Question

Reminiscences, the most trifling and immaterial, passages of infancy and school-days, sports, childish quarrels, and the little domestic traits of her maiden years, came swarming back upon her, intermingled with recollections of whatever was gravest in her subsequent life; one picture precisely as vivid as another; as if all were of similar importance, or all alike a play. — The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne. All of the following are effective strategies. What step or strategy would you apply to monitor your comprehension as you read the passage?

a. Summarize the main ideas after each paragraph
b. Ignore trifling details for better focus
c. Skip to the end to understand the conclusion first
d. Read the passage in reverse order

Answer 1

To monitor comprehension of a literary passage, summarizing and annotating the text are effective strategies. They engage the reader, improve retention, and help to maintain a strong grasp of key ideas and themes, counteracting the fading of memory over time.

Step-by-step explanation:

When monitoring comprehension while reading a complex passage such as the one from "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, it is beneficial to summarize the main ideas after each paragraph. This allows the reader to process and retain the details presented, and also aids in understanding the overall message and themes of the text. Summarization can serve as a technique for interacting with the text, helping to fight against transience, the natural fading of memory over time.

Margin notes and highlighting are also significant strategies for improving comprehension. Writing in the margins or using highlighters to mark important sections can create a more engaging reading experience, one where you're actively responding to the text. This can include jotting down responses to character actions, themes, or literary elements that stand out, and is known as annotating the text.

In addition to summarization and annotations, discussing storage decay can highlight why these strategies are important. Without active engagement through these techniques, important details and the understanding of the passage might be lost over time, similar to how memories fade. Thus, by summarizing and annotating while reading, you can create a deeper and more lasting comprehension of the literature.