Literary Analysis A “close examination” of the parts of a text

Summary versus Analysis A summary provides basic facts of a story whereas an analysis makes a judgment about the facts. In Jack and Jill the plot is that two individuals ascended a hill and both fell, the male first followed by the female,

Analysis How did Jack and Jill fall? This begins the analytical process with the investigative question, “Why.” Why did it take two people to retrieve water? Why is the water at the top of a hill. Why does Jack fall first? Why does this story persevere.? What meaning does all this produce?

Meaning What does it mean to “fall”? Can the climbing and falling serve as symbols for all mankind? A hill is a potent symbol of challenge and struggle. Water represents purity, rebirth and renewal. Rather than finding rebirth, Jack and Jill, like the human race, fall into sin (which could be a sin of the sexual nature). The story becomes a message about human life. The style used suggests a timeless quality of the warning. Are we all children who are oblivious to the tragedy awaiting us in life?

Style and Author’s Purpose This is a cautionary tale (a moralistic story) about innocence and experience, struggle and failure, purity and guilt, and sex and death. If we are “Jacks and Jills” and the world is the hill, then we encounter a bleak landscape where all our hopes and dreams are dashed. What is the mysterious force that determines our destiny?

Literary Analysis In real life, time always moves forward; we are always real human beings surrounded by other human beings, and we are always in some particular place. In literature this is referred to as plot, characters, and setting.

Plot Unlike life, in literature there is a beginning and an ending. A writer must choose a place to both begin and end his story.

Exposition An obvious place to begin the Wizard of Oz would have been when Dorothy arrived in Oz. Beginning in Kansas, instead, introduces the reader to Dorothy’s character through EXPOSITION, the information needed to establish the perimeters of the story. For example, what does Dorothy’s relationship to her dog have to do with her transporting to Oz?

Asking questions about exposition will help you identify toward what the author wants to direct your attention. When Dorothy conflicts with Ms. Gulch about Toto, the writer misleads us into thinking the story will be about Dorothy protecting her dog. When the story takes an unexpected turn to Oz, the reader must question why the story began with Toto.

Conflict Next, the author must introduce a conflict for the character to resolve. Dorothy’s primary motivation is to resolve the conflict of her return home (her primary motivation throughout the story: She must follow the yellow brick road. Meet the wizard. Kill the Wicked Witch of the West.

Complications What becomes important in the plot is that Dorothy becomes motivated by the friendships she develops along the way, which lead to a series of complications.

Exposition The middle of a story consists of events that either move the plot along or provide texture to the events and/or characters. One question the reader must ask is how plot driven is the story. Also, what is the relationship between the main action of the plot and any details or sideshows that the reader encounters along the way.

Resolution Stories are more complicated than the morals they suggest. Unlike most stories, The Wizard of Oz possesses a clear moral: “There’s no place like home.” However, there may be more to the story. Consider that Dorothy would never have appreciated the values of home without going away. Is the moral a perfect reflection of what the story demonstrated?

Characterization Protagonist and antagonist (Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West) – The protagonist is the character for whom the reader roots. Flat characters lack depth and round characters are fully developed characters who are capable of change. Most characters in the Wizard of Oz are flat except for Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion.

SETTING Setting may also influence the story. Doesn’t the rural setting of Dorothy’s setting serve a purpose. When Dorothy learns to appreciate her home (Kansas), the reader learns that any place may be filled with love. Consider, also, that Kansas was representative of the Dust Bowl during the 1930s. Farmers fled the plains share the political message of staying put in the homeland. Also, the story is an allegory of the young people being swept from their homes to fight the fascist tyranny of WWII (the Wicked Witch).

Time, people and place are the elements of a narrative structure that are the basic building blocks for interpreting literature.