Many times students are expected to write a literary analysis of a theme(s), qualities of a main or minor character(s), or other key points, only to end up writing a plot summary of a literary work or its interpretation of the plot. Knowing the differences between the terms plot summary, plot interpretation, and literary analysis may help you to correctly write your assignment.
Plot
summary
A plot summary is a condensed
description of the story in a novel, poem, short story, play, film or other
piece of storytelling. It does not provide a review of performance or contain
the opinions of the author. It also does not retell the complete story, which
is why a summary does not contain all the detailed information about the main
characters, replay the unfolding drama, or review all of the twists and turns
in the plot.
The point of a summary is to
explain, or summarize, the story. Therefore, there is no discussion of deeper
meaning of the literary work, which is what an analysis is.
Plot
interpretation
An interpretation of the plot is
just that—an interpretation. Interpretation often occurs when writing
literature papers about poetry or complex works such as epic poems. The student
interprets the meaning of the literary work, but simply stops there. Instead of
trying to analyze the deeper meaning(s) of the literary work, which is what
analyzing is, the student interprets what he or she believes the author is
trying to portray.
Literary
Analysis
A literary analysis is examining the
different elements of a piece of literature to help you better appreciate and
understand its work as a whole.
This process requires you to use the
sharpened, focused expression of thought and study into the literary work, especially
a narrowed section of it. Analyzing literature sharpens your perceptions and
increases your critical thinking abilities.
The goal of a literary analysis is
to broaden and deepen your understanding of a work of literature.
The process of analyzing a literary
work is to carefully examine and sometimes evaluate an aspect of it.
Professors often provide topics of
discussion, or ask questions in their assignment instructions to guide students
on what literary elements needed to be analyzed and discussed.
This requires you to break the literary
work’s subject (such as the theme, qualities of a character, events, etc.) down
into its component parts, then carefully analyze in accordance to the
professor’s requirements. This process means that
You need to go beyond superficial
reading of the literary work to delve more deeply into meaning and
understanding.
For instance, an analysis of a poem
might deal with the different types of images or with the relationship between
the poetic form and content of the work.
If you were to analyze (discuss and
explain) a play, you might analyze the relationship between a subplot and the main
plot, or you might analyze the character flaw of the tragic hero by tracing how
it is revealed through the acts of the play.
Analyzing a short story might
include identifying a particular theme(like the difficulty of making the
transition from adolescence to adulthood) and showing how the writer suggests
this theme through the point of view from which the story is told; or you might
also explain how the main character’s attitude toward women is revealed through
his dialogue and/or actions.
Other ideas for analyzing literature
could include:
·
Focusing on what the author
accomplishes or fails to accomplish with the text.
·
Focusing on elements that work
together within a text that build towards the climax or conclusion.
·
Explaining how or why a literary
work does something.
REMEMBER
There is no total right or wrong in your analytical ideas
unless you know the author’s original intent for writing the literary work. The
key to writing a literary analysis is how well you identify, develop, and
support your ideas.
Steps
toward writing a literary analysis essay
1.
Begin by development of an idea.
This idea can be about a specific part of the literary work, its author,
writing style, genre, or elements such as theme, tone, plot, characterization,
setting, etc.
2.
Centralize this idea by writing the
thesis statement. The thesis forms the foundation upon which all supporting
ideas will derive. Therefore, these supporting ideas will form the body of the
paper and will always go directly back to the thesis statement.
3.
Discuss and analyze each supporting
idea at a time. Ideally, each idea is discussed in one or two paragraphs.
4.
Find evidence to support (not
explain) your ideas. Evidence is derived from the following examples from the
original literary work:
•Direct quotations
•Paraphrases of long quotes
5.
Find and use secondary sources if
the professor allows and/or requires them. Secondary sources can consist of the
following:
•A book or article that discusses the text you are
discussing
•A book or article that discusses a theory related to the
argument you are making
•A book or article that discusses the social and historical
context of the text you are discussing
6.
Ensure you analyze throughout your
entire essay, not at the end of discussion or only in the conclusion paragraph.
7.
Draw your analytical conclusion in
the closing paragraph. This conclusion should suggest the significance, or the
reason the reader should care, about your topic. Again, there is no total right or wrong conclusion in whatever you decide. The key is to ensure your
conclusion has been discussed and supported in the body of the paper as
introduced by the thesis statement.
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