After rereading, taking notes, and perhaps discussing the work, you are ready to form an interpretation—your understanding of the meaning of details in the work. At this stage, try to focus on one aspect of the work. Look through your notes and annotations for recurring questions and insights.
Focusing on a central issue
In writing an analysis of literature, you will focus on a central issue. Your job isn’t to say everything about the work that can possibly be said. It is to develop a sustained, in-depth interpretation that illuminates the work in some specific way. For example, you may think that Huckleberry Finn is an interesting book because it not only contains humor and brilliant descriptions of scenery but also tells a serious story of one boy’s development. But to develop this general response into an interpretation, you will have to find a focus. For example, you might address the ways in which the runaway slave Jim uses humor to preserve his dignity. Or you might examine the ironic contradictions between what Huck says and what his heart tells him.
Asking questions that lead to an interpretation
Good interpretations generally arise from good questions. What is it about the work that puzzles or intrigues you? What do you want to know more about? By asking yourself such questions, you will push yourself beyond your first impressions to deeper insights.
In writing an analysis, you might answer questions about literary techniques, such as the author’s handling of plot, setting, or character. Or you could respond to questions about social context as well—what a work reveals about the time and culture in which it was written. Both kinds of questions are included in the chart at the bottom of the page.
Often you will find yourself writing about both technique and social context. For example, Margaret Peel, a student who wrote an essay on Langston Hughes’s poem “Ballad of the Landlord,” addressed the following question, which touches on both language and race:
How does the poem’s language—through its four voices—dramatize the experience of a black man in a society dominated by whites?
In the introduction of your paper, you will usually announce your interpretation in a one- or two-sentence thesis. The thesis answers the central question that you posed. Here, for example, is Margaret Peel’s two-sentence thesis:
Langston Hughes’s “Ballad of the Landlord” is narrated through four voices, each with its own perspective on the poem’s action. These opposing voices—of a tenant, a landlord, the police, and the press—dramatize a black man’s experience in a society dominated by whites.
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Questions about technique
Plot: What central conflicts drive the plot? Are they internal (within a character) or external (between characters or between a character and a force)? How are conflicts resolved?
Setting: Does the setting (time and place) create an atmosphere, give an insight into a character, suggest symbolic meanings, or hint at the theme of the work?
Character: What seems to motivate the central characters? Do any characters change significantly? If so, what have they learned from their experiences? Do contrasts between characters highlight important themes?
Point of view: Does the point of view—the perspective from which the story is narrated or the poem is spoken—influence our understanding of events? Does the narration reveal the character traits of the speaker, or does the speaker merely observe others? Is the narrator innocent, naive, or deceitful?
Theme: Does the work have an overall theme (a central insight about people or a truth about life, for example)? If so, how do details in the work illuminate this theme?
Language: Does language—formal or informal, standard or dialect, ordinary or poetic, cool or passionate—reveal the character of speakers? How do metaphors, similes, and sensory images contribute to the work? How do recurring images enrich the work and hint at its meaning?
Questions about social context
Historical context: What does the work reveal about—or how was it shaped by—the time and place in which it was written? Does the work appear to promote or undermine a philosophy that was popular in its time, such as feminism in the mid-twentieth century?
Class: How does social class shape or influence characters’ choices and actions? How does class affect the way characters view or are viewed by others? What economic struggles or power relationships does the work reflect or depict?
Race and culture: Are any characters portrayed as being caught between cultures: between a traditional and an emerging culture, for example? Are any characters engaged in a conflict with society because of their race or ethnic background? Does the work celebrate a specific culture and its traditions?
Gender: Are any characters’ choices restricted because of gender? What are the power relationships between the sexes? Do any characters resist the gender roles that society has assigned to them? Do other characters choose to conform to those roles?
Archetypes (or universal types): Does a character, an image, or a plot fit a pattern—a type—that has been repeated in stories throughout history and across cultures? (For example, nearly every culture has stories about heroes, quests, redemption, and revenge.) How is an archetypal character, image, or plot line similar to or different from others like it?