Throughout his "The Closeness of Close Reading," Jonathan Culler expresses in different ways how "the practice of close reading...has [become] something we take for granted" (2). It is his goal to define close reading and the strategies in which it should be taught. Close reading is an important skill to obtain but has become distant throughout the generations for numerous reasons. Sloppy reading, the lack of focus, and the increase in technology, have all put a rift on the importance of close reading and language itself. However, there are numerous strategies in which people learn and use close reading, such as paying close attention, reading slowly, memorization, translation, and systematic reading. Throughout Culler's essay he explores all these strategies in which close reading can be achieved and expresses that in order to really know what it is and how it can be taught we must try to find the contrast of it first.

Close reading is something we all agree to and value, but never seems to be taken seriously. Culler believes that sloppy reading could be the contrast to that of close reading but the fact that we are unsure as to what the opposite of it really is it "suggests that it has served as a slogan more than as a name for a particular definable practice" (3) that everyone is looking to achieve.  Sloppy reading comes from those who are not reading to find the real meaning of a book but just being lazy. When people are forced to do something they are not interested in, especially when it comes to reading, they tend to take the easy way out. This reading then becomes sloppy and the reader misses everything the story is about. The purpose of close reading is for the reader to pay closer attention and take into effect "how [the] meaning is produced or conveyed, to what sorts of literary and rhetorical strategies and techniques are deployed" (5) throughout the work they are reading. In order for someone to use close reading to their advantage thy must find the appropriate strategy for themselves because everyone learns in a different way

In a passage within this essay there is a small emphasis that right now, at this moment, is the most important time to stress the importance of close reading. This particular generation has been "raised in instant messaging", a technology that encourages, not close reading, but developing "an ever more abbreviated code for communicating minimal information" (3). In a time where letters have become emails, books have become e-books, and everyday language is being constantly abbreviated through technology, it is important that the skill of close reading be emphasized, especially for students as they go through school. Culler expresses that "it is our conception of close reading as a fundamental practice that makes us want to believe that it can occur without explicit instruction" (5) just like people do with texting and emailing but instruction is exactly what is needed. Some people have a habit of quickly skimming a reading instead of reading the whole text in full detail because it is easier, but because of this they have missed important details that make up the story and its complete meaning. The crucial thing to avoid this is through slow reading. It is not enough to just pay attention to a reading, there is much more that goes into it in order to fully interpret what a text is trying to say. Reading more slowly makes the reader pay closer attention and "enjoins looking at rather than through the language of the text and thinking about how it is functioning" (6) finding the true meaning behind the words of the text. 

Some other strategies Culler expresses that can achieve closeness in reading is the use of memorization, translation and a sort of systematic reading. With memorization one can become more intimate with the language of the text, while translation will enforce slow and close reading of texts in both a student's native language as well as a language they are learning. Reading systematically one can identify each passage of a text one by one. The example Culler uses is a strategy modeled by Roland Barthes, where students are obliged "to comment on every clause in a passage, identifying the codes at work in producing whatever meaning they take to be at play there and in the connections between elements of this passage an those elsewhere in the text" (7). With this strategy students are compelled to use a different kind of attention and use more detail to uncover the story as a whole. 

With all these strategies that Culler explores in which close reading can be achieved, in the end there is no exact contrast to close reading, but that does not mean it cannot be taught or learned. According to Culler "we would be better equipped to value and to promote close reading if we had a more finely differentiated sense of its modes and a more vivid account of all the types of nonclose reading with which it contrasts and that give it silence, making it more than something desirable that is taken for granted" (8). However, this does not mean that close reading cannot be taught. With all these strategies Culler explored within his essay he found the ultimate combination to success in using the closeness of reading. He found that using these strategies of paying close attention, reading slowly, memorization, translation, and systematic reading, the closeness of reading could be achieved.
