Asking Critical Questions of a Literary Text

Asking Critical Questions

In studying literature, we approach texts as critical and interpretive readers One of the best ways to do this is by asking questions. There are three basic types of questions you can ask.

1. Factual – this is a question that is easily answerable by referencing the text. How did Kiowa die? Where does Tim go after he receives his draft notice? There’s no room for argument here, since you can point to the answer in the text.

Getting the facts straight is important – particularly because you can misinterpret a text if you don’t know what happened in it – and you should feel it your place or duty to help others out if you think they are misreading the facts. BUT factual questions don’t get you very far. They are be definition very easy to answer because the answer is in the text and is not disputable – there’s no room to argue, for example, that Kiowa was hit by mortar and sucked under the sludge.

2. Interpretive – these are the best kinds of questions to ask/think about/write about/discuss because they can reasonable be answered in more than one way; they invite the reader to think about what the writer is trying to achieve. For example, you might ask why O’Brien uses irony the way he does. Or why the death of Curt Lemon is retold several times. Or what “courage” means to Tim in On the Rainy River. Or how the recursive structure of “How to Tell a True War Story” affects its meaning.

Interpretive questions are useful in literary interpretation because they leave room for doubt, for questioning, for piecing together different clues the author has scattered about throughout the text. You can ask questions about setting, point of view, plot, character, dialogue, detail – asking especially WHY – why does the character say that? Why are plot points presented in that order? Why is the story collection interspersed with commentaries and essays? There’s room for argument, disagreement and discussion when we ask interpretive questions. Notice, though that some answers to those questions will make more sense than others do – the clues will fit together more precisely, convincingly – and those will be the better answers. This is, of course, a lot like being a detective or lawyer – you’re looking at the text, gathering together details that answer your questions, and pointing your finger/laying your argument according to how those details fit together. That’s one reason why begin