Answer:
After doing a close reading, you should analyze the figurative language in a text for the following reason:
b. to reveal hidden meanings.
Explanation:
If a reader relies only on what is denotative, that is, on what is on the surface, he or she will certainly be missing out on a lot of messages that can only be perceived and understood with an open mind and thorough eyes which also attain to what is connotative, that is, to what is between the lines and goes way beyond the core meaning of words.
In Voltaire's "Candide", the main character starts to lead a farmer's life and his friend Pangloss suggests they are living in the best of possible worlds, to which Candide responds with the classic line:
“That is very well put . . . but we must cultivate our garden.”
The author is certainly not literally talking about a garden; he is rather symbolically referring to something that is much more profound and meaningful and lies within the very essence of mankind. Therefore, there is indeed a hidden meaning in those words, and it must be analyzed and interpreted so the reader can better profit from the text.
