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’”

Related topics:

Drafting an interpretive thesis

Focusing an interpretive thesis

Outlining an interpretive paper