QUESTION
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Book of job and antigone reading journal
- First Stage: Inspectional (Skim) Reading -- Scoping out the Book
- State the book’s kind/genre and subject matter (1-2 sentences).
- Briefly state what the book is about as a whole (1 paragraph).
- Outline the major parts of the book and their minor subparts.
- a) In many editions of classical works, the author or editor will have already identified the parts for you (e.g., by supplying chapter or
book headings or a detailed table of contents). If so, you may rely on the outline provided in the text as a starting point for your
interpretation. However, you must think through an outline provided in the text and be ready to modify it or reorganize the relation of
major and minor parts. (You will fill in the bare bones of the outline with the steps in Stage II).
- Define the problems the author is addressing in the book (several sentences in a short enumerative list).
- a) You will further clarify this list in step II.4.
- Second Stage: Deep Reading -- Interpretive Analysis of the Author’s Intended Meaning, Claims and
Arguments
Note: Steps II.1-3 (below) can be listed separately, or they may be integrated into the outline (step I.3). Step II.4 can be listed separately or
integrated into step I.4. The important thing is to proceed in stages. Do all of stage I before proceeding to stage II. Likewise, you should
complete stages I and II before proceeding to stage III (although you should always maintain a sense of the whole interpretive progression).
- Come to terms with the author by interpreting the key words of the text.
- a) As with the outline phase (step I.3), sometimes in a work of philosophy an editor will compile a glossary of key terms. This is
especially helpful in works translated from classical languages, since the meanings of words are not only being used in a special
technical sense, but typically required further contextualization with respect to ancient usage and foreign culture. Nevertheless, do not
simply repeat the glossary verbatim. Use it as a reference point for putting the author’s special terms into your own words and
explaining them from the context of the book itself (i.e., identify and define key terms as they arise in the context of your reading of the
text).
- b) Remember: terms are the meanings of the words, as the author is using them.
- Grasp the author’s leading propositions by dealing with the author’s most important sentences.
- a) Extract the quotable quotes (write them out), and state what they mean.
- Identify the author’s major arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out of, sequences of sentences.
- a) You have to be judicious here. You needn’t write a commentary that is longer than the book itself. Focus on the key arguments, the
hinges on which everything else turns. Be aware of the minor, or supporting, arguments and their relation to the major line of
argumentation the author is presenting; but you needn’t write out all of these.
- Determine which of the problems (step I.4) the author has solved, and which not. Is the author aware of his/her
successes and failures of argumentation? State your determination.
III. Third Stage: Reflection, Assessment, Counter-argument -- Fairly Criticizing and Appropriating the
Author’s Position
Note: Observe these general maxims of intellectual etiquette:
- a) Do not begin criticism until you have completed your outline and your interpretation of the book as a whole (stages I and II).
- b) Do not disagree disputatiously or contentiously. (Strive for the ideal of objectivity/fairness.)
- c) Demonstrate that you recognize the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion by presenting good reasons for any critical
judgments you make. (All interpretation involves an element of subjectivity. And yet, we are striving to grasp truth -- the claim that there
is no truth falsifies itself in the very utterance. Further, statements like, “I disagree with author because I was taught ...” are not arguments.
Identifying your influences is only a starting point -- not an end-point -- on the way to developing a reasoned position on a given subject.
- d) The first three (III.1-3) of the following four steps are proper criteria for disagreement with the author. If you cannot demonstrate any of
these, you have an intellectual and moral obligation to agree, at least in part, with the author. You may, however, suspend judgment at the
present time based on step III.4. State your specific points of agreement and disagreement, your reasons for such judgment, and indicate,
as best you are able, how you might improve the author’s position.
- Show wherein the author is uninformed.
- Show wherein the author is misinformed.
- Show wherein the author is illogical.
- Show wherein the author’s analysis or account is incomplete.
- a) The burden is on you to take the argument further. If the author is wrong, what would make him/her right? Taking the argument further
will likely require explicit syntopical analysis at this point. The more breadth you acquire in a particular field, the better your syntopical
analysis will likely be. Further, the more breadth you acquire, the better you will be at integrating a syntopical dimension to your
interpretation as you proceed through the above steps (and the quicker and more accurate you will be at decisively executing these steps).
The point is to internalize all of these steps -- through practice -- so that they become second nature to you as you read complex texts --
the kind of texts that stimulate you to grow intellectually.
Reading Journal Guidelines
Adapted from Adler and Van Doren’s 3 Stages of Analytical Reading
(see Adler/Van Doren, How to Read a Book -- summary on pp. 163-64)
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| Subject | Literature | Pages | 4 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Oedipus Tyrannus (Book of Job and Antigone)
Genre: Fiction
Summary
Oedipus Tyrannus (Book of Job and Antigone) is a book about the laws of God,man and the effective punishment for acts of disobedience. The book of Antigone for example highlights the story of two brothers who fight for a kingdom after one is betrayed by the other ,and they end up dying. Their uncle ,Eteocles, who takes over the throne refuses to accord the brother who initiated the betrayal a rightful burial. He is then buried by Antigone who is also their sibling. The conflict for effective punishment is one of the story's major themes and is similar to the book of Job. The book of Job in the Bible tells the story of a man who had gone through many afflictions called Job (Burian,1995). He was one of the most loyal servants of God but still went through terrible ordeals that according to him, were totally uncalled for (Robertson, 1973). In one particular segment of the book he highlights the fact that there were terrible people on the planet who had more sins than him but were blessed by God. He gives an example of those that afflict widows and orphans but had still been blessed by God. God responds bys saying that man cannot understand His ways as the divine ruler of heaven and earth.
Major and Minor Parts
The major parts of the play Oedipus Tyrannus book of Job and Antigone are the promise of kingship between and Polynices and Ismene. The betrayal by Eteocles is also a major part of the play and the burial of by his sister (Robertson,1973). The minor parts include the disagreements between Oedipus and over the burial of her brother, the preparation of war and the dialogue scenes between the major parts.
Second Stage- Interpretive Analysis
In-depth analysis of the play indicates a theme of just how life can be random and unexpected. It highlights the fact that good things can at times happen to bad people and bad things can sometimes happen to good people (Robertson,1973). The themes of power,family and religious belief have also been greatly expounded in the play,giving emphasis to the will of God and how man should be subject to its purpose.
Problems with the Play
Some of the major issues with the play include the highly ineffective method of punishing wrongdoers in both instances. In Oedipus, Eteocles refuses to let his brother get a decent burial for the crime of starting war against his own family, but fails to recognize the fact that he was betrayed in the first place (Burian,1995). This could have interpreted as being unfair to him. The fact that Oedipus goes further to bury her brother Polynieces without the help of her siblings shows that they support this unfair decision as well. In the book of Job God offers no explanation of why He blesses those who oppress others and lets terrible things happen to Job.
Keywords; God,man,punishment, betrayal, knowledge and family.
Some of the major arguments of the author include life is based on the will of God and man has no choice but to follow His guidance.
Third Stage- Reflection
The play fails to recognize the idea of fairness and equity in life. Eteocles fails to offer a sound judgement to his brother who was supposed to take over from his brother as king (Burian,1995). The book of Job on the other hand fails to offer a clear explanation of the knowledge between God and man. The author also tries to equate a work of fiction with actual historical facts from Job.
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References
Burian, P. (1995). Oedipus and the Fabrication of the Father:" Oedipus Tyrannus" in Modern Criticism and Philosophy.
Robertson, D. (1973). The Book of Job: A Literary Study. Soundings, 446-469.