REFLECTIONS
Below you will find different kinds of literary analysis. You are free to use these techniques – and others – when writing your reflections. Each reflection you write must be typed and at least one-half page in length. In each reflection you should use only one technique or possibly two. That will help you to avoid bouncing from one technique to another, making your writing deeper and more thoughtful. In addition, for each novel you read, each set of reflections must contain a good sampling of these techniques. Do not use a particular technique too often. Finally, always keep this in mind when writing your reflections: I don’t want to know what happens in the novels you read. I want to know what you think about what happens.
THEMATIC ANALYSIS: This occurs when you identify an idea that exists in a novel and then you examine it. The idea doesn’t have to be the central idea of the novel – the major theme. Instead, it can be just any idea – a minor theme. Once you’ve identified an idea, there are a number of ways to examine it. One of the best – and simplest – ways is to offer your thoughts and opinions about the idea. What do you think about it? Another way is to examine the idea through the context of a particular experience you’ve had where you encountered the idea [text-to-self]. Or you can examine the idea through the context of a social issue or event [text-to-world] or through the context of a character or characters in the novel [character analysis].
TEXT-TO-SELF: This occurs when something in a novel reminds you of your own life or the lives of people you know. Write about that personal event. Don’t rush. Tell your story fully and completely.
TEXT-T0-TEXT: This occurs when something in a novel reminds you of another novel you have read or a movie you have watched. Write about it. Again, don’t rush. The comparison between the two texts should be full and complete.
TEXT-TO-WORLD: This occurs when something in a novel reminds you of some social issue or historical event or something else in the world either present or past. For instance, if a novel is about religious intolerance or genocide and it reminds you of what happened in the Holocaust during World War II and in your reflection you write about the Holocaust using knowledge you have gained from a history class in school, that is text-to-world analysis. Or if a character in a novel divorces her husband, and even though you have no personal experience in your life when it comes to divorce, you write in your reflection about what you think about divorce and the effect that it has on families and society, that, too, is text-to-world analysis.
AUTHOR ANALYSIS: This occurs when you offer a comment or criticism on something an author does or does not do. Your comments could pertain to the author’s writing style or how the author develops a character or how the author organizes the novel or something else the author does or does not do. Avoid quick one- or two-sentence comments. Instead, develop the comments fully and completely. Avoid general comments like: I liked this book or I would recommend this book.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS: This occurs when you offer a comment or criticism on something a character does or does not do. Often, before you make these comments, you will summarize some plot, explaining what the character did or did not do. Keep the plot summary short. Make the comments long. Again, develop your comments fully and completely.
PREDICTION: This occurs when you predict what will happen to either a character in the novel or what will happen to the plot.
QUESTIONING: This occurs when something in a novel raises a question in your mind. It could be something a character does or doesn’t do. Or it could be something the author does or doesn’t do. Or it could be something else entirely. State the question and explain why you are intrigued.
ADVICE: This occurs when you offer advice to a character or the author, suggesting the character or author do or not do something – or suggesting the character or author should have done or not have done something.
NOTES:
1. Somewhere in each reflection you should cite the title of the novel and its author: In the novel The Road, author Cormac McCarthy suggests that following an apocalyptic event where the rule of law no longer exists, humans quickly would return to the savages they once were, willing to steal, to rape and to kill in order to survive.
2. Avoid reflections that do not make mention of the novel. Instead, somewhere in each reflection you should connect the novel to your analysis or vice versa – you should connect your analysis to the novel. That connection is important for a number of reasons: It demonstrates to your audience that you read the novel, it makes the reflection more meaningful, and finally, it turns the reflection into a piece of literary criticism, which, after all, is what you are attempting to write.
3. When you make mention of the novel early in a reflection and then you leave the novel to dive into a text-to-world analysis or a text-to-self analysis or some other kind of analysis, you should consider returning to the novel at some point later in the reflection. By returning to the novel, you reestablish the connection you are attempting to make between your analysis and the novel, which in turn will help you to further convince your audience of the appropriateness and relevancy of your analysis.
SAMPLES:
Text-to-Self Analysis
“I’ve got another idea,” my dad’s face lit up like a child, waiting for me to ask to hear what he was dying to say. For the past year he’s been coming up with crazy business ideas for him and me to start. His last “marvelous” idea was to make pottery with the customer’s face imprinted into the side. I dully offered that no customer is going to want to stick his or her face in cold, moist clay, and we drove the rest of the way home in silence. Today, however, I listened to my dad’s idea with excitement. It was a good one. He wanted to make wooden furniture but entirely a collection of double chairs. It was unique, and I told him it was a good idea, but I didn’t ask for any details. It didn’t matter. He wouldn’t do it anyway.
“Dad, are you going to retire?” I asked. Immediately, his face became serious, and he shook his head in small, rapid movements. “Why not?” I moaned. “You keep talking about all these great ideas. Why don’t you just take a risk? Try something new!” I could just see my dad pursuing his dream of farming and being able to stay home all day with his best friend, our dog, and in his spare time building wooden furniture. I know he would be happy, but I also know he will never do it. As Ken Sleight says about two young adventurers in Jon Krakauer’s book Into the Wild, “at least they tried to follow their dream.” Although the young men’s journeys proved fatal, they lived their lives how they wanted and enjoyed the time that they were living.
Text-to-World Analysis / Author Analysis
Society is obsessed with sex. Research suggests people—especially adolescents and younger adults—think about sex more than anything else. It is nearly impossible to watch TV for more than five minutes and not be exposed to a shot of a woman undressing, a passionate encounter between two attractive individuals, or some other risqué content. Most would argue marketers include sexually provocative content on an economic basis—after all, sex sells. Such exposure has made sex socially acceptable conversation. It appeals to us on a primal level, dating back to an animalistic instinct to reproduce and survive. However, in the novel Into the Wild, author Jon Krakauer refers to the temptation of women in a very different light: the “succor offered by women,” which Krakauer argues may have tempted Chris McCandless, but not to the point at which he succumbed to temptation.
Krakauer could easily have claimed McCandless was tempted on some primal level by the allure of women, but he does not. Instead, Krakauer suggests women are more of a temptation because of their succor—the aid or relief they can bring. In doing so, Krakauer not only refutes man’s primal nature to some extent but also commends McCandless for finding comfort elsewhere. McCandless is uncommon. While much of the world sees him as an immature rebel, Krakauer instead argues through his word choice that McCandless was an innovator, able to seek fulfillment and happiness in ways few men had yet comprehended.
Text-to-Text Analysis
Sometimes the best solution is to walk away. Whether by spending a day outdoors after a hectic week or moving to a new city after a layoff or failed marriage, we can often find peace by physically separating ourselves from our failures and insecurities. Of course, a new setting cannot erase the past, nor can it necessarily pave a more successful future. But the escape itself is a calming departure from routine, perhaps a chance to reassemble the shards of our grace and sanity. Both Chris McCandless, the main character in author Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, and Holden Caulfield, the main character in author J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, share an unrelenting urge to get away. However, each finds his peace in very different settings. For McCandless, the beauty and fury of nature provide a much-needed break from the pressures of society. He clears his mind in the vacant deserts of Arizona and mountains of Alaska. For Caulfield, the commotion and grit of the city fuel his extended, binge-like escape from a strict, competitive boarding school. He eases his stress and depression in the dark, congested bars of New York. Both set off with no plans; they live from moment to moment, whim to whim. Their only goal is to escape.
Author Analysis
Jon Krakauer uses a mixture of eyewitness reports and his own interpretations of Chris McCandless’s actions as a foundation for Into the Wild, his own account of “Alex Supetramp’s” transient life. While the accounts of those close to Alex are useful in discerning the boy’s nature, I wonder why Krakauer didn’t choose to use more of Alex’s journal when he was writing this book—or why he didn’t simply just attempt to get his agent to publish the boy’s own words. While Krakauer’s method of storytelling turns Alex’s circuitous, vagabond wanderings into something logical and easy to read, it doesn’t seem to be the way Alex wanted to tell the stories of his travels.
After all, Alex keeps a journal written as a third-person narrative. That seems to signify that the main purpose wasn’t to keep an account of his days—in fact, he revels when he breaks his camera and can’t record the landscape around him, claiming that the pictures were unnecessary and that he’d always remember it internally, without any reminders. Alex instead wanted to preach his mantra to others, to have people read his story as some great, fictional odyssey inspired to motivate others to follow him into the wild. I’m not sure if he would have approved of Krakauer’s verbose, logical style being used to narrate what his own terse journals describe as something primarily motivated by emotion. I believe Alex thought he might be penning the next Walden every time he recorded his daily activities and that he hoped to one day edit and publish the journals in an attempt to inspire people to start applying his philosophies to their lives. He probably would’ve disapproved of the method Krakauer used to write his novel. While the journal entries would most likely be more difficult to read, they probably would offer the reader a more accurate description of Alex’s life as he wanted it to be told.
The Above information is borrowed from Matt Okerlund
