Pleasures of learning literature

K S SIVAKUMARAN

Literature - not beyond your comprehension

Enjoying a novel at bed time

We enjoy literature, at least most, but quite a few don’t because it is hard and archaic, some declare. It may be due to the prejudices and the wrong way they have studied the subject. Here are some ways – some methods- to study, understand and evaluate literature. These are meant for teenagers of this page.

Most students disregard the instructions in the examination paper. If there are two parts in a question, they conveniently disregard the second part of the question because of their failure to read the question in full.

If they are asked to critically write an appreciation or examine a text, they write pages and pages narrating the story without giving how they evaluated the book.

Some do not understand the question even if they are structured clearly, because they failed to understand the specific literary terms.

These are some observations in marking exam papers in school. Please therefore take these suggestions seriously for better performance in the forthcoming examinations.

If asked ‘What the book is about?’ it means not what the story is about, but the ideas it expresses. As we know authors have a purpose in writing on a particular theme depending on his outlook on life. In most fiction authors clearly state their point of view. They convey their idea through a character’s thoughts or conversation. But such themes will emerge only gradually. That’s why we should read the book thoroughly and even re-read it several times to understand the theme of the book we are reading.

Let us talk about the characters in novels. The novelist creates his or her characters and the reader interprets the characters in his or her own ways. What the character thinks, says, does and the circumstances of the character’s life – all indicate what the novel is about. How the reader contributes to the enjoyment of the novel is by the reader’s understanding and interpretation of the text.

The appearance of a character, how he or she speaks, what spoken, the action, the surroundings, the thinking, relationships all determine the creation of a character.

Depending on the importance of re character details of a character. Physical appearance of a character can be directly used to show the personality of the character.

Sometimes there is a contrast between the appearance and personality of a character. For instance Wickham’s appearance and his mannerism in Pride and Prejudice might have made an impression on Elizabeth at first, but his real self is revealed only later. Even how a character dresses would also show his or her personality.

The novelist creates a mental picture of the characters in the minds of the reader. In real life we learn various things about people and events in a jumbled manner- not chronologically. But in a novel the writer chooses deliberately what we should know and not everything about the character he or she has created.

We must also examine the plot in a novel. Apart from the theme and the characterization, we must see how the story concerned develops through the sequence of events in the story.

The unfolding of a situation is also an ingredient of a creative work.

Critics have discovered the following would keep our interest in reading further:

The development of relationships between characters, romance, family, social relationships. Many novels include all these types. We must think about how relationships change from chapter to chapter in the novels we are reading. You would note for instance how the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth changes at the end of the novel, Pride and Prejudice.

The solving of a problem or a mystery – the detective novel is a popular form which uses this method. Other novels may incorporate less obvious mysteries as one part of the plot.

The development and resolution of a conflict between characters or groups – This may range from war between countries, through gang war, ethnic war, down to rivalry between individuals. The conflict does not have to be physical. The popularity of fights and trial scenes in literature shows how potent the idea of conflict is.

*The overcoming of some difficulty or disaster, as in many adventure novels is another way of structuring a plot.

*A search or discovery, whether it is a search for lost empires, the discovery of penicillin, or some kind of more personal inner quest.

Most novels include many of these features at different points of the story. Plots arouse our interest in the story. Plots develop slowly in most novels, but in a thriller it would be the other way. Plots contribute to the order of the story leading to the finale’

Among the pleasures we derive reading literature is stimulation to read more, understand how and why problems in the story are resolved, study the inner and outer life of characters and learn the experiences they have had, learning new words and the styles of expressions by different writers and so on. Grammar and use of language emerges from good literature.

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