Speaking of Science, Did you know that there is the only real fact that every single human being (or conscious entity) can agree on empirically? The fact that we are ALL heading for an end point somewhere in the future. Everything else is open to the possibility of an experience gap between the self and others. Now what does all this really mean?
Very simply put, It means we are each (each conscious entity) on a “track” with time marking the milestones. As we move forward through this track, we have a slew of experiences, which are nothing but information inputs received by our senses. And what is information? It’s data.
The study of this data, or analysis of this data is science. That’s what science is at the most fundamental level. On the other hand, what are the pieces of information that spark emotional triggers within us? Because it’s those pieces of information, or the perception of them, that gives a being their true experience of existence. Here’s an exciting question: Can this experience of existence be codified and conveyed to other human beings? That’s where art comes in. That’s where literature comes in. Literary analysis is not very different from data analysis when one thinks about it this way. In fact, it’s exactly the same thing but with one defining difference. Science is the study of data from nature, whereas literature is the study of data given to us from other human beings, by the utilization of human made devices like words, musical notes, poems, stories…
Data analysis relies on the intake of data over periods of time, these “periods” are what can be studied to determine patterns -> patterns which are studied as part of data analysis. Literary works such as poems are nothing but instructions that will lead the experiencer to experience the specific experience the creator of the artwork intended to express through his work.
That’s what art, or in this case, literature is. The expression of the writer’s inner most thoughts; that they don’t have the senses to convey through the scientific or logical method. Thus the writer relies on symbols, metaphors, literary devices of all kinds to create a “piece” that can give the reader of the piece the hints, codes and tools required to understand the underlying message the artist intended to give with his artwork.
If the author is successful in this endeavor, then he/she is capable of giving the viewer various brand new perceptions of human experience, that can work as both exhilarating objects of admiration, as well as a source of threads of commonalities between even the most different of human beings, spanning from different time periods, geographies and as we will see, many more agents of division. Studying and analyzing notable works of literature from the civilized world gives the person studying a tremendous new dimension of analysis of the world around them; complete with its own set of valuable insights pertinent to ALL walks of life, from work to personal relationships.-
At the Applicant’s Paradox Tutors, we look at the literature in front of us as though we are two code breakers working for a top secret intelligence agency during World War 2> we have to figure out the hidden code that the book is trying to convey. The beauty of stories is that they give the reader their own freedom of defining “periods” for their analysis. So we shall see as we progress, if we should make an analytical commentary of the reading once every page, or once every 10 pages, or so on. Each period we will look at 6 variables, chosen arbitrarily from experience. These are: time period, culture, objects, style choices (visual and verbal), subtext, overarching narrative – in ascending order.
Are you ready for the challenge?
