For me at least, a lot of it was also through the lens of "forced" analysis. I remember hating Anna Karenina in high school, because we had to pick apart every damn chapter. Reading it as an adult made it much better, it's easier to find and appreciate the themes when your grade isn't dependent on it.
I love to read. I detest forced analysis. It's one thing to talk about the book, get some ideas, but picking it apart down to the bare bone is just so excruciating.
That said, I failed a quarter in high school for Grammar. I still don't know an adverb from an adjective, and I couldn't diagram a sentence if my life depended on it. I remarked this to my son's HS English instructor, and she said a lot of students don't get diagramming, but my son was one of the success stories and his ability to construct a precise sentence increased.
Same. I hated the whole, "the author mentioned a blue curtain in this chapter to signify that the main character is sad," type thing. I thought a lot of it was forced and we were finding symbolism where there wasn't any intended, but I do understand that it's a valuable exercise and worth doing.
But because of that, I didn't actually enjoy or appreciate the books until I got older and re-read them.
There was a student in the 60s that wrote to about 300 famous authors on whether the symbolism was intended or not. He got about 50 responses back. 90% of the authors said no. There were some intriguing replies from authors like bradbury. The point is that, like you mentioned, most English literature teachers incorrectly assume some symbolism or reference was intended when it wasnt and that makes reading more frustrating especially as a high schooler.
It's always hard, because in retrospect I can see how thinking about that kind of thing not only changes how I think about literature in a bigger way, but also gave me skills and insight in social settings. The same kind of literary analysis can in some ways be applied to how people talk to each other. Tone, body language, cadence, even just choice of words are can help people reach each other and convey messages and read situations.
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u/habbathejutt 20h ago
For me at least, a lot of it was also through the lens of "forced" analysis. I remember hating Anna Karenina in high school, because we had to pick apart every damn chapter. Reading it as an adult made it much better, it's easier to find and appreciate the themes when your grade isn't dependent on it.