HTRLLAP Introduction

          Memory, symbol, and patterns all affect the reading of literature by letting you know what to expect. You can take your memories of something you've read previously and apply them to what you're reading currently to get a feel for the piece and perhaps give you a good chance at guessing the story. However, this may cause a different interpretation of the piece you are reading based on your ideas from the last one. Symbols affect reading literature by helping the reader put together the deeper meanings of what the author was trying to subtly convey, be it through metaphors, analogies, or other literary devices. Lastly, patterns help the reader understand basic plot lines in literature by relating them with similar works. Example of a literary pattern: boy meets girl, they fall in love, some struggle happens, then they overcome all the odds and end up together again (Nicholas Sparks, you may want to diversify your storylines juuuuust a bit...). The recognition of these patterns helps understand more difficult pieces of literature (Tolstoy, I am looking at you) by comparing the difficult piece to a pattern you know and love from easier works.
          A time when my appreciation of a piece was enhanced by understanding symbols was this silly little junior-high level book whose title I have completely forgotten, but love all the same. It's basically about this girl who's mom is dead and her dad's an alcoholic and she has to take care of her siblings when all she really wants to do is go to college and be a writer (which she eventually does, yippie!). The symbols in the piece really helped me appreciate what the author was trying to convey. The drowning of a girl in a pond was sexualized by the use of the water in said pond, and when they dredge her body out, she's totally pregnant. All dead and gross and stuff, but pregnant. At least the guy who drowned her (her lover) was sentenced to a whole lot of jail time for killing two people (because this was the early 1900s in Vermont and fetuses were people no matter what age, religion and all). Also, the whole college thing was a symbol of freedom for our main character (name also forgotten) because she could finally do what she wanted, not just cook and clean all day for her unappreciative drunkard papa and perfectly able to cook for themselves siblings.