Approaches to Writing the Analysis Chapter

Literary Specialist Project
Chapter Two: Analysis of Literature


Begin by reviewing the ideas listed on “Literary Analysis Chapter” on our blog. Once you have done that, consider the following:

Approach to Discussing a Novel
(Summary/Character/Key Moment/Theme/Symbol/Personal Response)

a. Brief summary of the novel to acquaint your reader with the subject matter and the narrative line of the work.

b. Analysis of a key character. In this section, you would chart your character’s growth development throughout the novel.

c. Discussion of a key moment in the novel and how it serves as a “turning point” or a “moment of enlightenment” for your character.

d. Discussion of a major theme in the novel. Now that you have read the novel, what is a major theme/issue that surfaces? This theme will probably be linked to the key character (and perhaps to the “turning point” in the character’s life).

e. Dominant symbol in the novel. You might have a novel that features a key image/symbol that reveals something about the major character or enhances a particular theme in the novel.

f. Personal reaction to the novel. Take a look at the blog section called “Personal Responses to Literature.” You might find a few of these questions help to guide you in writing your reactions to the novel.

g. As you can see, if you follow the above format, you will arrive at a rather long chapter that analyzes your selected work of literature in rich detail.



Approach to Discussing Short Stories
(Character Types/Character Connections/Themes/Symbols/Settings/Personal Responses)

a. Should you decide to select several short stories, your analysis chapter will certainly take on a different structure than the analysis of a novel.

b. You might want to decide which stories you are going to analyze by linking several stories that are similar in storyline, theme, or character type. For example, if you were selecting short stories by Poe, you might want to select three or four, each of which has a “mad man” as a key character. Then, you could talk about each of these characters and how each is similar to (or different from) the characters in the other selected short stories.

c. If you don’t have similar types of characters in your short stories, you might still want to look at the separate characters and see if you can discover connections among them. This, then, would allow you to introduce each one of your characters, one story at a time.

d. After you have considered characters, you might want to look through your selected stories and see if a dominant theme emerges in each. You could then take your reader through each story (in the same order as you introduced your characters) and discuss the theme/issue in each.

e. Once you have worked through characters and themes, you might want to discuss a dominant symbol or image at work in each of the stories. If you have stories that don’t really have dominant symbols or images, you might want to consider the author’s creation of setting in each of the stories and how the setting builds a specific atmosphere.

f. Once you have worked with character, theme, symbol/setting, you will find that you have given your reading audience a pretty strong understanding of the selected stories.

g. You might find that sharing your “personal reactions” to each of the stories would be a fitting way to wrap up your analysis chapter. Again, refer to the section called “Personal Responses to Literature” in its separate section on our blog.