Literary Analysis Using Elements of Literature

Literary Analysis: Using Elements of Literature

Students are asked to write literary analysis essays because this type of assignment encourages you to think about how and why a poem, short story, novel, or play was written. To successfully analyze literature, you’ll need to remember that authors make specific choices for particular reasons. Your essay should point out the author’s choices and attempt to explain their significance.

Another way to look at a literary analysis is to consider a piece of literature from your own perspective. Rather than thinking about the author’s intentions, you can develop an argument based on any single term (or combination of terms) listed below. You’ll just need to use the original text to defend and explain your argument to the reader.

Allegory - narrative form in which the characters are representative of some larger humanistic trait (i.e. greed, vanity, or bravery) and attempt to convey some larger lesson or meaning to life. Although allegory was originally and traditionally character based, modern allegories tend to parallel story and theme.

William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily- the decline of the Old South

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- man’s struggle to contain his inner primal instincts

District 9- South African Apartheid

X Men- the evils of prejudice

Harry Potter- the dangers of seeking “racial purity”

Character - representation of a person, place, or thing performing traditionally human activities or functions in a work of fiction

Protagonist - The character the story revolves around.

Antagonist - A character or force that opposes the protagonist.

Minor character - Often provides support and illuminates the protagonist.

Static character - A character that remains the same.

Dynamic character - A character that changes in some important way.

Characterization - The choices an author makes to reveal a character’s personality, such as appearance, actions, dialogue, and...