LITERARY ANALYSIS

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LITERARY ANALYSIS

• Whats it all about?

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Literary Analysis is

• an inquiry process.
• When reading/thinking in this way, you should be
  wondering
• What does the author want the reader
• to understand ( about life/human nature, etc.) ?
• -Once you identify the theme of the text, then
  you may begin to explicate how the author
  communicates that theme.

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When writing literary analysis about a longer
text

• Step 1 KNOW.
• You must know the basic storyline. You should be
  able to summarize the plot in a short piece of
  writing. This means you read/listened/engaged in
  the thinking/talking/writing opportunities along
  the way!
• Step 2 REFLECT.
• Reflect on what stood out. Think about what
  ideas/images/characters were a focal point.
  Repetition is a writers best friend .

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LITERARY ANALYSIS

• Step 3 Determine Theme(s)
• - Think about HOW you know this. Which
  characters, situations, moments, passages
  revealed this to you? Stay in the text!
• Step 4 Go Back into the Text
• An important part of studying literature is
  analysis of the moves of the writer.
• ASK How did the author reveal this theme through
  their writing?
• ( Author's techniquesirony, diction, syntax,
  tone, symbolism, imagery, and other useful
  devicesin communicating the all-important theme
  can give a reader deep appreciation for both the
  writer's skill and the impact of the work of
  literature.)

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LITERARY ANALYSIS Essay

• A good analysis shows not only your skill in
  composition, but also your depth of explaining
  and understanding the impact of literature.
• Focus strictly on the text.
• Background information about the author or the
  work itself, while often interesting and
  enlightening, should not be a part of an
  analysis.
• Examine the literary devices the author uses to
  communicate the theme.
• The heart of the essay should be a discussion of
  the literary devices used by the author to
  express that theme. This should be done by a
  close examination of specific examples from the
  text.

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LITERARY ANALYSIS

• After reading and contemplating the meaning of a
  text complete the following sentence in as few
  words as possible
• This story is really about. . .
• Do not summarize the story! Do not discuss the
  plot at all. Instead, answer these questions
• What is the author trying to communicate?
• What's the author's point?
• What is the Theme?

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LITERARY ANALYSIS Most Important

• The theme will be the focus of the analysis and
  you will build your thesis around this concept
• It is important to remember that the thesis
  statement controls the entire composition.
• Like the essay itself, the thesis can be either
  simplistic or sophisticated.
• If an idea is not stated in the thesiseither
  directly or indirectlythen it does not belong in
  that essay.
• A focused and concise thesis statement will give
  you a greater chance of producing writing that
  clearly communicates your argument.

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Todays Focus.Themes of The Crucible

• Ask 1st Whats the play about? (Topics)
• Ask 2nd What is the play REALLY about?
• ( Big Ideas)
• Ask 3rd What is Miller saying about that BIG
  IDEA? ( This is the theme. )

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SampleWay of thinking it through
Honor The play points out that that making the honourable decision is often difficult. It requires a strong moral compass and willingness to make sacrifices to stand up for beliefs (even in the face of persecution.) In the end it is better to die with honour than live as a fraud. Miller uses characterization, presenting a dynamic character in Proctor, symbolism , extreme setting and technique of contrast to develop this theme. Character The protagonist, John Proctor, along with Rebecca Nurse, and Giles Cory refuse to confess to witchcraft in order to live. In the final scene of the play both characters choose what is honourable in their own eyes. Contrast They represent this theme and stand in contrast to several other characters which Miller shows as sacrificing their honor to live. Key passages from final scene of play speaks to this.
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Mini Lesson Thesis Statements

• How do I know if I am on the right track?

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THE ELEMENTS OF A GOOD ESSAY

• The Thesis Statement
• What it does..
• The thesis statement tells your reader what to
  expect
• it is a restricted,
• precisely worded declarative sentence
• that states the purpose of your essay
• the point you are trying to make.
• Without a carefully conceived thesis, an essay
  has no chance of success.
• Examples .
• The following are a variety of thesis statements
  from literary analysis essays
• Gwendolyn Brooks' 1960 poem The Ballad of
  Rudolph Reed demonstrates how the poet uses the
  conventional poetic form of the ballad to treat
  the unconventional poetic subject of racial
  intolerance.
• The fate of the main characters in Antigone
  illustrates the danger of excessive pride.

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Writing an Introduction

• The job of the introduction is to
• Arouse interest
• 2) Bring focus to your subject ( Establish
  context and topic)
• State the thesis. ( THE BEST PLACE TO PUT YOUR
  THESIS STATEMENT IS AT THE END OFYOUR
  INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH.)

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Strategies for Writing an Effective Introduction

• 1) Arouse Interest
• To arouse interest and bring immediate focus to
  your subject, you may want to use a quotation,
  a provocative question, an anecdote (See
  Patricks example? ) , a startling statement, or
  a combination of these.
• 2) Establish Context
• To establish context you may also want to
  include
• background information relevant to your thesis
  and necessary for the reader to understand the
  position you are taking.
• In addition, you need to include the title of
  the work
• of literature and name of the author.
• Strong Thesis
• Then there is that daunting but oh so important
  thesis statement that you have heard so much
  about!.....Lets look at one.

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Patricks opening anecdote

• This is an example of leading into the writing in
  an interesting and appropriate way. It is a hook
  and shows audience awareness.

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The following is an introductory paragraphs
to an essay similar to the one you are being
asked to write. Lets look at it.

• Sexuality can be described as the expression of
  sexual receptivity or interest, especially when
  excessive. In the novel One Flew Over the
  Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kessey, sexuality is a major
  theme. He looks at the complicated nature of
  sexuality through various characters such as
  Nurse Ratchet, R.P. McMurphy and Mr. Harding.
  These characters show how sexuality is repressed,
  how someones sexuality may be offensive to
  another, and how gender roles factor into
  sexuality.

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The Body of the Essay and tThe Importance of
Topic Sentences

• The term regularly used for the development of
  the central idea of a literary analysis essay is
  the body.
• In this section you present the paragraphs (at
  least 3 paragraphs for a 500-750 word essay) that
  support your thesis statement.
• Good literary analysis essays contain an
  explanation of
• your ideas and evidence from the text
  (short story, poem, play) that supports those
  ideas. Textual evidence consists of summary,
  paraphrase, specific details, and direct
  quotations.

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TOPIC SENTENCES

• Each of the paragraphs of your essay should
  contain a topic sentence (usually the first
  sentence of the paragraph) which states one of
  the topics associated with your thesis, combined
  with some assertion about how the topic will
  support the central idea.

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.The Purpose of the Topic Sentence is Twofold

• 1. To tie the details of the paragraph to your
  thesis statement
• 2.To tie the details of the paragraph together.
• The substance of each of your developmental
  paragraphs (the body of your essay) will be the
  explanations, summaries, paraphrases, specific
  details, and direct quotations you need to
  support and develop the more general statement
  you have made in your topic sentence

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HOW TO WRITE A LITERARY ANALYSIS

• If all you do in one body paragraph is give a few
  examples of irony from the text and simply
  identify them as irony, then you haven't analyzed
  anything.
• The analysis part involves explaining how those
  examples are irony and how they help to
  communicate the theme of the passage.
• But to be sophisticated in your analysis, you
  must have ideas that are "in-depth" - not just
  the superficial facts of what you see on the
  page. You must interpret what the author has
  given you to work with and show that you
  understand the theme.
• This is where your composition and analytical
  skills intertwine the words you use to express
  your ideas and how you structure your sentences
  go a long way toward achieving that goal of
  "sophistication."
• A well-crafted composition will make the reader
  understand clearly the relationships between the
  ideas it will give the reader food for thought
  without making the task of understanding your
  ideas so difficult that

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USING TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

• The skillful use of textual evidence -- summary,
  paraphrase, specific detail, and direct
  quotations -- can illustrate and support the
  ideas you are developing in your essay. However,
  textual evidence should be used judiciously and
  only when it directly relates to your topic. The
  correct and effective use of textual evidence is
  vital to the successful literary analysis essay.
• Summary
• If a key event or series of events in the
  literary work support a point you are trying to
  make, you may want to include a brief summary,
  making sure that you show the relevance of the
  event or events by explicitly connecting your
  summary to your point.

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EXPLANATIONS ANTEXTUAL EVIDENCE

• Sammy's descriptions of the A P present a
  setting that is ugly, monotonous, and rigidly
  regulated. We can identify with the uniformity
  Sammy describes because we have all been in chain
  stores. The fluorescent light is as blandly cool
  as the "checkerboard green-and-cream rubber tile
  floor" (486). The "usual traffic in the store
  moves in one direction (except for the swim
  suited girls, who move against it), and
  everything is neatly organized and categorized
  min tidy aisles. The dehumanizing routine of this
  environment is suggested by Sammy's offhand
  references to the typical shoppers as "sheep,
  "house slaves," and "pigs." These regular
  customers seem to walk through the store in a
  stupor as Sammy tells us, not even dynamite
  could move them out of their routine (485).
• This paragraph is a strong one because it is
  developed through the use of quotations, summary,
  details, and explanation to support the topic
  sentence. Notice how it relates back to the
  thesis statement.

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LITERARY ANALYSIS

• Identify two crucial passages in your short story
  that develop the theme you've identified.
• This is how you know if you've found the right
  passages Without those two passages, the story
  would have a completely different meaning.
• The two passages you identify should be so
  important that the story would be nothing without
  them. This is hard, so think for a while.

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Using Direct Quotations

• Quotations can illuminate and support the
  ideas you are trying to develop. A judicious use
  of quoted material will make your points clearer
  and more convincing. As with all the textual
  evidence you use, make sure you explain how the
  evidence is relevant -- let the reader know what
  you make of the quotations you cite. Below are
  guidelines and examples that should help you use
  quotations effectively
• Brief quotations (four lines or fewer of
  prose) should be carefully introduced and
  integrated into the text of your paper. Put
  quotation marks around all briefly quoted
  material.
• Prose example
• As the "manager" of the A P, Lengel is
  both the guardian and enforcer of "policy." When
  he gives the girls "that sad Sunday-school-superin
  tendent stare," we know we are in the presence of
  the A P's version of a dreary bureaucrat who
  "doesn't miss much" (487).
• Make sure you give page numbers when necessary.
  Notice that in this example the page numbers are
  in parenthesis after the quotation marks but
  before the period.

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Paraphrase

• You can make use of paraphrase when you need the
  details of the original, but not necessarily the
  words of the original paraphrase to put someone
  else's words into your own words.
• Original "I was twelve and in junior high school
  and something happened that we didn't have a name
  for, but it was nonetheless like a lion, and
  roaring, roaring that way the biggest things do."
• Paraphrase Early in the story, the narrator
  tells us that when he turned twelve and started
  junior high school, life changed in a significant
  way that he and his friends couldn't quite find a
  name for.

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The Conclusion

• The Conclusion Your literary analysis essay
  should have a concluding paragraph that gives
  your essay a sense of completeness and lets your
  readers know that they have come to the end of
  your paper. Your concluding paragraph might
  restate the thesis in different words, summarize
  the main points you have made, or make a relevant
  comment about the literary work you are
  analyzing, but from a
• different perspective. Do not introduce a new
  topic in your conclusion.

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HOW TO WRITE A LITERARY ANALYSIS

• A formula for the most basic analysis thesis
  could look something like this
• In (title short story), (author's name) uses (1st
  literary device), (2nd literary device), and (3rd
  literary device) to (show/criticize/explain/etc.)
  (some aspect of human nature).
• Notice that the second part of such a thesis
  (beginning with "to") identifies the theme of the
  passage, which will be the focus of the analysis.
  An example of this type of simple thesis is
• In "If you Were Coming in the Fall," Emily
  Dickinson uses simile, diction, and syntax to
  describe how people wait, hoping to fall in love.

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LITERARY DEVICES

• If you are unsure about literary devices in
  literature look them up