I wanted my summer to be reminiscent of a coming-of-age film, but I made the questionable decision of signing up for English Literature IB. Instead of hangouts and late-night conversations with my friends, I guess I’ll have them with my books.
Before the first day of classes, I must fully annotate two texts for my summer reading: Perfume by Patrick Süskind and Macbeth by William Shakespeare. I deeply regret not starting earlier and evenly distributing my workload through summer, but I started annotating this week, and it’s beginning to take over my personality.
Why Do We Annotate?
Annotations are comments and markings added to the text to enhance your overall comprehension. By highlighting, underlining, or writing in the margins, you give your copy of the book an identity distinct from millions of others. Annotating is reacting to a book, which we already do subconsciously. Expressing these often unsaid thoughts can help you gain more from your reading. After reading, I usually remember the plot, some themes, a few powerful quotes, and whether the book was generally well-written or not. However, by personally interacting with the text, I can extract much more than that. I feel like I could discuss the book with others years after reading it.
How To Annotate
All you need to annotate is a pen. Highlighters allow you to colour code, but symbols, such as stars and exclamation marks, will suffice. I advise using post-it notes to revisit plot events with ease, but you genuinely don’t require many resources to annotate.
There are limitless possibilities of what you can annotate. Here are a few:
- Unfamiliar words; write the definitions directly into the text
- Characterization and character development; what is revealed about the personality and motivations of the characters? How do these change?
- Literary devices and their effects; symbolism, contrasts, figurative language, irony, imagery, repetition, foreshadowing, e.t.c
- Style; diction (word choice), sentence structure
Fill the margins and write in between the lines. Ask questions, summarize, draw inferences, comment whenever you have an epiphany, make predictions, and form connections to the real world. Annotating depends on the individual, so feel free to create a legend tailored to your liking.
Is Annotating Worth It?
Since I have to annotate for school, I feel insecure about the quality of my annotations. It feels significantly less personal because my teacher will grade my comments based on how insightful they are, which I find subjective. Other times, I want to see the story unfurl, and annotating hinders my enjoyment of the book. I read over a section first, and then I go back to annotate. When you manufacture your reactions, doesn’t that defeat the purpose? This all makes for a time-consuming process.
I think annotations are an excellent concept. I’m engaging more when I’m reading, and I might even try annotating young adult fiction one day. However, annotations should never detract from your appreciation of literature.
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