Writing
Your Literary Analysis
Step
one: Read the work for
its literal meaning. Make sure you
understand the plot of the play or novel and who the characters are.
Step two: Annotate
the play or novel--underline descriptions that seem significant to you. Write down your reactions, questions,
and comments.
Step three: Draw
a picture of the story or draw a character map that notes how you feel about
each main character in the beginning of the work and how you feel about the
main characters at the end of the work.
Step four: Review
your notes about what you read.
Step five: Decide
what question you want to answer about the works you are analyzing. Your thesis is the answer to your question. Try to develop an interesting thesis
and interpretation. Choose the
quotes and evidence in the story that support your thesis.
I.
Introduction
A.
Summarize what each work is about
in one sentence. Don't forget to mention the title of the each work you are analyzing
and who the author is.
B.
State the main point
or thesis of your essay. Your
thesis should answer a question about how an important element in the piece of
literature works. For instance, you might answer the question: What do you think
was the main point the author was trying to make about his/her subject (theme) or what was the author trying to show
through one of the characters?
II.
Body
A.
Explain your first
point connected to your thesis and support it with quotations from the book.
B.
Explain your second
point connected to your thesis and support it with quotations from the book.
C.
Explain your most
important idea connected to your thesis.
Discuss your interpretation and support it with quotations from the
book.
(Note:
Be careful that you don't just re-tell the story without giving your
interpretations. A better analysis
would focus on your interpretation, not on synopsizing the story.)
III.
Conclusion: You can summarize your main points, and
connect them to your thesis. You
can connect your interpretation to a larger theme in the novel or you can
explain what you learned about human nature or the complexity of human
experience through the novel.