Literary analysis
How do single events relate to the work as a whole? How are events arranged in time? What conflicts occur in the story? What causes the conflict and how does It move the plot along? Characterization Characters are the people In stones.
Characterization Is the author’s presentation and development of characters. Characters can be either static, implying that they do not grow, or dynamic, meaning that they do grow. Questions about characterization you might ask include: what conflicts exist between the protagonist and the antagonist? How do characters try to solve them? Do characters have contradictory raids that cause internal conflicts?
How do characters relate to one another? Do the characters change? If not, why not? If so, how and why? Theme The theme Is the central Idea, commenting In some way about the human condition. It deals with 4 general areas of human experience: the natures of humanity, of society, of humankind’s relationship with the world, and of our ethical responsibilities. A theme Is what the work says about a topic.
It Is a comment on the human condition. Your thesis should comment on the theme’s comment on the human condition. Questions you can ask about the theme include: what image of mankind emerges from the work?
Does the author believe people to be good or evil? Does the author portray a particular society or societal scheme as life-enhancing or life-destroying? Are the characters in conflict with their society? Do they escape from this or are they trapped by it? What are the moral conflicts in a story? Setting The time, place, general environment, occupations and manner of daily living of the characters In a book or story are the elements that make up Its setting. To reveal what effect the setting may or may not have on a story, several questions should be asked: When and where does the action take place?
What Is the relationship between the setting and the plot? How does the time in which the story is set affect the contribute to the plot or theme? How does the setting create the mood of the story? How does the setting affect the characters? Tone The tone of a literary work reveals the author’s attitude toward its theme, characters, setting, and events. The tone of a literary work affects how the reader interprets and responds to the work.
The author conveys his or her attitude through several types of literary devices. He or she may state clearly how he or she feels, but more often the one is conveyed indirectly.
An author’s tone may be serious, angry, humorous, sympathetic, satirical, ironic, persuasive, etc. By using subjective language, an author can evoke certain feelings in his or her readers. Certain connotative words or facts make the reader feel a certain way about the topic. Questions about the tone include the following: how does the writer make me feel about the subject? What types of connotative words are used to develop the tone? What method of presentation is used? Source Griffith Kelley.
Writing Essays about Literature (NY: Harcourt, 1990. )
