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Analysis and Interpretation How Do They Work?
Analysis: examination of the parts or elements.
Fictional Elements
Plot
settingCharacter
Themes
Interpretation: an explanation of the meaning of the work derived from its elements.
Meaning of the work as a whole
Blind ambition will only lead to desctuction
Where to begin…
Where to begin…
“The beginning of a novel is…a social contract negotiation, an invitation to a dance, a list of rules of the game, and a fairly complex seduction…that’s what’s going on at the beginning of the novel” (Foster 22).
Where to begin…
The opening is the first lesson in how to read it.
The Beginning Conveys S T Y L E
• Short or long sentences?• Simple or complex sentences?• Rushed or leisurely?• Many or few adjectives and adverbs?• Detailed?
The Beginning Conveys T O N EAuthor’s Attitude toward the
subject matter; how the voice sounds.
Elegiac Didactic Apathetic Cynical
Aloof Morose Volatile Pompous
Seductive Jovial Reverent Quizzical
The Beginning Conveys T O N E
To misinterpret tone is to
misinterpret meaning.
The Beginning Conveys M O O DEmotional situation surrounding the reader; how it feels about
what is being told.
The Beginning Conveys D I C T I O NWord Choice
Friendly Challenging Common Rare
Colorful Archaic Slang
Jargon Colloquial Formality Dialect
The Beginning Conveys P o i n t o f V i e w
Choice of who is telling the story
The Beginning Conveys N a r r a ti v e P r e s e n c e
How will the narrator show up?
• Is the voice inside or outside the story?
• Disembodied or a person?
• Victim to persecutor?
• Servant to master?
• Observor or passionately involved?
• Impersonal?
• Detached or emotionally invested?
The Beginning Conveys N a r r a ti v e A tti t u d e
How does the narrator feel about people and events in the story?
Is the character interested, amused, superior, cool, impersonal, naïve, earnest, aloof?
The Beginning Conveys T I M E F R A M E
When Is It All Happening?
Now? Long ago?
A lot of time of a little?
What part of the narrator’s life
(if a character)?
“Once upon a time…”
The Beginning Conveys T I M E M A N A G E M E N T
PACING: How fast do we go?
Is time fast or slow? Elongated by using flashbacks and digressions or
is it being told in real time?
The Beginning Conveys P L A C E
This is more than just setting!
Place is a sense of things, a mode of thought, a way of seeing.
The Beginning Conveys M O T I F
Stuff that happens again and againIMAGE, ACTION, LANGUAGE PATTERN
Motifs and symbols are easily confused. A symbol is an object that stands for something greater; whereas, a motif may or may not be an object but it recurs throughout the piece with the purpose of leading to the broader significance and key idea.
The Beginning Conveys T H E M E
The Idea of the StoryMAKES IT WORTHWHILE
The Beginning Conveys I R O N Y
Verbal, Dramatic, Situational(NOT IN ALL STORIES)
The Beginning Conveys R H Y T H M
How diction is deployed…how it flows
Blurted out or withheld?
Stated directly or tangled in
clauses?
Calm and measured or
rushed?
The Beginning Conveys E X P E C TAT I O N SOf the Writer, Of the Reader
This is where you get to say,
“Do I really want to read this?”
The Beginning Conveys C H A R A C T E RUsually the Protagonist
A N A LY S I S is about looking at these parts and elements in order to make an I N T E R P R E TAT I O N .
But, look at them HOW?
(1) Read through eyes that are not your own.• Adjust your eyes and mind to transport you from
contemporary reality to the author’s reality.
• Look at it through the lens of the story rather than the lens of your own values and experience.
• Adopt the worldview the work asks of its audience and not our own pop culture.
(1) Read through eyes that are not your own with caution.
Accepting the cultural values and ideas from a time in history for your characters does not mean you accept them. Unacceptable views such as racial hatred or destruction should be viewed through the context the author creates. Ask yourself if the text works independently of whatever bigotry lies behind it or if it is a product of bigotry. If the latter, it is not a worthy read.
(2) What ideas do the elements have in common?
What is the relationship between
style and theme?– Patterns and repetition?– Tone and actions?– Figurative Language?
(3) Pay attention to what is included and what is omitted.
(4) Understand that fiction captures both the individual existence and the experience of the group.
Literature is written to
broaden and deepen and
sharpen our awareness of
life.
(4) Understand that fiction captures both the individual existence and the experience of the group.
Literature enables us to
move beyond the text and
consider its implications as
humans who live in the
world today.
(4) Understand that fiction captures both the individual existence and the experience of the group.
Literature takes us through
the imagination, deeper
into the real world by
helping us understand
ourselves and our problems.
(4) Understand that fiction captures both the individual existence and the experience of the group.
Literature has the objective of
pleasure and understanding.
(4) Understand that fiction captures both the individual existence and the experience of the group.
Literature helps us to
understand our world,
mankind, and ourselves.
(4) Understand that fiction captures both the individual existence and the experience of the group.
Literature presents insights into
our nature as human beings,
our cultures, and our histories.
(4) Understand that fiction captures both the individual existence and the experience of the group.
Literature helps us to
understand what it means to
be a human being in the
world…to figure out our
purpose.
Let’s Give It A TryCan You Interpret This?
What are the facts?Read and Re-read
Can You Interpret This Scene?What are the facts?
Interpret Tone
Hmm
Interpret Tone
Uh Huh
Interpret Tone
Ahh
Work Cited
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York,
Harper, 2003. Print.
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Novels Like a Professor. New York:
Harper, 2008. Print.
