Asking questions that lead to an interpretation

Think of your interpretation as answering a question about the work. Some interpretations answer questions about literary techniques, such as the writer’s handling of plot, setting, and character. Others 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 .

Often you will find yourself writing about both technique and social context. For example, Margaret Peel, a student who wrote about 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?

Here is the two-sentence thesis that Peel developed for her essay:

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.

Questions to ask about literature

Margaret Peel, “Opposing Voices in ‘Ballad of the Landlord’”