If you have trouble understanding literature when you’re reading it, you’re not alone. In a previous post, I gave some tips to make it a bit easier. In this post, I’m going to give you three questions to ask while reading that will make your life incredibly easier, from comprehension to analysis. These questions are informed by my experience teaching English in various settings over several years, and I hope they can make your life a bit easier.
With that being said, let’s get started!
Question #1: What’s the WHAT of the story?
This is the most basic question when we’re reading, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easy. Just think of Dante’s Inferno or Milton’s Paradise Lost! Comprehension doesn’t always come easily, even if it’s the first thing we learn how to do.
However, I’ve found that approaching this–and JUST this–first can help because it takes some of the stress out of the equation. On your first time reading, focus on what the story is literally telling you. Don’t bother to consider literary techniques or an overall message. Just focus on the literal aspects of the story.
To make it even easier, you can break the what down into a few smaller questions.
“What” Question #1: Who are the characters?
Let’s take To Kill a Mockingbird as an example. If I list the main characters (and just the main characters, for the sake of brevity) and what I know about them, I’ll come up with something like this:
- Scout is a six year old girl. She’s a tomboy and is very close to her brother, Jem.
- Jem is ten years old. He is close to his sister and admires his father, Atticus.
- Atticus is Scout and Jem’s middle-aged father. He is from a prominent family and is a lawyer.
Add to your character knowledge list as you read. For example, as I go through the story, I might note that Scout is almost nine by the end of the book, that she is “engaged” to Dill, or that she is very close to Miss Maudie. What’s important is that you’re keeping track of who these people are and what role they play in the text.
“What” Question #2: What do these characters do in the story? What is the plot?
We’ll stick with the above example. Here, you’re just looking at the very basic plot. Think of the main events. Or, where do these characters start, and where do they end up?
For this story, it might look something like this (spoilers ahead):
- Scout and Jem are growing up in a small town in Alabama in the 1930s.
- We are introduced to several characters in the town and see how they live.
- Most of Scout and Jem’s excitement comes from watching other people in the town and playing with their friend Jem.
- Their main focus is trying to figure out why their reclusive neighbor never leaves his house. Not much happens until…
- Their father Atticus defends a black man (Tom Robinson) in court against a white man who is not well-liked in their town (Bob Ewell).
- The small town’s opinions and “true colors” come out. There is much said about the family, specifically Atticus, and the children see that there is an ugly side to the world.
- The case happens. All the town goes to see it.
- Atticus presents a strong case where it’s clear that Tom Robinson did not commit the crime.
- He loses the case anyway because the jurors side with Bob Ewell.
- Everybody else in the town moves on after a while, but Scout and Jem have learned how much unfairness and prejudice there is in the world. They are stuck on the case.
- So is Bob Ewell, who attacks people involved in the case, including the kids.
- Scout and Jem are saved by Boo, their reclusive neighbor.
These are super basic plot points, and it could be even more basic still. There are obviously several things that I don’t touch on. However, you get the idea of what happens in the story at a literal level. You’ll need this to understand the next part.
Pro Tip
One of my best tips for my students is to write short summaries at the end of each chapter. These don’t have to be complex. They just have to be a brief recap of who was there and what happened–think bullet points, just like I did above. When you need to review or refresh yourself, you can flip back and look at these. This is also a great way to gauge how much you’re understanding as you read.
Question #2: What’s the WHY of the story?
This is the heart of the matter, also known as the purpose of the book. It’s connected to who the audience is, but we’re not there yet.
The real question you need to ask yourself after you’ve figured out the what of the story is why did the author write this book? What’s the underlying message that they want to get across?
Let’s just focus on that first sub-question. Why did the author write the book? Chances are high that the author didn’t put all of that effort into writing a book just because. They had a goal. Whether that was simply to entertain (think rom coms) or to share a message, they had a point. Writing books takes a lot of effort.
With that in mind, we can review our memory of the text and our notes about the “what.” From this summary, we can extract some major ideas, which will lead us to themes (here’s a list of common ones). Every book has a theme. It can be as simple as “love” or “good and evil.” What matters is what the author is saying about the topic.
It can feel like a hidden meaning, and it kind of is. As you read, whether it’s a news article or a classic novel, you can ask yourself, “Why did the author sit down and go through the craziness of writing a book and sending it out into the world? What made it worth it?”
Our Example
Let’s go back to To Kill a Mockingbird. If we think about the basic facts–in takes place in the 1930s but was released in 1960, and it reviews morality, justice, race relations, and coming of age and innocence in a small Southern town–we can start brainstorming.
Why might Harper Lee have written it?
- To show us how unjust the justice system could be, especially when race and prejudice come into play
- To have us confront our own prejudice and contradictions
- To tell a story about coming of age and losing your innocence
And we can keep brainstorming from there.
Basically, ask yourself what the author might want you to take away after you’ve spent however many hours reading their book. Look for this answer, and it will help you significantly when you approach essays.
Now, on to the way to find the answer.
Question #3: What’s the HOW of the story?
This seems deceivingly simple, yet it’s probably my students’ least favorite of the three questions. Here, we’re asking ourselves how does the author tell the story and get that hidden message across?
We learn better by stories. If someone just told you “don’t be racist” or “money corrupts people” or “think before you do something,” you wouldn’t have the same emotional reaction as you would if they showed you and gave you a reason to care or an emotional tie–hence “show don’t tell.”
Given this, you need to consider the what (the plot) and the why (the message) and fill in that last blank. How does the author make it so that the message sinks in? This is where your literary devices and literary techniques come in handy.
To figure it out, it takes a two-pronged approach:
- Learning literary techniques and becoming familiar with literature (training)
- Gut instinct
And before you freak out about the gut instinct, I promise you that it will get better over time. It’s a matter of comfort and familiarity.
I’d recommend starting by listening to your gut. This will save you time. Then, once you’ve asked yourself how you think the author is getting their point across and taken some notes, you’ll want to dive into their use of literary techniques. These can be things like:
- Characterization
- Symbolism
- Metaphor
- Irony
- Foreshadowing
- Juxtaposition
- Story Structure
- Point of View
The list goes on, but you get my point.
Now the Application
Once you’re familiar with the techniques, dive in and start asking yourself questions. Be like an annoying child–ask “WHY?” about everything.
For example, for To Kill a Mockingbird, I might ask myself, “Why did Harper Lee choose to tell the story about prejudice through a child’s perspective and not an adult’s (maybe Atticus, the lawyer)? Or even the perspective of Tom Robinson, the man accused of the crime? What did this add to the story, and how would it have changed the story otherwise?
If something sticks out to you, try to figure out why the author put it in there. For example, why did Harper Lee dedicate a chapter to Scout and Jem building a snowman that’s actually packed dirt covered with snow?
From here, I can ask myself, “What might she be saying with this snowman? How does it connect to other things or ideas in the text?”
Then, I think of the ideas of prejudice and judging other people in the text, and how some of the “nice” people actually have a hidden ugly side, and how some of the “scary” people are actually the nicest ones in the text. From here, I can arrive at the idea that the snowman might be a way to portray the idea that you can’t judge someone from their appearance, as their insides might not match their outsides.
And would you look at that! We found a symbol.
Important Note
This brings me to an important point: always assume that the author is being intentional.
It takes a lot of planning, writing, editing, and revisions to create a finalized book. You might hate some of those decisions, and that’s totally fine. But you need to assume that every single word in that book was reviewed multiple times, and that the author put everything in there for a reason. From there, ask why they did that, and what purpose it serves? This will lead you to the how.
A Brief Recap for the How
The how is the way the author gets their main ideas across. To find it, let yourself question everything. Listen to your gut when something seems strange or significant. Figure out why the author made the choices that they did to support their message.
Applying It All
Try to think of a book you read, or grab one off your shelf. On a piece of paper, try to figure out…
- WHAT the author is saying
- WHY they’re saying it
- HOW they’re getting the message across
This mindset and these three questions correspond to what most essays ask you to cover, and looking at it like this will help you to prepare well for tests, too, because you’ll be examining the text at a deeper, more strategic level.
A Final Word
Reading literature and analyzing it are both skills that take time and practice to hone. By focusing on the what, why, and how, you’ll make life much easier for yourself and simplify reading–one question at a time. Don’t feel stressed if it takes you multiple reads to find answers; this is normal, and honestly a sign that you’re doing it right.
What other reading questions help you to understand literature better? Let me know!
