yourself are affected by it, so that what we are studying is, as well as the book itself, the effect of the book - as a sort of mirror for the student to look into.
That is why different people say different things about the same books. Every book is different, but every reader is different too. No person will be affected by a book in exactly the same way as any other person.
A saying by a Greek philosopher: You cannot step into the same river twice. This is because a river is something which is always changing. But it is also because you are always changing too. If you read a book a second time, you may find that you see more in it the second time than you did the first time and you may learn new things. Has the book changed? Not at all. The words are the same. Since you first read it you have had new experiences and therefore what you bring to the book is different.
When someone is reading a book there are three things to be considered:
1. The author: What were his intentions?
2. The book: What is in it?
3. The reader: What does he understand?
(He, in all cases, includes she.)
Some key words
Discrimination General meaning - noticing differences
Example We discriminate between (for two) or among (for more than two).
Special meaning: Treating some people worse than others
Example: Black south Africans were discriminated against in the job market.
Other meaning: Notice the difference between.
Example: We should discriminate between literary works and popular but bad fiction.
Appreciate General meaning - to see what is there and understand its value
Example: He has learned to appreciate the value of Shakespeare.
Special meaning: to increase in value Used in financial journalism
Example: Gold has appreciated in value by 10%.

Language
Varieties of English
English is not your native language. How big a problem is this when you

come to study English Literature? It may help you if you realise that most people in Britain and America find it a problem too. There are many varieties of spoken English in Britain and America and other countries where English is a native language. Some of these are noticeably different from the commonest varieties of educated English. The English used in literature is usually written in standard English rather than one of the other varieties. Thus speakers of the other varieties have to get used to the language of literature, almost as much as you do.
Because English has been written for so many years there is a divergence between the various kinds of spoken language and the written language. But there are a few books in some of the other varieties. Here is a poem in a variety of Scottish English.
A Poem in Glasgow Dialect
Fox
see me
wan time
ah wis a fox
ah wis ah sleekit! ah
gaed slinkin
heh
an snappin
yeh
the blokes
aa sayed ah wis a GREAT fox
aw nae kiddin
ah wis pretty good
had a whole damn wood
in them days
hen
Ian Hamilton Finlay (From Glasgow Beasts an a Burd) 1962 #
The Fox
Look at me
Once
I was a fox

Probably this is untranslatable, but it is a clever use of the variety of English spoken in Glasgow. ah - I; aa - all; wan time - once; gaed - went; wis - was; aw - Oh; nae - no; hen - common Glasgow word meaning you (affectionately).