Journal 2

For me, close reading is not plainly just reading a text and enjoying it. It's analyzing what the author is trying to say. When you are close reading you're trying to find the inner meaning of an author's work, peeling back all of the layers to grasp the entire message. I think the purpose is to find a deeper meaning in the author's work and really try to discover what points they hope to get across. An author is writing for a purpose, and it is up to the reader to realize what that purpose is through their texts and descriptions.

I believe that I am learning more about writing as I engage in close reading for Inquiry 1. I chose to write about a movie, and I have come to realize that the writer made decisions for a reason. Many details illustrate gender roles, and if you never really paid attention to the inner script of the movie, you would not see this. I have learned to really look into a text and find out why the author chose to write what they did, and read in between the lines, focusing closely on the hidden message behind the text.