WRI 178/179

Living With Parasites

“With the Grain” vs. “Against the Grain” readings

 A “with the grain” reading provides the conventional plot or summary of the text1. This
kind of reading offers a generally agreeable, uncontroversial description of what the text
is about.
 An “against the grain” reading is your own surprising or counterintuitive interpretation of
the work. It should be contestable and illuminate something about the text that a “with the
grain” reading would not address. An “against the grain” reading doesn’t emerge out of
thin air; it comes from paying attention to specific, concrete details that others might
miss. We call this kind of careful attention to the text close reading.

What is “Close Reading”?

Most students learn close reading as the process of “marking up” a text or work with questions,
observations, and pattern recognition that can be considered important to understanding the
meaning of the work. We want to give you a more complex definition that we think will help you
both in the writing seminar and in many other classes you might take at Princeton.

Close reading is the process of interpreting a text in a way that reveals something new,
surprising, or illuminating that a casual reader might miss, but which is nevertheless crucial
to understanding how the text functions.

One of the assumptions of this writing seminar is that all texts (of any medium) are available for
close reading because language always says more than it initially appears. Language is filled
with ambiguities, connotations, paradoxes, contradictions, and multiple meanings that demand
our careful attention. Close reading, then, is the act of uncovering that “more” in order to reveal
something interesting, surprising, or counterintuitive about the way particular texts work.

*** In the language of the Writing Lexicon, close reading is what we do with primary
sources to turn them into evidence for our arguments!

Some Elements to Focus on in Close Readings

1) Word Choice: Words are weird and wonderful things! They often have multiple or
contradictory meanings, strange etymologies, a variety of connotations, and interesting
family trees. Ask yourself: why did the author or speaker choose this particular word over
a different one? Is this word unusual in some way? Is this word reminiscent of other
words in a different part of the text? Is there a subtext to the author’s word choice that
influences the meaning of the work as a whole?

2) Figurative Language: There’s often more to figurative language than meets the eye. Ask
yourself how a particular metaphor or simile actually works. What is it asking the reader
1
The word “text” here is used to refer to any object—written, spoken, visual, multimedia, or otherwise—
that can be interpreted.
 to compare, contrast, or make equivalent? Does the figurative language introduce new
suggestions or connotations that complicate or destabilize the meaning it is trying to
convey?

3) Imagery: Often, and sometimes even unintentionally, authors or speakers will associate
particular ideas, characters, or places with certain images or ideas, and these images can
tell us a lot about how meaning accrues to them. Ask yourself why a particular place,
person, or idea is associated with particular images. How do these images function within
the text as a whole?

4) Allusion: Primary sources are often filled with references to other texts, historical events,
figures, and locations—either explicitly or implicitly. When reading for allusion, ask
yourself: does the primary source make references to its own historical moment? What is
it trying to say about it? Does it make reference to other literary or historical texts, and to
what end? How does it position itself in relation to other kinds of writings that have come
before it?

5) Form: Form refers to the physical structure or “shape” of the text or document that you
are engaging with. In a written document, this can refer to line length, rhyme scheme,
poetic meter (if there is one), punctuation, and the paratextual apparatus (ie. footnotes,
appendix, illustrations) etc. In a visual document this can refer to how a scene or image is
composed. Form also refers to the kind of document we have in our hands: ballad,
limerick, novel, short story, dialogue, haiku, etc. The form of a text contributes to its
meaning because it shapes how it is read.

*** There are many other possible “elements” to focus on in close reading that are not
covered here: syntax, irony, style, tone, example, rhetoric, and many others. The important
point is to pay attention to specifics in any case.

Principles of Close Reading

1) Close reading is not summarizing or paraphrasing. Close reading not only sheds
light on what something means but how it means.
2) Close reading should reveal something interesting (ie. unintuitive) about the text at
hand. Perhaps the “obvious” meaning of a passage is not as obvious as it first
appears? Perhaps the author or speaker’s language conveys more than they intend to
convey? Perhaps the meaning of a passage takes on new significance if certain
historical or cultural are taken into account when we read it? Perhaps the text is
wrestling with a tension, problem, or contradiction that it cannot quite resolve?
Perhaps the ambiguity of a sentence or phrase allows it be read in a way counter to its
literal meaning?
3) A successful close reading must be contestable, which means that it must propose an
interpretation that someone could plausibly disagree with by providing a different
analysis of the same details. If a close reading is too obvious (ie. no one would even
bother to disagree with it) or not sufficiently grounded in textual evidence (ie. it’s
impossible to disagree with) then chances are it is not a strong close reading.
 Tips For Successful Close Reading

1) Slow down! Good reading, like good writing, doesn’t happen immediately. You will
want to spend significant time with the document or object you are close reading. Get
comfortable annotating it, commenting in the margins, asking questions of it, and
engaging it carefully and rigorously. You may want to start by underlining words,
expressions, and details that intrigue or confuse you. Allow yourself to get lost in
uncertainty; this is often the first step toward arriving upon an illuminating insight!
2) Establish connections between the individual details you are noticing and important
themes or ideas running through the work as a whole. Remember, your job is to
illuminate something about the text that a casual reader would not necessarily notice.
3) Show how an analysis of specific details reveals something about the text’s broader
concerns. This is how we form strong arguments rooted in textual analysis.

*** Consider close reading one extremely powerful tool in a diverse toolkit of reading and
writing practices. It can help you take your reader out of the familiar and the mundane
into really exciting intellectual territory. Take time to practice these skills – they’re
important!