Sometimes these little details are subtle clues about what’s about to happen or who a character is going to be. For example, if you see a date on the newspaper someone is reading or it’s mentioned that your character just graduated from college, it can help you understand their context in the story and how they might react in certain situations.
When we read literature, we can’t just take everything at face value because there’s usually more than meets the eye. We need to read between the lines and consider everything that’s happening as well as our interpretation of it all in order to fully understand what’s going on.
Consider the author’s biography and social context when interpretation the text. This can help us better understand why they wrote what they did and why they chose certain themes to include in their work of literature.
Think about what you already know about the subject matter or genre of literature you’re reading, so that you can put new information into context.
Try to find patterns, themes or motifs in a work of literature as well as connections between characters and events within that work of literature itself (and sometimes between works).
Be wary of stereotypes: they are often employed to make points but only rarely reflect reality.
