{ Literary Analysis How to write literary analysis

 Analysis is looking at a small piece of the text and explaining how it relates to the whole. What is ANALYSIS?

 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is about Tom Sawyer.  Mark Twain wrote this book about childhood.  Tom Sawyer is very mischievous and gets into trouble a lot. We don’t have to prove facts. This is not analysis.

Analysis is an idea about the literature.  Characterization– how a character is or changes  A theme– explains what the book says about a topic and how you know  The plot—how the events are related to each other  Setting– explains how about the time or place affects the story, or the story changes because of the time or place  ADVANCED: author’s writing style, author’s attitude toward the topic, comparing and contrasting themes, characters, authors.

 Tom is a clever kid.  Tom misbehaves because Aunt Polly lets him get away with it.  Childhood is a time of adventure, exploration, and moral development.  ADVANCED ANALYSIS:  Mark Twain is not racist, and uses satire to make fun of racism.  Bart Simpson is the 20 th Century Tom Sawyer. When we analyze we explain and prove our ideas.

 How does this book reflect the author’s beliefs?  How does the author’s use of language help or hurt the story?  What purpose does a specific character play in the story?  How does the author use humor in the story? Advanced Analysis– Writer’s Craft

 Explain how this quote demonstrates the theme of generosity.  What events caused Scrooge to change?  What does [the following quote] prove?  Demonstrate how Cassie/Stacey is developing and maturing. Sometimes you have to prove the teacher’s idea.

 First, let’s practice with a very simple teacher’s idea that we can all agree on. Analysis practice

 Tom is a clever kid. This is our topic– it’s an assertion that we are going to prove.

 Find a quote that proves Tom’s cleverness.  Transition to the evidence by writing down what is happening where the text occurs.  One thing that proves that my assertion is true is … Add a context transition

 Transition to the quote by introducing it.  Write down the text you chose. It does not have to be dialogue.  Be sure to use quotation marks around the quote.  Put the page number in parenthesis after the quote and before the period. EVIDENCE

The basis of analysis is explaining what the quote proves– why it is significant to the story.  What does the evidence say that proves your assertion?  This shows that…  How does this prove your assertion?  This proves that… ANALYSIS– probably takes 2 sentences

1. Assertion 2. Context transition 3. Evidence & Citation 4. Analysis In A Nutshell

 Reread what you wrote.  Is it repetitive? Is there any way to reduce repetitiveness?  Can you sentence combine? There is no set number of sentences.  Are the verbs in present tense?  Is it in 3 rd person?  Are the appropriate words capitalized?  Is everything spelled correctly?. Revision & Editing