For more on annotating, see Chapter 12.
Use the following suggestions as a way into the story. Try out more than one to discover how different aspects of the story work together and to generate ideas for a thoughtful analysis. To read the story closely and critically, annotate it as you work through the suggestions, highlighting key passages and noting your ideas and questions.
Ways In
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WHAT ELEMENTS COULD I ANALYZE, AND WHY? |
WHAT APPROACH MIGHT I TAKE? |
WHAT SHOULD I ASK MYSELF? |
CharacterYou want to know
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Psychological | Does the character change/learn anything in the course of the story?How does the character relate to other characters? For instance, how does he or she deal with intimacy, commitment, and responsibility?Does the character seem depressed, manic, abusive, fearful, egotistical, or paranoid?Does any other character seem to represent the character’s double or opposite? |
| Ethical or moral | What are the character’s virtues and/or vices? | |
| What influences your judgment of the character? Something in the story (such as what the narrator or another character says)? Something you bring to the story (your views of right and wrong, based on your family upbringing or religious teachings)? Something else?Do any of the other characters have different moral values that could be compared or contrasted to the character’s values? | ||
| Social or cultural | How does the character fit into and appear to be defined by society, in terms of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, age, or gender?Who in the story exercises power over whom? What causes the difference in power? What are the effects of this difference? Does the balance of power change during the story? | |
SettingYou want to know
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In relation to the mood, characters, or actions | How does the setting affect the mood? For example, does it create feelings of suspense or foreboding?Are there any cause-effect connections between the setting and what characters are doing, thinking, or feeling? |
| Historical or cultural | How does the historical period or cultural context in which the story is set affect what happens and does not happen?How might the story’s meaning be different if the historical time or cultural situation were changed? | |
| Metaphoric or symbolic | Assuming that the setting is a projection of the thoughts and feelings of the narrator, what does the setting tell you about the narrator’s state of mind?Assuming that the setting symbolizes the social relations among characters in the story, what does the setting tell you about these relationships?Assuming that the setting stands for something outside the characters’ control (such as nature, God, or some aspect of society), what does the setting tell you about the pressures and rules under which the characters function? | |
Plot StructureYou want to know
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As realistic (resembling real-life experience)As surrealistic (having symbolic rather than literal meaning) | After marking where each new stage of the story begins, how can the sequence of scenes or events be understood? In what ways do subplots mirror, undercut, or comment on the main plot?Thinking of the story as a series of images (more like a collage or a dream than a realistic portrayal of actual events), what meanings do you find in the arrangement of these images? |
Point of ViewYou want to know
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In terms of what the narrator actually sees | Is the narrator a character in the story or an all-knowing, disembodied voice who knows what every character thinks, feels, and does?What important insights or ideas does the narrator have?How do factors such as the narrator’s gender, age, and ethnicity influence what he or she notices as important?Are there things that the narrator is not able to see or that he or she distorts—for example, certain truths about himself or herself, about other characters, or about what happens in the story? |
| In terms of how the narrator represents what he or she sees | How would you characterize the narrator’s tone at various points in the story? For example, is the tone satirical, celebratory, angry, bitter, or optimistic?What about the narrator (or about the situation) might account for each tone you identify?What special agenda or motive might have led the narrator to this particular way of describing characters and scenes or telling the story? | |
Literary Motif or ThemeYou want to know
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In terms of a traditional story motif (or an ironic reversal of the tradition)In terms of a common literary theme | Could you analyze the text as . . . an initiation (or coming-of-age or rite-of-passage) story?. . . a quest (for love, truth, fame, fortune, or salvation of oneself or the community)?. . . a story about a character’s disillusionment or fall from innocence?. . . a story about family or surrogate families?. . . a story about storytelling (or some other art) or becoming a writer or an artist?Might you focus on the theme of . . . the American dream?. . . the social construction of femininity or masculinity?. . . race relations in America?. . . alienation?. . . the urban or suburban experience? |
In addition to generating ideas by taking one of the approaches listed above, you can consider the details and use those to generate an approach. Or you can list ideas you had while reading the story and use those to locate supporting details. The Ways In box that follows can help you generate ideas using these two approaches.
Ways In
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HOW CAN I GENERATE IDEAS BY MOVING FROM SPECIFIC DETAILS TO GENERAL IDEAS? |
HOW CAN I GENERATE IDEAS BY MOVING FROM GENERAL IDEAS TO SPECIFIC DETAILS? |
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Get together with two or three other students who have read your story, and offer responses to one another’s ideas.
Presenters. Take turns telling one another your two or three most promising ideas, giving an example from the story to support each idea.
Listeners. Briefly respond to each presenter’s ideas, identifying what you find interesting in them, what you agree or disagree with, and how the ideas could be extended or complicated productively.