Reading Into Things, by an English Major

photo by navya shukla

Reading into things, by an English Major

by fourth year Alexis Kelley 

Reading into things tends to have a negative connotation. 

Connotation - the feelings people associate with words (meaning not the official definition) 

But I don’t think that reading into things is bad. I think it makes the world more full. You don’t have to read incorrectly, you can simply see more beauty. 

Beauty - something pleasing, a combination of shape and aesthetic and the emotion something can pull from you (meaning not a bad thing) 

Take a falling leaf for example. Picture the soft sway back and forth of a perfectly bright yellow leaf falling in front of you as you’re walking down a sidewalk that is already colorfully lined with the best trees. Reading into that moment would mean nostalgia. 

Nostalgia - a bittersweet feeling of remembrance, where you can relive all of life’s best moments (usually triggered by a familiar feeling to one of your senses) 

Or think about taking notes in class. One semester, I was determined to pay attention in class, so I attached a small sticky note to every single page of notes I wrote. On each sticky note, I would write quotes from professors or classmates. I would pull quotes that, out of context, could be incredibly poetic or hilarious. That way I could remember the parts of class that felt more like real life. 

Real life - that life that is official, a part of your day to day goings and comings (meaning not the unusual, magical, or boring times of the day) 

I started the sticky note quotes in one of my very favorite english classes. It was one in the morning, and the sun would shine through the windows and the professor always had something so deep to say and it just kept me reading into the things around me. Maybe the habit to read so deeply into a moment was created by my years as an English major. I’m supposed to read into the weather, the language, the punctuation, and capitalization of every essay, poem, and novel. 

Novel - a word that is widely disputed in the literary world, but generally a elongated work of fiction with some degree of realism (yes we really sit around and debate that)  

But I actually really enjoy this habit. If I can see the deeper meaning of a text I’m reading in class, I want to see deeper meaning in life too. It’s not a bad thing. It doesn’t have to mean a girl is falsely assuming something about a boy, it can just mean that sometimes there’s something deeper to appreciate if we just take a second to think about it. Reading into a moment gives you the chance to sit in it longer and treasure it a bit more. There are so many things around us that can inspire lovely thoughts, let’s read them.