The first step before conducting a literary analysis is to read the work you are analyzing. This would seem to be a “duh” statement, but you’d be surprised how many students will try to “fake it” by using plot summaries of a work they’ve found online. When they do, it becomes painfully obvious to the reader, as while they’ll be able to discuss the basic plot points, they’re lost in everything else.
While reading the work, if at all possible, make notes in it. I know! Your teachers back in grade school taught you that writing in your books was wrong. That’s because the teachers had to reuse those books year after year. You, however, own your books. If you are analyzing a novel, you will probably not get a lot of money back from the bookstore at the end of the year anyways… so you might as well use the novel as you would any other tool.
When one reads while using a pen in hand to make notes, it does slow the reader down. That’s okay—in fact, that is a good thing. That way, you will notice more. You will think about what you are reading more. By underlining important phrases, asking questions on the page, making note of symbols or things that you think are “off,” you will interact with the text on a higher level.
Note that you do not want to underline everything in a work, however—after all, that would defeat the purpose of drawing attention to those phrases.
For help on this subject, you may wish to read the essay “How to Mark up a Book” located within your textbook.
So—now you’ve read the book, from cover to cover, having marked it up thoroughly. Now you have to decide on what sort of approach you wish to take. Here are several ways (but not all!) that you can look at analyzing a work:
1.Moralistic: Ask yourself, what is the work trying to say? What is the work’s message? Doing a moralistic analysis means that you will be writing an essay in which you try to prove to the reader (through evidence from the text) that the work you are reading has a specific message to send. Example: Little Red Riding hood serves as a message to young girls to be careful of predators that would prey upon naivety.
2.Character Analysis: With this type of analysis, you are focusing in, specifically, one character. You will try to get within their head and answer what makes the character do the things that they do. Example: The wicked step-mother in Snow White hates her step-daughter greatly due to her own feelings of physical inadequacy, and thus has to remove her as a competitor. Note that this is not just a plot summary focusing on what the character does—instead it tries go deep to answer “why” the character does what they do.
3.Sociological Analysis: With a sociological analysis, you are focusing in, specifically, on how a certain group is treated. Some examples of this are how various genders are portrayed (such as a feminist reading), various ethnic groups (racial analysis), various sexual orientations (such as queer theory), class (Marxist analysis) and so on. Do not try to cover all of these groups—just focus on one. Example: The fact that minorities seem to die early on in horror movies indicates that those who are not of white European decent lack the survival instincts to survive a horrific event, or (in the view of the script writer) do not deserve to survive.
4.Formalist Analysis: In this type of analysis, the reader is interested in examining how the work as a whole is put together. They are interested in discussing the various symbols found within a work, the tone, the organization, the point of view… basically, the entire “form” of the work. A formalist believes in looking at the work itself, and disregards anything that might have been happening in the time period, or to the writer. Example: In The Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow is symbolic of farmers (who would be stronger if they had brains), the Tin Man of industry (who would be better if they had a heart), and the lion of royalty (who need more courage).
5.Biographical Analysis: In this type of analysis, the work is viewed as a reflection of the writer’s own thoughts, beliefs, and life. To do this type of analysis, one must have a good deal of information on the writer of the work. Example: According to Coleridge, he had a wild dream after taking Opium, and when he awoke, having just read a history of a Mongol warlord named Kubla Kahn, he began to write the poem “Kubla Kahn” based on what he remembered. He was, however, interrupted half way through, and thus, claims the poem is unfinished.
6.Historical Analysis: In this type of analysis, the writer is looking at the work as a product of its time period—noting what can be learned about the time period from the work, and what events were occurring at that time that might have influenced the work. Example: The novel Huckleberry Finn is banned in many schools due the use of the “n-word” throughout it, and thus has been seen as racist. However, Twain was actually writing a novel against racism, and was merely presenting a portrayal of how people during the time period he lived in spoke.
There are plenty of other types of analysis, but mainly, each analysis serves to illuminate a particular aspect of the work. You job as a writer of an analytical paper is not to summarize the plot (I’ve read the work; you’ve read the work), but to discuss something further.
Upon deciding upon an approach, skim back through the book on a second reading, looking for examples that you marked previously that help support this idea.
For this assignment, you are asked to use two outside sources. Do not use “grade school” level non-sources that do not advance your discussion such as dictionaries, “famous quotes” / clichés, or sources that are used to discuss the instructions (i.e., a source that discusses analysis, in general).
Since you are writing about literature, remember that you should use the present tense. We do not say that Hamlet was a play about revenge as that indicates it no longer “is.” Instead, we say Hamlet is a play about revenge.
You should also make sure that you write in third person. All use of I, me, my, we, our, etc., should be cut (as it is first person) as well as you and your (as it is second person). Remember, here the focus is on the literature, not yourself. Thus, make sure that you cut all “I think that” “I believe that” and “In my humble opinion” sorts of phrases.
Your final draft should be a minimum of 1200 words and follow MLA format. The 1200 words “does” include the
Works Cited page
you will see a description of the various schools of analysis, and some tips on how to apply these on the paper in this link:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/1/
File AnalyzingLit.pdf (121.555 KB)
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A college guide to discussing strategies for analyzing literature. Note: Since this guide was written in the 1990s, do not follow the advice for citing works discussed in this guide. Follow the current MLA guidelines found in your Handbook This will be on a pdf file that I will upload.
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