Good readers do what?!

First off, I would like to touch on an aspect of Mr. Perrine's speech that left me rather miffed. In his lecture to his students, he said students should not relate to characters in the story. In other words, readers should not compare and contrast their personalities with those found in the readings. I completely disagree. When I open the first page of a book, the first thing I think about is what I like and dislike of the character's personalities. By doing this, I feel connected to the reading at a whole other level. Reading between the lines in an attempt to figure out the deeper motives of the characters is what brings me personal joy in a reading.

On the other hand, when someone reads for a simply scholastic purpose, this approach may not be the best. In this regard, when tackling a piece of literature, one must addresss the piece with an unbisased attitude. The minute that a person favors one character over another due to personal reasons, many things the character engages in over the course of the literature will go unoticed by the reader due to personal reasons. I just realized that I am writing about the wrong reading; however I will still publish the post.