Analyzing a Novel

What do we mean by analysis To tear things to pieces?

What do we mean by analysis To analyze a literary work is to identify the separate parts that make it up to determine the relationships among the parts, and discover the relation of the parts to the whole. The end of the analysis is always the understanding of the literary work as a unified and complex whole.

In the context of a complete story, one sentence may have several functions. “The windows of the old house rattled as John slammed the door.”

The purposes To develop intellectual and emotional skills, co-ordination and reflexes in reading. Exploring the values.

The genres of novel Bildungsroman e.g. Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield Gothic e.g. Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto Picaresque e.g. Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders historical novel e.g. Arundhaty Roy’s The God of Small Things regional novel e.g. Thomas Hardy’s Wessex

satirical novel e.g. Jonathan Swifft’s Gulliver’s Travels The epistolary novel e.g. Samuel Richardson’s Pamela Tendenzroman/ thesis novel e.g. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin Science Fiction e.g. H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds The Roman-fleuve e.g. Balzac’s La omedie Humaine

Critical approaches to fiction Textual approaches  formalism, structuralism Generic approaches  bildungsroman, gothic, picaresque, historical novel, regional novel, satirical novel, etc. Contextual approaches

Critical approaches to fiction Bibliographical approaches Psychological approaches Feminist approaches Reader-oriented approaches

Next week “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant  Plot  Characters and characterization

Next two weeks O’ Henry “The Gift of Magi”  Theme  Setting  Symbol