Don’t turn your brain off
Illustration by Zoe Luis.
Rowan Weatherford, Contributing Writer
“I’m so tired of the world right now,” you say. “I just want to turn my brain off and read my silly little stories. What harm could come from that?”
Everyone wants a break from the world and their responsibilities, especially after the most recent election. During winter break, I spent a lot of time reading Ali Hazelwood, a few queer sports romances and several romance manga — just something to churn through before I returned to my English classes and had to read for school again.
However, I find it difficult to turn my brain off completely when I read. Frankly, I don’t think we should be aiming for that at all — critical reading should be a passive skill that we engage in all the time. I think we should actively inspect texts for what they mean and why — searching for how an author potentially sways you to feel a certain way.
First, let me clarify the difference between critical reading and non-critical reading. Non-critical reading is what you are defaulting to when you “turn your brain off.” It’s reading for facts — absorbing information and storing it for later. We use non-critical thinking when we are looking to learn, like skimming through a biology lecture or reading a weather report.
Critical reading is “reading with the purpose of critical examination of the text and its implicit and explicit themes and ideas,” according to Terry Heick, founder of TeachThought. Author Dan Kurland expands on this, stating that critical reading focuses on how something is being portrayed as well as what is being said, acknowledging “the various ways in which each and every text is the unique creation of a unique author.”
Every piece of media is a direct result of its author and all of their inherent prejudices and biases, some of which the author themself might not fully realize are there.
“But wait,” you’re thinking, “this author is progressive. Surely I’m safe, right?”
Not quite. We live in a racist, homophobic, misogynistic, ableist — basically every -ist or -ic you can think of — society. It is quite literally built into our infrastructure. Everyone you know, even the most politically correct person, grew up surrounded by all these influences.
Until we completely separate ourselves from this — which is nearly impossible — we have all internalized bits and pieces of these prejudices. Authors are not an exception to this and do not live in a vacuum. When you read something you think is silly with no real impact, remember that the author, whether they explicitly mean to or not, is writing their biases into that novel.
Now, I’m not saying get out your pen and start annotating every time you crack open a book or read an Instagram post. People typically think of annotating or attempting to find the “true” meaning — a meaning typically decided by a teacher or a school board — when critical reading comes up. These exercises exist to help us learn how to read critically.
Sure, some people use these techniques each time they read — I’ve seen those BookTubers with all of their tabs and fancy pens — but it is not the only way to read critically.
The goals of critical reading are recognizing the author’s purpose, understanding the tone and persuasive elements they use and recognizing bias, according to Kurland.
When you are reading, keep these goals in your mind. Check in between chapters if the flow hasn’t overtaken you. Or even reflect back after you close the book and stare at the wall for a good few minutes because you can’t believe it’s over.
Critical reading is a skill — one that should be the default. Read silly novels, kick your feet at romance books and be awed by cool magic systems and the like. But don’t absorb an author’s biases. Those are hard to unlearn.
