Soji Cole’s <i>Embers</i> and its implications for critical thinking and development

Abstract

Reading literary texts help us develop critical thinking skills, but this fact is taken for granted in literary education by both teachers and students alike and this is the problem projected by the paper. Critical thinking itself trains our minds toward solving a problem and the ability to solve the problems that life presents is the key to success, according to Robert Harris. The objective of this paper is to show that with literary texts, readers and students can be taught to think critically. To demonstrate this, Bobkina and Stefanova’s four-stage model, Situated Practice Stage, The Overt Instruction Stage, The Critical Framing Stage, and Transformed Practice Stage, of using fiction to teach critical thinking were used. It was concluded that the human mind or brain uses the simulation effect as in computers to orientate itself to social realities as reflected in literary texts and that as a result, literary texts are very effective in cultivating critical thinking skills in us.