I wish I had so much more time for this first blog post about my journey into Charles Dicken's Great Expectations. The truth is I'm leaving for Europe in about ten minutes so unfortunately this will not be a very lengthy piece. But I did pinpoint a few metacognitive exercises that I did while reading the first few pages.
I notice that when I begin reading a novel, I tend to read very quickly through it and I do not even realize anything that is on the page. I can read two pages before I realize I have no clue what even happened in the story. Needless to say, I had to re-read a few paragraphs many times, slower and slower each time to really pick up on the descriptions of the people and the setting of the novel.
Upon re-reading, I began to notice how the author's word choice and imagery really make the setting of the story come to life. Dicken's phrases like "savage lair," and "bleak place" stood out to me because it helped me picture the old English graveyard that begins Pip's tale.
This is definitely a novel that I will be re-reading quite often as the 19th century English language seems to go over my head a bit. So even though it will take me a a little longer to read than most novels, I think I will enjoy diving into this novel in this megacognitive fashion.
One more thing before I go, I love finding movie clips or something visual to help me picture the characters and setting when I begin any novel. I'll look for pictures, maybe artwork that people draw about how they view the characters, anything that puts a concrete picture in my head that will stay with me throughout my reading of the novel. CLICK HERE for the link to a BBC television adaption of the novel. The adult Pip is very handsome which will definitely make me enjoy the novel more!! ;-)
Hi Tonianne!
ReplyDeleteI hope you are enjoying Europe!!!!! Have a great time!
I find that I have the same issue as you when it comes to reading things over and over again. I find that I do this because the story isn’t interesting enough for me and my mind wonders so quickly onto something else. Maybe that's happening to you. Did you think about maybe picking a different story that is more interesting or do you think that it is the fact that the time of this story and how it was written is the problem?
I find it so interesting that you said you like visual help because so do I and in my blog post I put the picture and the cover of the book just so you had a visual of the book because I like to have visual of things!
Hope your having a great time in Europe! See you when you get back! Enjoy!