Literary Analysis 101

Good literature allows us to better understand the human experience in profound ways. This guide will provide you with a framework to help you unlock the mysteries concealed within works of literature.

🗝️ Ask the right questions: Theme, Characters, Plot, Conflict, Setting, Modern Impact

The right questions will usher you toward how to read and analyze a text. Keep these Q's in the back of your mind, they are key to unlocking a richer, more nutritious comprehension.

Q's About Theme

  1. What is the main subject of this text?
  2. What is the author’s commentary/main message regarding said subject?
  3. Are there any instances of the following that develop or enhance this message?
    • Symbolism: symbols that represent ideas or qualities.
    • Repetition: anything that's repeated throughout the text.
    • Juxtaposition: two things being seen together with contrasting effect.
    • Irony: a technique in which the full significance of a character's words or actions are clear to the reader/audience, but unkonwn to the character.

Q's About Character(s)

  1. What does the main character say and think?
  2. How does the character act?
  3. How does the character interact with other characters in the story?
  4. What are the characters’ motivations and values and how are they revealed throughout the story?
  5. How do the characters in the story develop or enhance the theme?

Q's About Plot & Conflict

  1. Is the plot revealed in chronological order, or does it begin in the middle?
    • Why did the author choose to tell the story this way?
  2. What is the story’s main conflict?
  3. How is the conflict revealed, developed, and resolved?
  4. How does the conflict of the story develop or enhance the theme?

Q's About Setting

  1. Does the setting change? If so, what impact does that have on the characters?
  2. How does the setting affect the story’s plot?
  3. How does the setting affect the story’s conflict?
  4. How does the setting of the story develop or enhance the theme?

Q's About Societal Impact

  1. How might this text serve as a mirror or window (or both) to the reader and/or modern society?
  2. Is there any significance to the piece regarding the time it was written?