Comprehensive Guide to Literary Analysis and Writing Strategies and Writing Techniques

Defining the Literary Theme

A literary theme is the unifying or dominant idea in a work of fiction. It is essential to distinguish the theme from the plot: while a plot consists of the specific order of events in a work, the theme involves the overall meaning, purpose, and essence of the story. It is the point where fiction intersects with life.

• Complexity Level: Themes can range from simple concepts, such as "love," "family," or "revenge," to more complex ideas, such as "science versus nature," "the folly of youth," or "the treachery of commerce."

• The Narrative Spine: A story's spine is a one-sentence description of the heart behind the book. It serves as an oversimplification of the story's meaning. For example, the spine of Pride and Prejudice might be: "a man and woman during the regency era overcome their preconceptions to ultimately find love."

• Examples in Literature:

  • Great Expectations: A major theme is that moral values are more important than wealth and status.

  • Crime and Punishment: The primary theme is alienation.

  • The Princess Bride: The narrative is dominated by the theme "true love triumphs."

  • The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings: Even stories about hobbits in Middle Earth utilize real-world applicable themes like friendship and good conquering evil.

Tools for Developing Theme: Motifs and Symbols

Writers enrich their work and emphasize their chosen themes through recurring structures and imagery.

• Motif: A motif is a recurring literary structure that helps develop a theme. It is a meaningful pattern that reuses objects, characters, or even environmental factors like weather.

  • Example in The Great Gatsby: Changing weather patterns reflect shifting tones. Hot weather occurs when characters feel suffocated, storms represent tension, and it pours rain on the day of Gatsby's funeral.

• Symbol: A symbol is similar to a motif but operates on a smaller scale. It is an image, character, or object with a meaning beneath the surface.

  • Example in The Great Gatsby: The green light on the edge of Daisy's dock symbolizes Daisy herself, representing an unattainable goal to Gatsby.

Figurative Language: Similes

Similes are a type of figurative language categorized under imagery. They use figures of speech to make communication more effective and striking by comparing two unalike things.

• Structure: Similes specifically use the words "like" or "as" to draw comparisons. This helps the audience perceive subjects in new ways by highlighting specific qualities.

• Common Usage:

  • Strength: "He is as strong as an ox." Using "as" provides a full impact that "he was very strong" does not.

  • Skill: "She can swim like a fish."

  • Objects: "The clean tablecloth was as white as snow" or "The new car drove like a dream."

• Literary and Artistic Examples:

  • Songs: In Flying Trapeze by Alfred Lee and George Leybourne, the lyric "Once I was happy but now I'm forlorn; like an old coat that is tattered and torn" uses a simile to illustrate depression.

  • Poetry: Robert Burns in A Red Red Rose compares love to a "red, red rose that's newly sprung in June" and a "melody that sweetly played in tune." The rose evokes color, scent, velvet texture, and the sting of thorns.

  • Fiction: In Pride and Prejudice, the character Darcy states, "I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love," elevating the importance of poetry in romance.

Figurative Language: Metaphors

Metaphors compare two things by stating that one thing literally is another, without using "like" or "as."

• Direct Metaphors: These directly equate two unalike things.

  • "Love is a battlefield."

  • "There is a blanket of clouds."

  • "Time is a thief."

  • "He's a night owl."

• Indirect Metaphors: These require the reader to use their imagination to fill in a two-step comparison.

  • "Work has dried up": Compares work to something that can evaporate, like an oasis or a swimming pool.

  • "Their ideas are difficult to swallow": Compares ideas to unpalatable food, like a dry cracker or a large pill.

• Literary Examples:

  • Poetry: In The Tiger by William Blake, the line "Tiger, tiger, burning bright in the forests of the night" uses "burning bright" as a metaphor for the tiger's color and dangerous nature.

  • Fiction: In A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author writes of a character: "Her very eyes were hungry."

The Seven Types of Imagery in Figurative Language

Figurative language is divided into specific categories that provide non-literal illumination of ideas:

1. Similes: Non-literal comparisons using "like" or "as."

2. Metaphors: Direct non-literal comparisons stating one thing is another.

3. Illusions: Non-literal comparisons used to illuminate ideas.

4. Personification: Non-literal comparisons exclusively to human traits.

5. Alliteration: Use of repeating initial consonant sounds for effect.

6. Assonance: Use of repeating vowel sounds for effect.

7. Onomatopoeia: Use of words that mimic sounds.

Personification and Anthropomorphism

• Personification: Attributing human characteristics to non-human things, such as objects, animals, or natural occurrences, to help readers relate to the subject.

  • Poetry: Emily Dickinson's "Have you got a brook in your little heart, where bashful flowers blow, and blushing birds go down to drink, and shadows tremble so?" uses "bashful," "blushing," and "tremble" to describe nature.

  • Literature: In Paradise Lost, John Milton wrote, "Earth felt the wound and nature from her seat sighing… gave signs of woe."

  • Advertising: "Oreo: milk's favorite cookie" and "Kleenex says bless you."

• Anthropomorphism: An extreme form of personification where non-human entities walk, talk, and think critically as if they were literally people.

  • Examples: Winnie the Pooh or the Geico gecko.

Predictive Reading Strategies

Predictive reading is the process where readers use their own experiences and current textual information to anticipate what comes next.

• Clues for Prediction:

  • Titles: Harry Potter books are clearly about the character Harry Potter.

  • Cover Art: The book Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley features an iconic photo of six men raising an American flag, indicating the subject is Iwo Jima in World War II.

  • Internal Clues: Table of Contents (chapter names), Prologues (foreshadowing), and Illustrations.

• Case Study: When We Lost Our Innocence: A book cover featuring former President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert F. Kennedy—all assassinated between $1963$ and $1968$—allows a reader to predict the book is about a void in leadership during the Vietnam War and Civil Rights era.

• Benefits of Predictive Reading: Improves focus (preventing skimming), enhances recall, develops anticipation skills, and encourages revision of thoughts if a prediction is proven incorrect.

Textual Evidence and Its Analysis

Textual evidence is information from an originating source used to support an argument or thesis. It is the foundation of debates.

• Evidence vs. Claim:

  • Evidence: A single fact or set of facts (e.g., "Barack Obama was the $44\text{th}$ president of the United States").

  • Claim: A statement in dispute requiring proof (e.g., "Aliens are buried at Area $51$ in Nevada").

• The PDF Criteria for Evidence: Evidence must be Precise, Descriptive, and Factual.

• Forms of Evidence:

  • Statistics (Strongest): Data including source information. Example: Census Bureau data stating about $327 \text{ million}$ people live in the US.

  • Expert Testimony: Facts based on expertise, such as a pilot testifying about a jumbo jet control panel.

  • Anecdotal Evidence (Weaker): Personal observations used to engage the audience, though they can be embellished.

  • Analogical Evidence (Weakest): Comparing a new topic to a known one when data is scarce (e.g., comparing tablet screen usage to mobile phone usage).

Supporting Details in Writing

Supporting details act as the "legs" of a table, propping up the "tabletop," which is the topic sentence or main idea.

• Six Main Types:

  1. Description: Using the five senses and metaphors.

  2. Vocabulary: Clarifying complex words (e.g., defining "pulchritudinous" as beautiful).

  3. Proof: Hard evidence like facts, statistics, and dates.

  4. Voices: Soft proof like expert quotes or individual opinions.

  5. Explanation: Restating points more simply.

  6. Importance: Answering "so what?" regarding a fact.

• Specific vs. Vague Details: Vague details make a point "wobbly." Instead of saying "I felt sick," it is better to provide specifics: "the room seemed to be swimming… I had a fever of $102$."

Inferences and Summarization

• Inference: A conclusion reached based on evidence and reasoning ("reading between the lines").

  • To Kill a Mockingbird: The lesson that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird allows the reader to infer that Boo Radley is an innocent, vulnerable figure who must be protected.

• Summarizing: A brief recollection of the main characters, events, and places.

  • Criteria: Must be shorter than the original, chronological, objective (unbiased), and written in the reader's own words.

Primary and Secondary Sources

• Primary Sources: Original objects or works created during the time being studied.

  • Examples: Poems, diaries, birth certificates, autobiographies, speeches, constitutions, laws.

• Secondary Sources: Texts that analyze, interpret, or comment on primary sources.

  • Examples: Textbooks, encyclopedias, journal articles containing analysis, political commentary.

• Credibility Tiers:

  • High Credibility: Peer-reviewed scholarly journals, university presses.

  • Low Credibility: Wikipedia, personal blogs, newspaper editorials (often biased or unvetted).

Questions & Discussion

• Question: Which of the following is not a primary source?

  • A. A novel

  • B. A textbook

  • C. A diary

  • D. A speech

• Answer: The correct answer is B. A textbook is a secondary source because it expounds upon or comments on other sources.