{"id":50,"date":"2020-02-25T23:15:07","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T04:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/chapter\/discover-what-a-text-is-trying-to-say\/"},"modified":"2021-08-05T17:14:08","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T21:14:08","slug":"discover-what-a-text-is-trying-to-say","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/chapter\/discover-what-a-text-is-trying-to-say\/","title":{"raw":"Discovering What a Text is Saying","rendered":"Discovering What a Text is Saying"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"__UNKNOWN__\">\r\n\r\nAll texts\u2014whether fiction or nonfiction\u2014carry layers of information, built one on top of the other. As we read, we peel those back\u2014like layers in an onion\u2014and uncover deeper meanings.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"picture alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/931\/2020\/02\/Hidden-Meaning-300x278.png\" alt=\"A drawing of a house, a tree, and a box labelled &quot;A.&quot; Underground beneath the box is a chest labelled &quot;B.&quot;\" width=\"300\" height=\"278\" \/>\r\n\r\nTake a look at the image to the right. I use this in the classroom to explain the \u201cdeeper meaning\u201d concept to students. All texts and stories have surface meaning. In the sketch, this surface meaning is represented by all the things we see above ground: the tree, the house, and the box (A), along with whatever is in it\u2014even though the box may be closed, anyone who walks by can see it and explore it. These items are concrete and obvious.\r\n\r\nBut stories and essays also have deeper, hidden meanings. In the image, there\u2019s a buried treasure chest (B) deep underground, waiting to be discovered and opened. Texts are much the same\u2014they each contain obvious, surface level meanings, and they each contain a buried prize as well.\r\n\r\nWhen working with a text, be aware of everything that is happening within it\u2014almost as if you\u2019re watching a juggler with several balls in the air at one time:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Consider the characters or people featured in the text, their dialogue, and how they interact.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Be aware of the plot\u2019s movement (in a fictional story) or the topic development (in a nonfiction article or essay) and the moments of excitement or conflict as the action rises and falls.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Look for changes in time\u2014flashbacks, flash-forwards, and dream sequences.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Watch for themes (ideas that occur, reappear, and carry meaning or a message throughout the piece) or symbols (objects or ideas that stand for or mean something else; these carry meaning that we often understand quickly without thinking about it too much).<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p style=\"margin-left: 22.5pt;\"><strong>Examples of themes<\/strong>: coming of age, redemption, the nature of honesty, conflict, sacrifice.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin-left: 22.5pt;\"><strong>Examples of symbols<\/strong>: full moon (typically suggests mystery), dark forest (danger or the possibility of being lost), white flag (surrender), a path or road (journey).<\/p>\r\nAs you read, always look for both surface meanings and those buried beneath the surface, like treasure. That\u2019s the fun part of reading\u2014finding those precious hidden bits, waiting to be uncovered and eager to make your reading experience richer and deeper. Even if you just scratch the surface, you\u2019ll learn more.\r\n<h3>Text Attributions<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>This chapter was adapted from \u201c<a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/openoregon.pressbooks.pub\/wrd\/chapter\/discover-what-a-text-is-trying-to-say\/\">Discover What a Text is Saying<\/a>\u201d in <em>The Word on College Reading and Writing <\/em>by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear, which is licensed under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC 4.0 Licence<\/a>. Adapted by Allison Kilgannon.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3>Media Attributions<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>\"Hidden Meanings\" by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear is under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC 4.0 Licence<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"__UNKNOWN__\">\n<p>All texts\u2014whether fiction or nonfiction\u2014carry layers of information, built one on top of the other. As we read, we peel those back\u2014like layers in an onion\u2014and uncover deeper meanings.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"picture alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/931\/2020\/02\/Hidden-Meaning-300x278.png\" alt=\"A drawing of a house, a tree, and a box labelled &quot;A.&quot; Underground beneath the box is a chest labelled &quot;B.&quot;\" width=\"300\" height=\"278\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Take a look at the image to the right. I use this in the classroom to explain the \u201cdeeper meaning\u201d concept to students. All texts and stories have surface meaning. In the sketch, this surface meaning is represented by all the things we see above ground: the tree, the house, and the box (A), along with whatever is in it\u2014even though the box may be closed, anyone who walks by can see it and explore it. These items are concrete and obvious.<\/p>\n<p>But stories and essays also have deeper, hidden meanings. In the image, there\u2019s a buried treasure chest (B) deep underground, waiting to be discovered and opened. Texts are much the same\u2014they each contain obvious, surface level meanings, and they each contain a buried prize as well.<\/p>\n<p>When working with a text, be aware of everything that is happening within it\u2014almost as if you\u2019re watching a juggler with several balls in the air at one time:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Consider the characters or people featured in the text, their dialogue, and how they interact.<\/li>\n<li>Be aware of the plot\u2019s movement (in a fictional story) or the topic development (in a nonfiction article or essay) and the moments of excitement or conflict as the action rises and falls.<\/li>\n<li>Look for changes in time\u2014flashbacks, flash-forwards, and dream sequences.<\/li>\n<li>Watch for themes (ideas that occur, reappear, and carry meaning or a message throughout the piece) or symbols (objects or ideas that stand for or mean something else; these carry meaning that we often understand quickly without thinking about it too much).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 22.5pt;\"><strong>Examples of themes<\/strong>: coming of age, redemption, the nature of honesty, conflict, sacrifice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 22.5pt;\"><strong>Examples of symbols<\/strong>: full moon (typically suggests mystery), dark forest (danger or the possibility of being lost), white flag (surrender), a path or road (journey).<\/p>\n<p>As you read, always look for both surface meanings and those buried beneath the surface, like treasure. That\u2019s the fun part of reading\u2014finding those precious hidden bits, waiting to be uncovered and eager to make your reading experience richer and deeper. Even if you just scratch the surface, you\u2019ll learn more.<\/p>\n<h3>Text Attributions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>This chapter was adapted from \u201c<a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/openoregon.pressbooks.pub\/wrd\/chapter\/discover-what-a-text-is-trying-to-say\/\">Discover What a Text is Saying<\/a>\u201d in <em>The Word on College Reading and Writing <\/em>by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear, which is licensed under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC 4.0 Licence<\/a>. Adapted by Allison Kilgannon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Media Attributions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Hidden Meanings&#8221; by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear is under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC 4.0 Licence<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":701,"menu_order":10,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-50","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":29,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/701"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":858,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/50\/revisions\/858"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/29"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/50\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}