Introduction to Literary Analysis

Themes, “The Method,” Setting, Plot, Point of View, Characters, and Symbolism

Literary Analysis

• Themes• “The Method”• Literary Elements

• Setting• Plot• Point of View• Characters

• Types: Protagonist, Antagonist and Foil• Internal Feelings, Appearance, Actions, Dialogue

• Symbolism

Thesis vs. Theme

Theme: A unifying or dominant idea: details that glow (symbolic) and thus cause revelation.

• Thesis: The main point (topic and opinion) the writer states.• Theme: What the reader believes is a universal opinion of the author on a

topic/subject in the novel.

• Thesis: The author’s opinion on the topic supported by evidence through sources.• Theme: The reader’s opinion of the author’s topic/subject in the novel that is

universal, which the reader can support by the text through the literary elements: setting, plot, point of view, characters, symbolism, metaphors, similies, rhymth/rhyme, analogy, allegory . . . .

Readers’ Response to Theme

• Yes, that’s the way it is. (A universal experience)

• Oh, that’s the way it is. (The reader experiences the author’s reality from a perspective he/she had not considered.)

Theme: central idea of a work of literature• 1. Finish reading the entire text.• 2. Topic(s)/Subject(s): As you read, create a list of topics (or subjects)

found in the novel.• 3. (Author’s Opinion on Topic) Pick a topic and write a sentence that

finishes the thought: the author (state his/her name) believes (what about the topic). So, a theme is the author’s opinion about that subject. This theme/life lesson is bigger than the characters: universal.

• 4. (A Panorama of Evidence) Throughout the novel, identify textual evidence to support the theme. Evidence should provide attempt to provide 360 view of the theme. For the main theme, pay particular attention to the main character and how he/she changes.

The Method: BOARS

• Binary Opposition (Contrasting Opposites: Male/Female, Black/White• Anomaly: What sticks out. What is missing.• Repetition (Emphasis)• Strands: synonyms, classification, and patterns

• “The Method” bores me…boars.

Identifying the Major Theme

• A) Pay attention to the main character if he/she is used as a symbol for all mankind. Note where he/she changes for the good or the bad.• B) Sometimes characters state the major theme toward

the end of the book.• C) Look at the title and where in the novel does the title

appear?• D) Look at the main conflict. Where are the forces pitted

against each other. Who wins? (The bigger group.)

Allegory and Symbolism

Allegory: a story in which each of the characters have an equivalent. • Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” & John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s ProgressSymbolism: when characters and things in the stories stand for more than themselves but are not all equivalent as in an allegory.

• Springtime in Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” (her use of detail)• All references to spring?• The railroad accident?

• Theme: A unifying or dominant idea: details that glow (symbolic) and thus cause revelation.

Setting: Locale & Time

• Setting = locale and time• Short Stories usually focus on a single setting• Novels can focus on two or more settings: a second setting is used as

counterpoint (The technique of combining two or more melodic lines in such a way that they establish a harmonic relationship while retaining their linear individuality. For example, )

• Imply historical and political contexts, customs and conventions and values of the community, and the dominant issues and conflicts of the society as a whole.

• Benefits the reader by enlarging his/her world-view.Examples

District 12 in the country of Panem, post-apocalypticForks, Washington, 2005

Questions to Ask

• What is the setting when the story begins?• How does the white room of your mind fill in?

• Does the action remain in one setting? Or does it change? If it changes, compare how they are similar and different.

• Through action, what does the author show by action? Through telling, what does the author describe?

• How detailed is the author? What does the author draw the reader’s attention to through description?

• Does the setting become symbolic?• How is the main character shaped by the setting?

Character

• Character driven rather than plot driven: Personalities—revelations of personalities• The Fables of Aesop

• The Tortoise and the Hare• The Boy Who Cried Wolf

• The Vixen and the Lioness• A vixen sneered at a lioness because she never bore more than one cub. “Only one,” the

lioness replied, “but a lion.”• The Ant and the Grasshopper

• One cold winter day an ant was dragging out a grain which he had buried during the winter. A hungry grasshopper asked for a bit of the grain.

• “What did you do all summer?” asked the ant.• “I was busy all summer long, singing,” replied the grasshopper.• “Well,” said the ant, “since you sang all summer, now dance all winter.”

Kinds of Characters

• Characters are presented through:• What the character says (dialogue)• What the character does (actions)• What the author explicitly tells us about the character (authorial

comment• What the author tells us about where the character lives (setting)

Character: Types

• Protagonist (the leading man or woman): the main or center character

• Antagonist (the contentious supporting actor): the character who is in conflict with the main character

• Foil (character actors): Characters who bring out the qualities of the protagonist.

English 113: General Literature

Character: What to look at.

• Appearance: What does the character look like?

• Action: What does each character do?

• Dialogue: What does each character say? And to whom? (Dialogue is an action?

• Thoughts & Feelings: What does the character think and feel? (His/her inner life)

Character: Other Considerations

• Setting: How does the locale and time shape the character?

• Point of View: Does the author show (objective method) or tell (dramatic method)

• Making Connections: How is this character in this story similar to and different from characters in other literary works?

Point of View

“Every story is told by someone.” Mark Twain

Who tells the story? (Narrator)Invisible Narrators: relatively impartial and

inconspicuousParticipant (first person) Point of ViewNonparticipant (third person) Point of View

Point of View

• First Person Point of View• “You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The

Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was tings which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.”

Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn• Nonparticipant (or Third Person) Point of View

• “Young Goodman brown came forth, at sunset, into the street at Salem village; but put his head back, after crossing the threshold, to exchange a parting kiss with his young wife. And Faith, as the wife was aptly names, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the windplay with the pink ribbons of her camp while she called to Goodman Brown.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”

Plot (Character in Action)

• Story & Plot are not the same.• Story implies history; a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence.

• The king died and then the queen died.• The king died in December. Then, in January, the queen was hit by a drunk drive and died.

• Plot implies imposed structure: a narrative of events, with the emphasis falling on causality. • The king died and then the queen died of grief.

• Plot is the arrangement of episodes or doings or incidencts or actions or happenings or whatever we wish to call them. The plot, again, is the cunning contrivance that is an organized whole.

• The literary use of the term is closer to a secret plan or scheme.

Plot

• Chronological structure, usually.• Foreshadowing, maybe. The author hints at what will come.• Flashbacks: the author goes back to another time.• In medias res (in the middle) like the movie Forrest Gump.• Sifting (repeatedly going back and forth) like a miner sifting

through sand in order to find gold.• A good plot should evoke surprise but also the sense “Oh,

that’s all right.”

What Happens

• List on the board what happens chapter by chapter in the novel you have read.

Plot

• The beginning: What happens first, when and where does it happen?• The middle: What happens next, and next, and next . . . ?

• What does the author do to create suspense? (How does he/she keep you reading?)

• Does anything surprise you?• Does the author present a conflict, crisis, or climax in the plot? Where? What is

the climax of the plot—and its consequences?• What is the denouement (the unknotting) of the plot?• As the plot unfolds, Does the main character change a lot, or a little, or not at

all?• The ending: what happens as the story closes? What (how much) is

resolved?