The Science of Literature

Studying literature is a chain of action and reaction based on the laws of literature: literary elements.

by Shawn Hassen

Most students recognize literature as a form of art, and this is ironically the first obstacle to their studies because their preconceived notions of “art” are often wrong. Instead of thinking of art as artist-centered, they are much more likely to think of art as audience-centered. Instead of thinking of a novel as a piece of art that a writer has created with purpose and intention, novice students are much more likely to think of the novel in terms of how it affects them as readers. True enough, literature is evocative--beautiful, tragic, cathartic. Students rightly recognize that it makes you feel stuff. You might like it, you might hate it, you might fall in love with the characters, you might despise the characters. You might feel a sweet nostalgia, you might feel a hollow sadness, you might feel invigorated, you might feel drained. The varied responses literature can produce, although fulfilling and vital, muddy a youngster’s understanding of art’s intentionality. As they swim through their own sea of emotions, they are likely to assume that the reality/purpose/meaning of a story, poem, or novel is how it makes them feel.  And where else did students get this idea?  Understandably everywhere. From bedtime stories to classroom reading time, parents and teachers have been asking young people how it made them feel. It’s a fair question. The emotions that any piece of art evokes are paramount to the piece’s beauty and wholeness, just as they are paramount to our experience and wholeness as human beings. The written word, just like music, sculpture, dance, or architecture, has a tremendous ability to move us and transform us. We want students to experience literature’s transforming power, to continue exploring the emotions inherent to great works. We most certainly want them to feel. 

But we also want them to understand. 

For many students in our classrooms, this will require a new perspective--less focus on themselves and more focus on the writer’s intentions.  Everyone can “experience” a story differently, but at the end of the day, one cliche captures each piece of literature perfectly: It is what it is. As readers, we are invited to experience literature differently, but our individual experiences do not change or influence the literature in any way. Because it is what it is. This isn’t to say that writers are never vague or cryptic. Postmodernism and even modernism (particularly in the genre of poetry) sometimes celebrates the obtuse. But many of the works that we will initially teach our younger scholars are short stories and novels that were created within a particular framework of history, for a particular purpose, and by a particular writer who purposefully expressed particular ideas about life and the humans who live it. I always told my students that most writers “write to change the world.” Big ideas and small ideas, macro and micro, come together in a novel or story as an expression of the artist. Just as a painter mixes the colors on canvas to recreate an image, a feeling, a moment in time, or a memory, so does a writer build her story to recreate a world as she sees it, has experienced it, knows it to be, or wishes it were. The painter has tools at his disposal in order to create his or her image. Similarly, a writer uses tools which English teachers introduce to students as the basic elements of literature:

Protagonist

Antagonist

Flat/Round Characters

Static/Dynamic Characters

Plot (Intro, Rising Action, Tension, Climax, Denouement) 

Conflict

Symbolism 

Irony

Figurative Language: Simile, Metaphor, Hyperbole, Oxymoron, Paradox  

Using these tools, or elements, a writer communicates something very intentional--and discoverable. Students must consistently practice and improve their ability to accurately identify and discuss these elements in every piece of fiction they study. Only with proficiency of these terms will they begin to appreciate literature as the surprisingly objective art form that it is. A novel’s protagonist, for example, is always complex and typically dynamic (debatably static protagonists do exist). Also, the protagonist is always at the crux of conflict and climax. This is true whether or not we like her and despite any feelings we have about her. We can list her traits based on what she says and what she does, or how a credible narrator describes her, and this “evidence” will allow us to describe her personality and motivations irrespective of any of our own thoughts. That’s because the writer developed her with a purpose and science-like detail.

Many students will actually be intrigued, and possibly even relieved, to approach literature with a somewhat “scientific” or even mathematical approach (think geometry proofs).  Following the trails of literary evidence in a work is quite logical and depends on certain “laws of literature.” Back to our example of characterization for instance.  If a seemingly healthy, independent, clear-thinking character sometimes says one thing but does the opposite, then he is, logically, a character who lacks self-awareness and/or who lies. Which is it and why? Following a trail of evidence throughout the story--conflict(s), the climax, and whether or not the character proves to be static or dynamic—will reveal the truths about the character and his significance to the work as a whole. The details and clues about the characters, conflicts, and symbols function like puzzle pieces, allowing us to put together an accurate picture of the writer’s intentions. 

Our job as teachers is to provide expert coaching that will help students of literature become great lawyers who can gather evidence (by applying the literary elements) and present that evidence (in their discussion and writing). They will be well on their way to being better thinkers by learning to read more accurately and by learning to discover that the literature is what it is. No “interpreting.” No “analyzing.” Toss all of those misused terms. Students must begin their objective, academic study of literature by simply reporting the evidence a writer has strategically placed within the pages of the text. It is important to note that this first stage of literary study has no mention of the feared, monumental T-word that leaves students with sweaty palms on test day: theme. The list of literary elements I have presented thus far is an intentionally incomplete list because students must begin mastering the basics elements of literature (micro study) before they can embark on the next challenges (macro study).

The micro study of a literary work—understanding the elements within the piece, itself—can be represented by a diagram upon which we will continue to build. Students can think of this as a three-dimensional diagram much like a model of the earth’s layers, for instance, where the core is the short story or novel being studied. I drew the various stages of this diagram constantly on the board; as the school where I taught grew, I became a floating teacher who lost the luxury of wall space for permanent posters. Keeping the diagram two-dimensional made it a snap to draw millions of times, quickly and spontaneously. When I say I drew this diagram a million times each year, I am very nearly correct. I began every literary conversation by putting this on the board to review and reinforce what the process of studying literature looks like. The diagram starts with a solid circle (the core). This circle represents the short story or novel being studied. Now draw a ring around this core, and label this larger circle "Elements." A small arrow aiming from the center, toward the Elements ring indicates the flow of our studies.

When we study literature, we read the piece (perhaps more than once if it is a short piece and time allows) and annotate, noting all of the seemingly significant details. From these details, we become investigators who travel outward in our thinking to identify and discuss the elements of literature: plot, characterization, symbolism, conflict and so forth. Another way of thinking of it is that the story or novel reveals these elements of literature as we study it. Note that the arrows traveling outward from the core piece of literature will become increasingly important as we help students expand their macro thinking (in future posts).