YZ

The analysis of works of literature hasn’t really affected me significantly. For some books, such as To Kill A Mockingbird, the analysis actually increased my joy and understanding of the book. In the case of outside reading books, I am still able to completely ignore analysis and carry on reading purely for pleasure; at points, I may notice a symbol or theme, but it doesn’t bother me because I know that I don't have to dig any further. Once in school, I take a different mindset, but that doesn’t mean that I can still find anything in the words. I think what makes me better at separating school from home is, in fact, my inability to notice such literary devices in normal reading. Once reading for pleasure (or even in school), rhetorical strategies whiz by my head like dodge balls in gym class. I need to really force myself to look closely, and to read line-by-line, as suggested by Francine Prose, to discover anything. Therefore, I can say that, in my case, I really have no trouble separating the in-class reading and the outside-school reading, because both are essentially the same thing – except for the blandness of the books. For others, I can see where it would become a nuisance; to constantly be analyzing every bit of text as we do in class – that would just be plain mind torture. For me, however, my current status is working well, and I’m enjoying my ignorance of literary subtleties for as long as I can.