose - Grendel's mother was not given a name. Instead like all of these women in history, Grendel's mother is defined in terms of the man in her life, her son Grendel. All of the other MALE side characters who barely had any effect on the plot? They all had names. And if that doesn't say something about how women were overlooked in literature at this time or during this period in history, I don't know what does.
   
   Another example of a patriarchal society can be found in Gennifer Albin's teen fiction novel Crewel. The fantasy story is set in a world where a select number of girls have the ability to weave the reality they live in. The overall idea is so fantastical it's a bit hard to explain. But basically, girls can put at the air and completely create new rivers and infrastructure through their weaving. This a great power and because of it, when a girl is found to have this ability, she is taken from her home (by force if necessary) and given to the government. These women have immense power, they can basically create whatever they want, and yet the government is made up if male figures that parade these women around in pretty dresses, threatening to hurt the people they love if they don't do as they're told. Do you see a difference in power between the male and female characters here? I think it's pretty obvious. This is an obvious portrayal of a patriarchal society. This is made even MORE obvious when we take into account the fact that the women are the ones with real powers (their ability to weave reality) and yet, the men have the most power in the society just because they are male. Can they create things out of thin air? No. But does it matter? No. Because they are men and as historically usual, they have all the power.
   
   So if a book has a lot more male characters what do you think the book is trying to say about who is seen as more important in society? If a female character does not have a name, what does that say about her identity and how the society defines her? How about the reverse situation? And if there is a clear difference between the men and women in a novel, one of the sexes being subservient to the other? Well, it's likely the author is trying to say something about who has more power in society and whether that is a good or bad thing. Try to keep your eye out for these power struggles in your readings.
   
   The second instance in which gender is analyzed in novels is when looking at whether a character conforms to gender stereotypes. For example, do the girls act feminine and do the boys masculine or vice versa. What is an author trying to say when he writes about a masculine girl and a feminine boy? A lot and all of it depends on context.
   
   This specific part of gender analysis is more geared towards classic literature since (for the most part) we've evolved past forcing women to like the color pink and cooking and putting her home life above her career and goals. And the same can be said for men. Traditionally, it was believed that men weren't supposed to cry, men were supposed to love in a detached way, and that they were the sole providers for their family. Many of us see this way of thinking as outdated, but for authors like Hemingway, whose works were written between the 1920's and 40's, an emotional male character was easily dominated by a strong female character. The female character was often broken inside (which is why she did not act feminine) and felt pleasure forsaking the weaker male character. Hemingway painted this break from gender stereotypes as toxic to relationships.
   
   This is best seen his novel The Garden of Eden, where a man has recently been married to a women. But the woman likes to dress in trousers (pants, which at the time was unheard of), cuts her hair short like a boy, and even in bed, she wants to be him and him to be here. This is a complete undoing of the accepted gender roles in their society and though he loves his wife, her weirdness forces him to look for a relationship with someone more conventional when he starts having an affair with a very feminine girl during their travels. He loves his wife but he also resents her. He considers himself weak for letting his wife shift their gender roles but does nothing to discourage her. Some would even go as far as to say that his self-serving wife is the man in the relationship and that the way he continues to put off confronting her makes him the woman. Traditionally, a lot of people would have agreed to this analysis. And on a closer analysis, why does the wife decide to look male? Hemingway suggests that she enjoys the perks of being seen like a man - the decisions making power, the respect, etc. And who wouldn't? Hemingway make us think about these roles. Are they good or bad? Is changing roles good or bad? The answers to these questions say a lot about an author and the time period during which the text was written.
   
   More contemporary literature will also go into GBTL (gay/bi-sexual/transgender/lesbian) analysis but most of the books you will be assigned in school will focus in the top to gender issues.

I hope this helps some of you with what to look for while reading a school assignment. Please let me know if you agree with any of the ideas mentioned above or if you have anything to add. Check back for the next two installments and I can't wait to hear from you.