Critical Reading What Does It Really Mean

You are often told to give a book a good critical reading. But do you know what that really means? Critical reading means reading with the goal of finding a deep understanding of a material, whether it is fiction or nonfiction. It is the act of analyzing and evaluating what you are reading as you make your way through the text  or as you reflect back upon your reading. Using Your Head When you read a piece of fiction critically, you use your common sense to determine what the writer means, as opposed to what the written words actually say. The following passage appears in The Red Badge of Courage, the classic Civil War-era work by Stephen Crane. In this passage, the main character, Henry Fleming, has just returned from battle and is now receiving treatment for a nasty head wound. Yeh dont holler ner say nothin... an yeh never squeaked. Yer a good un, Henry. Most a men would a been in th hospital long ago. A shot in th head aint foolin business... The point seems clear enough. Henry is receiving praise for his apparent fortitude and bravery. But what is really happening in this scene? During the confusion and terror of the battle, Henry Fleming had actually panicked and run away, abandoning his fellow soldiers in the process. He had received the blow in the chaos of retreat; not the frenzy of battle. In this scene, he was feeling ashamed of himself. When you read this passage critically, you actually read between the lines. By doing so, you determine the message that the author is really conveying. The words speak of bravery, but the real message of this scene is concerned feelings of  cowardice that tormented Henry. Shortly after the scene above, Fleming realizes that nobody in the entire regiment knows the truth about his wound. They all believe that the wound was the result of fighting in the battle: His self-pride was now entirely restored....He had performed his mistakes in the dark, so he was still a man. Despite the claim that Henry feels relieved, we know by reflecting and thinking critically that Henry isnt really comforted. By reading between the lines, we know he is deeply bothered by the sham. What's the Lesson? One way to read a novel critically is to be aware of the lessons or messages that a writer is sending in a subtle way. After reading The Red Badge of Courage, a critical reader would reflect back on the many scenes and look for a lesson or a message. What is the writer trying to say about courage and war? The good news is, there isnt a right or wrong answer. Its the act of forming a question and offering your own opinion that counts. Nonfiction Nonfiction writing can be just as tricky to evaluate as fiction, although there are differences. Nonfiction writing normally involves a series of statements that are backed by evidence. As a critical reader, you will need to be mindful of this process. The goal of critical thinking is to evaluate information in an unbiased way. This includes being open to changing your mind about a subject if the good evidence exists. However, you should also try not to be influenced by unsound evidence. The trick to critical reading in nonfiction is to know how to separate the good evidence from the bad. There are signs to look out for when it comes to misleading or bad evidence. Assumptions Watch for broad, unsupported statements like most people in the pre-war South approved of slavery. Every time you see a statement, ask yourself if the author provides any evidence to back up his point. Implications Be mindful of subtle statements such as Statistics support those who argue that boys are better at math than girls, so why should this be such a controversial issue? Dont become distracted by the fact that some people do believe that males are naturally better at math, and address that issue. When you do this, you are accepting the implication and, therefore, falling for bad evidence. The point is, in critical reading, that the author has not provided statistics; he merely implied that statistics exist.

Duddy vs Macbeth Essay examples - 1656 Words

The Corruption of Macbeth and Duddy Everyone should follow their dreams, but sometimes when you get too caught up in your dreams; you begin to forget about reality. Throughout the play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare and the novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, written by Mordecai Richler, protagonists Macbeth and Duddy become corrupted as they on the pursuit of their dream. Throughout the novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and the play Macbeth, both protagonists have characters in their life that influence them into becoming corrupt. Both characters, Duddy and Macbeth have such a strong ambition that it leads to the corruption of themselves. Duddy and Macbeth’s pursuit of their dreams leads them to be greedy which†¦show more content†¦In both stories external forces have told Macbeth and Duddy what they have to do in order become successful. In Macbeth, the witches inform on how to become king which corrupts him. A quote from the play showing thi s is â€Å"All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!† (Shakespeare, 10) Another quote showing his reaction to this is â€Å"Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more!† (Shakespeare, 11) This shows us how the witches told Macbeth that he could become king and then he gets too caught up in it which finally leads to his corruption. In Duddy we see Simcha tell Duddy that â€Å"A man without land is nothing.†(Richler, ) After Simcha tells Duddy this, Duddy does whatever he can to be a man with Page 3 land without truly thinking about what he is doing. This helps leads to the corruption of Duddy. The external forces around Macbeth and Duddy influence their decisions which lead to the corruption of both characters. Macbeth and Duddy are so focused on the pursuit of their dream that their ambition to obtain their dream leads to their corruption. In both stories Macbeth and Duddy’s ambition to pursuit their dream becomes so large that both protagonists are willing to do anything in order to achieve that dream. Throughout Macbeth we see many times where he is willing to do anything

Lifestyle in the Past and Now free essay sample

Past and now are a linked chain of events include many of developments in lifestyle. Past and now are complementary times to each other. Past lifestyle was completely different from nowadays in many things such as the residence, the transportations and the education. The residences style in the past varied according to the places such as In the deserts, the Bedouin used tents, because they always changed their place, so tents were easy to reinstall them when they reached another place. Bedouins tents protected them in the rainy weather In terms of rain leaking, because they were made of woven goat hair. Other residences were made of clay and wood or Palm trunk. Old residences were not big and had not a lot of rooms. They were simple and characterized by beautiful geometric design. On the other hand the residences nowadays are totally  different from old residences style. Nowadays, there are a lot of big villas. We will write a custom essay sample on Lifestyle in the Past and Now or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They are made of Cement and it have a strange designing but they are nice. Villas also characterized by large windows that overlooking to the backyard. Residences these days have many rooms such as Living Room, bed rooms, Dining Room, kitchen , Laundry room and the toilets. As well residences in this time allow things that were not allow in past like Air conditioning, heating and electric lighting. The modern transportations are the best inventions in history in my opinion, because they ended the difficulties that the people faced them in the past. Transportations were very hard in the past. People used the animals for traveling to the far places. The most common animal that they were used are the camels because they can bear the hot weather in the deserts. People in the past spent months and sometimes year to reached where they wanted. Also there was another way to travel which was travelling by Ships. Modern transportations in these days are much more better than before. They are so comfortable and fast. The inventions of cars, trains and planes help us to reach farther than what the people reached before in easy ways. Nowadays we spend just hours to travel. These inventions allowed us to see the other side of huge world. The most important difference between the past and now is the education. Education is an important factor in our lives, because through it we can change, develop and improve our lifestyles. In the past, education was plain and simple. There were not many subjects only two important subject which were Islamic and mathematic. Before the mosque was the same place to educate the student. They used simple tools that could help to teach. It is sure that education in the past differed from now. The education nowadays became more open and the number of schools and universities are increasing. In addition there are a lot of subjects were not discovered before. Student in this time can learn in many ways not only in school also the can learn from the books ,movies and the internet. At the end, lifestyle become much more better and easier than before. The lifestyle in the past was a simple but hard. Every things are changed and will be change till the other generations with new, different and easy lifestyle.