Pytash: Jago, Chapter 4

I think what I liked most about this chapter was Jago's brief descriptions of literary elements and literary devices. Hopefully, as INLA majors, we know most of these terms already or at least have somewhat of an idea, many of our students might not know some of these terms or easily confuse them. I think posting brief definitions of words that can be used to discuss literature around the classroom would be a good idea and something I will try to remember. The more often a person sees something, the more likely it is that it will be remembered and easily recalled. If students see over and over Freytaq's Pyramid (while it might get boring after awhile), they may be more likely to identify elements from the pyramid as they are reading a piece of literature and not identify them after the reading is done.

While it seems obvious, approaching a text by discussing the elements or examining the literary devices within the text is often a simple but effective way of helping students comprehend the literature. As Jago illustrates with The Grapes of Wrath, the students are able to hint at several themes in the novel, simply by analyzing three different phrases from a few paragraphs in a chapter. Each student examines what the phrase makes them feel or think and what it might suggest about the novel or Steinbeck's novel overall.