Analyzing literature

Everyone has had to analyze a piece of literature at least once in their English class. It's boring, somewhat useless, and it will probably never help you in your future career. Who really cares for what the green light in the Great Gatsby symbolizes? I'm 99% sure you don't.

Of course it's great to read books and it's even better when you can relate to the book, but what does looking deep into a simple sentence really do for you? Sure you might get the feel of what society and the environment was like during the author's time but when will you really need to use that skill outside of school?
1/3 of Americans don't even read books after graudating high school.

Analyzing literature through novels about intellectual history is a poor way to learn, there's a reason why there's social studies class; it's easier and straight to the point. Sometimes I wonder if all the complex analyzing we do/did in class is really what the author intended for the audience to do or if it's just the teacher trying to force their opinion on a meaningless passage.

An example would be something like this:

Passage: "The spider layed dead on the pavement."

What your teacher thinks the author meant: "The spider resprents the emptiness and depression someone in modern society can fall into while the pavement is like a brick wall that's in the way of people and their happiness".

What the author really meant: There was a dead spider on the pavement.

Interperating literature shouldn't be required to graduate high school but we all have to deal with it eventually.