Literary Analysis

Literary Analysis examines a piece of literature such as a poem, play, short story, or novel and attempts to
explain the deeper significance of the work.
A literary analysis might:

 Explore the meaning of a story through considering the motivations of a story’s characters
 Explore the author’s point of view or intent in writing the story
 Explore which ideas or concepts the story is meant to convey.
 Explore a story by identifying and examining the author’s use of literary devices within the story such as
symbolism, imagery, theme, tone, irony, etc.

It is important to realize that a literary analysis is NOT a summary or a retelling of a story. While writing a
literary analysis, it may be important to mention specific events that occurred in a story, but telling what
happens in a story should always be connected to a larger point. For instance, how does what happens in a story
provide insight into a character or the larger theme of the story?

A summary of a story relates the bare facts of the story/work. It tells the reader who the characters are, what
they do, how they do it, and how a story begins, occurs, and ends. A summary does not discuss the larger
implications of a story.

Summary— Tells what happens in a story: who the characters are, what the characters did, where the story
takes place, who wrote the story, etc. What happened? How did it happen?

Analysis— Tells what the story means, what it is trying to express. Why did it happen? What does it mean? Is
there a point the author is trying to make? Why did the author write the story in the way he/she did? Why do
characters do the things they do? How are literary devices used to add to the story?

The following table provides a brief comparison of possible points of analysis vs. points of summary of the
fairy tale, Cinderella.
Summary
Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters are cruel and
make Cinderella do all the housework.
Cinderella’s stepmother prevents her from attending
the ball.
Cinderella’s fairy godmother provides her with a
dress, slippers, servants, and a carriage so that she can
go to the ball.
The prince uses the glass slipper to find Cinderella.
Cinderella is rescued by the prince.
In the end, Cinderella and the Prince marry and they
both live happily ever after.
Analysis
Cinderella portrays the difficulties in relationships
that may occur when different families are blended
together
Cinderella’s stepmother prevents Cinderella from
attending the ball to elevate her own daughters’ social
positions. She is motivated by fear and the need to
secure her daughters’ futures.
Cinderella cannot look to the people around her or to
society for aid and must rely on help from a
supernatural source equivalent to an angel, showing
the power of the social order and the difficulty in
overcoming it.
While the story presents Cinderella as dressed in rags,
the author uses the glass slipper as a symbol which
represents Cinderella’s true nature: pure and elegant
From a feminist point of view, Cinderella has no
power of her own and must rely on a man to rescue
her from her situation.
The author of Cinderella uses a happy ending to
convey the idea that those who persevere through
hardship will eventually be rewarded for their virtue.
 Important Elements for Literary Analysis
A well-written literary analysis contains several important elements:

1. Evidence from the text: When writing an analysis of a work, it’s important to be able to support the
claims that are being made. If an analysis states that a character is motivated by jealousy, then the
analysis should include quotes from the story that point towards that conclusion. An analysis writer
should be able to use the text being analyzed to make the case for a claim. If the case can’t be made
from the text, that might indicate a need to reconsider the claim being made.

Example: Within the fairy tale, female pride is portrayed as evil and the root of Cinderella’s troubles,
contrasting Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters against Cinderella’s humble, submissive nature:
“After a time the little girl’s papa married another lady. Now this lady was proud and haughty and had
two grown-up daughters as disagreeable as herself; so the poor girl found everything at home changed
for the worse. But she bore all her troubles with patience and not even complaining to her father”
(“Cinderella” 73).

2. Evidence from outside sources: While a literary analysis can be written solely based on a reader’s
insight and reaction to a story/text, a more in-depth analysis can utilize historical and academic research
to analyze a story/text. Scholarly sources can provide information about the time period that the story
was written in or the author’s particular points of view that might have influenced the creation of the
story/text. Scholarly sources may also provide information about how different literature critics have
interpreted a story/text. Using outside sources such as these can give writers more information and
insight as they try to construct their literary and critical analyses. Any outside sources which are used
should be referred to in the essay and should be cited in the text of the literary analysis essay and on a
Works Cited page at the end of the paper.

Example: The widespread presence of Cinderella stories found throughout the world shows the
universality of its patriarchal message according to Dr. Jane Smith, a well-regarded feminist literary
critic, who comments that “women in each of these Cinderella-like stories are rewarded for their
humility and subservience to societal norms and for becoming objects of beauty” (458).

3. A specific focus: There are many ways to write a literary analysis, and there can be many different
interpretations of a particular story/text. One writer might critically analyze the psychology of the
characters within a story. Another writer might analyze the author’s use of literary devices to create a
specific tone for the story/text. Another writer might analyze or explore what the theme of the story/text
is. Any of these approaches can be a valid way to write a literary analysis. Whichever direction a writer
chooses to go, it is important to maintain that direction throughout the entire literary analysis. Writers
should not veer from one type of analysis to another type of analysis, especially within a typical five-
paragraph essay.

4. A strong introduction and conclusion: Writers should always try to have well-developed
introductions and conclusions for their essays, but a good literary analysis depends on these two
elements. Establishing the main idea of the analysis is important because it is possible to explore a story
in so many ways. The introduction will lay the groundwork for the specific claim a writer is going to
make and is especially important to setting up a unique literary analysis. In the same way, a strong
conclusion completes the literary analysis by restating its main idea. By the time writers get to the
conclusion of their papers, their analysis should have been clearly established and demonstrated. The
conclusion should bring all the points made in the analysis into a single point of view or theme with
some parting thoughts for the reader.