Analyzing Literature

Analyzing literature is like raising a child. Authors put pieces of themselves into a piece of writing, and it is up to the reader to guide the piece to maturity. As readers, we use our experiences and judgement into determining the right course for the writing. This makes the writing unique to each of us. My analyzing skills are tragic, and that probably will probably apply to parenting too. However, I will do my best to provide an in depth guide to analyzing literature. To begin, I have limited experience when it comes to analyzing literature. I have done it past English classes, but doing it right is a different story. In the past, I was never really taught to analyze literature. I was given a book, and I was told to write down what I think it means. It seems pretty straightforward, right? I wish it were that simple, but the world is full of people who believe they are always right. I’m not saying I’m always right, but I’d like to believe I’m on the right track. Many people will tell you what a book is about, even before you read it. They

I guess you learn something new everyday. Despite my misconceived notion of analyzing literature, Ms. Milner and her summer assignment handout is correct, summarizing the plot is not true analysis. If you read a book about someone lifting weights all day, then that would be your summary. However, your analysis differs from this summary. Maybe the weights represent the crippling burden of raising a family of four at 18 years old. Unless you applied context from the author and read inbetween the lines, you probably wouldn’t come to the conclusion that the bodybuilder in the story is in reality a woman in her late twenties, suffering from an existential crisis. For a proper analysis, it is crucial to apply these concepts and making a summary. You can use a summary to help you understand the flow of events, but you can not pass off a summary as an