L
iterature is like eating a
jawbreaker. First, it seems too
big to ever conquer. After a
while a mixture of sweet colour
gradually tickles your taste buds
into submission. Slowly but surely,
when the last colour melts away in
your mouth, a sense of satisfaction
engulfs you. Similarly, if you really
start tasting the beauty of language
in literature, you will struggle to put
down any piece of writing in future.
Let me share the secret with you.
Everything in life starts with
attitude: you can only enjoy what you
allow yourself to enjoy. I would like
to challenge you into believing that
literature is FUN.
Firstly, you need to read for the
sake of enjoyment only. Don’t think,
just read and allow the story to caress
you and tickle your interest for this
newfound world. It is very important
that you READ the literary work
otherwise the teacher might bore you
with the detail. In fact, it is of the
utmost importance to enjoy the piece
first, before the analysis can start.
Thus, reading it in class should only
be your second step, never your first,
otherwise you will not be able to taste
the sweetness of the story itself.
It helps to do some research after
you have read the literary text. Not
only should you know more about the
author, playwright or poet, but you
also need to delve deeper into the era
of the written piece. This way you
will appreciate and understand the
text even better. To illustrate, if you
understand that many plays written
by Shakespeare were actually written
to please and entertain the monarch
of his era (Queen Elizabeth), you will
understand why he often wrote about
kings and queens. Research is thus
imperative. If the teacher does not
provide the necessary background
10 •
• February/March 2014
information, you need to do it yourself.
Luckily, most of us have internet
access in this modern day and age.
But be careful, the internet can be
seductive as it often tempts you to
merely copy the answers to questions
that you can easily access. If you do
this, you are actually not appreciating
the text, but rather committing a
“heinous” crime in literature called
plagiarism. Don’t go there. When
you do research, only research
background, vocabulary that is
unfamiliar to you and various themes.
Subsequent analysis is that you will be
able to analyse even unseen texts and
not only become stunted by others’
opinions. Furthermore, research is
not only what you find on the internet
or in books, but also comes from your
own world of experience. In fact, we
already have so much knowledge; we
now need to learn to apply it.
By now, you should already be
able to appreciate the story more
than before. Read it again if you have
enough courage to read the work a
second time.You will be surprised; it
may just be like tasting the mixture of
the different colours.
Another important aspect is the
literary terminology. If you do not
learn the basic literary terminology,
you will have difficulty to analyse the
text. Your teacher should provide
you with the necessary terminology.
Remember to use your general
knowledge for analysis. We know
people and can thus draw parallels
with our world of experience to
understand the characters in a literary
work.
This, however, may not be the
end of your journey to the essence
of the literary text. Take an in-depth
look at the language used by the
characters. Language rules should be
applied here. If a character’s language