SWIFTT An Advanced Placement Close Reading Strategy The Most Awesome Thing on the Planet

Symbolism – When an object or action stands for more than it really is Look for characters, names, objects, actions,settings, or situations that could be symbolic The stars in The Sneetches represent differing status, or social class, among the Sneetches. Those Sneetches with stars were seen as superior among the beach dwellers. Since stars are not earned, but are only decorative, stars also stand for vanity, or beauty for it’s own status. Also, the character of McBean stands for all those who are willing to take financial advantage of people who are divided and thus vulnerable. One could sumise that McBean could symbolize the devil.

Word Choice/Diction- The meaning behind the author’s choice of certain words. Words have denotation and connotation. Word Choice – Look for specific or unusual wording that could bring additional, or hidden meaning in the text. Suess uses the words “friends” when McBean talks to the Sneetches. This is McBean’s way of persuading the Sneetches to spend more money in their search for superiority. The use of “Star-belly” and “Plain-belly” furthers who’s the division among this population.

Imagery – the use of the five sense in writing to create interest and paint a mental picture (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) Imagery – look for words or phrases that use the five senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste). Things you can see with your eyes are not imagery. DESCRIBING how things look IS imagery. Suess uses the words “cold” and “dark” to describe the beaches that the plain-belly Sneetches are relegated to. This is not the usual mental picture of a beach. Suess is showing how isolated and miserable the beach can be.

This is a cow for your entertainment. Enjoy!

Figurative Language – All the Englishy stuff and literary terms and devices. Figurative Language – Look for Literary terms and devices, especially when they create more meaningful writing and show you clues about characters or situations. There are many examples of Suess’s use of onomatopoeia, such as, klonked, bonked, jerked, berked and bopped. Suess also uses rhyming as a natural device for children’s literature.

Tone – The writer has a particular attitude towards the subject, he/she uses the other parts of SWIFTT to transmit that attitude; all those elements create tone. Tone – Figure out what the subject is (love, death, friendship) and find evidence to determine how the author feels about that subject. Try to pinpoint between one to three words that sum up his/her attitude. The writer obviously feels strongly about how vane and petty people can be. He may referring to racial, or socioeconomic issues. Yet he chooses a children’s story to illustrate his personal values. Give this evidence I believe that the following tone words would fit The Sneetches: moralistic, optimistic.

Theme – The theme is the central idea, universal meaning, or the “moral” to the story. Theme – What is the writer trying to teach or show you about the world. The theme can be written in one sentence. There can be multiple themes. Themes can be found in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, music and art. Be CAREFUL that you are identifying the theme and not the subject. Friendship is not a theme. Friendship being more important than romantic love could be a theme. Themes MUST be backed up by evidence from the text to be correct. There are several themes in The Sneetches. Society’s importance of physical beauty as a means of judgment is wrong. A divided society is a vulnerable society. Being victimized by a common evil can bring society together.