Responding to literature

We respond to literature in various ways, and everyone responds differently. How we respond also depends on how familiar we are with the material. If what we read or listen to something that we can connect to and understand chances are we will have a more in depth response. Some people use personal connections to respond to literature, as others may respond with things they have seen or maybe even read or heard about. Not everyone is willing to put their true feelings out in the open, and this is the reason that one may choose to respond by recalling something that didn't particularly involve them. One must analyze the reading to understand it more in depth. When one reads something sometimes once is not enough, one must look beyond the words, to fully understand the message or story. Writing down ones thoughts about literature allows one to construct meaning through writing which allows for the ability to think critically. Asking questions is also important when responding to literature. There are very few times when one hears or reads something and doesn't have questions about it. By asking and answering questions you will have to support the answer with evidence from the information, and therefore you will have to pay more attention to the literature. Good questions are those such as what a word or phrase means, or why you did or didn't like the work. Writing questions like these gives an opening for discussion.
Looking at the story from a different point of view is also good for response, in literature it is always good to have more than one way of seeing things, it allows for us to learn more and may clear up questions we had before hand. By responding to literature we are challenging ourselves to learn and teach ones self. It is about looking at something and instead of expecting it to explain itself, one has to analyze it themselves and make interpretations as wehll. Responding to literature also teaches one more about how different writers writing styles can be.
I believe that by responding to literature effectively we can learn a lot more than me enitially may have. If you simply read or listen to something and only hear or see the words what was the point of waisting your time with it? If I am going to read or listen to something I am going to make it worth my while. I want to understand what is happening and why. By aknowledging the words for more than words or phrases we can get more out of things, and learn more as well. We learn how to teach ourselves, and interepret things. It may even give us insight in how to handle situations in life, if we can take someones words and read into them we may have a deeper understanding of what they mean.
Being able to respond efficiently to things not only to reading and writings but to people as well is an important part of life.