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Literature includes adventure stories, historical fiction, mysteries, myths, science fiction, realistic fiction, allegories, parodies, satire, drama, graphic novels, one-act and multi-act plays, narrative poems, lyrical poems, free-verse poems, sonnets, odes, ballads, and epics (Common Core State Standards, page 57).
Informational texts/literary nonfiction include the subgenres of exposition, argument and functional text in the form of personal essays; speeches; opinion pieces; essays about art or literature; biographies; memoirs; journalism; and historical, scientific, technical, or economic accounts (including digital sources) written for a broad audience (Common Core State Standards, page 57).
In this activity, you will learn how to read closely to identify the central idea and details from an excerpt from Twelve Years a Slave, the memoir/slave narrative of Solomon Northup. Twelve Years a Slave is an example of literary nonfiction.
In close reading of literary nonfiction, you may read about a real person's real-life experience.
Tip for Reading Literary Nonfiction
Reading a piece of literary nonfiction closely and carefully involves many of the same strategies you would use to read a piece of literature. The difference is that you are reading about real events or experiences.
Below is a passage from Twelve Years A Slave. Click the audio button and follow along as the passage is read aloud. It is good practice to reread a passage of literary nonfiction several times, as with any piece of text you are asked to read to identify central ideas and details. This particular section of the memoir provides drama and immediately draws the reader in with Northup’s vivid description.
From the moment I was insensible. How long I remained in that condition – whether only that night, or many days and nights – I do not know; but when consciousness returned, I found myself alone, in utter darkness and in chains.
The pain in my head had subsided in a measure, but I was very faint and weak. I was sitting upon a low bench, made of rough boards, and without coat or hat. I was hand-cuffed. Around my ankles also were a pair of heavy fetters. One end of a chain was fastened to a large ring in the floor, the other to the fetters on my ankles. I tried in vain to stand upon my feet. Waking from such a painful trance, it was some time before I could collect my thoughts. Where was I? What was the meaning of these chains? Where were Brown and Hamilton? What had I done to deserve imprisonment in such a dungeon? I could not comprehend. There was a blank of some indefinite period, preceding my awakening in that lonely place, the events of which the utmost stretch of memory was unable to recall. I listened intently for some sign or sound of life, but nothing broke the oppressive silence, save the clinking of my chains, whenever I chanced to move. I spoke aloud, but the sound of my voice startled me. I felt of my pockets, so far as the fetters would allow—far enough, indeed, to ascertain that I had not only been robbed of liberty, but that my money and free papers were also gone! Then did the idea begin to break upon my mind, at first dim and confused, that I had been kidnapped. But that I thought was incredible. There must have been some misapprehension—some unfortunate mistake. It could not be that a free citizen of New-York, who had wronged no man, nor violated any law, should be dealt with thus inhumanly. The more I contemplated my situation, however, the more I became confirmed in my suspicions. It was a desolate thought, indeed. I felt there was no trust or mercy in unfeeling man; and commending myself to the God of the oppressed, bowed my head upon my fettered hands, and wept most bitterly.
- Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, Chapter 2, pages 38-39, "Chains and Darkness," 1859
Watch the video below, looking for details about the central idea. Note how the author uses certain points or ideas, which may help you identify the central idea.
Now it is time to annotate the passage. Download the Learn It – Chains and Darkness Excerpt to view an example of how you could fully annotate the passage from "Chains and Darkness."
Based on the video and the annotated passage, what is the central idea of the excerpt?
