1. Summarizing vs. Analyzing
Composition – Literary Analysis

2. Summarizing means… Explaining the PLOT of a story
Using chronological order
Only describing the Who, What, Where and When of the piece, not WHY or HOW an author writes the piece.

3. How do I know if I’m summarizing?
Are you stating something that would be obvious to the reader?
Does your essay use the same chronological order that the author uses to tell the story?
Are you simply describing WHAT happens, WHERE it happens, or WHOM it happens to?

4. Analysis means…
Separating the text into parts to show how the parts unify to create a whole work.
Answering the questions HOW? and WHY?
Including evidence as support for your original idea or argument.

5. How do I know if I’m analyzing?
Are you making an original argument about the text?
Have you arranged evidence around your points instead of following the author’s or plot’s order?
Are you explaining WHY or HOW an aspect of the text is significant?

6. Summary or Analysis?
The Great Gatsby is the story of a mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby, who lives alone on an island in New York. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the book, but the narrator is Nick Carraway. Nick is Gatsby's neighbor, and he chronicles the story of Gatsby and his circle of friends, beginning with his introduction to the strange man and ending with Gatsby's tragic death.

7. Summary or Analysis?
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald provides readers with detailed descriptions of the area surrounding East Egg, New York. In fact, Nick Carraway's narration describes the setting with as much detail as the characters in the book. Nick's description of his environment presents the book's themes, symbolizing significant aspects of the post-World War I era. Whereas white and grey symbolize the false purity and decay of the 1920s, the color green offers a symbol of hope.

8. Summary or Analysis?
Hamlet explores betrayal and death caused by several levels of poison: physical, psychological and social.  All of these poisons are intertwined on a psychological level.  Hamlet was first affected by Claudius’s physical poison—the poison that he had poured into the King’s ear, killing him.  After Claudius killed the King social poison spread throughout the kingdom like a disease.  The rebels began to call Laertes Lord, disrupting Hamlet’s claim to the throne, ‘How cheerfully on the false trail they cry’ (IV, V, 87).  Hamlet’s suppressed desire, the Oedipus complex, for his mother led to his own psychological poisoning, ‘Go not to mine uncle’s bed’ (III, III, 153).  He was upset that he desired to kill his father, as his uncle did, in order to possess his mother… 

9. Summary or Analysis?
The play Hamlet is one of betrayal and death.  In the beginning of the play Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius kills Hamlet’s father with poison.  He does this because he wants to be king, and he wants Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother.  Hamlet is very upset.  He becomes even more upset when Claudius, his uncle and his mother, Gertrude, announce they are to be married.  Hamlet cannot believe that they would do this after such a short period of time.  Hamlet then decides to kill his uncle to get revenge.  However, Hamlet waits to do this.   In the meantime Hamlet’s girlfriend Ofelia goes crazy and drowns herself.  Hamlet is also haunted by his father’s ghost.  At the end of the play, Hamlet dies.”