DIGGING DEEPER
HOW TO ANALYZE EXAMPLES
STEP 1: CHOOSE GOOD
EXAMPLES AND QUOTES
• Don’t quote just to show that a plot event occurred.
• Put that in your own words (paraphrase)
• it reads smoother in your words and we don’t need the exact words
to see what happened
• A weak quote choice that’s just plot:
• Behind the prisoners are “Men passing along he wall carrying all
sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals” (450).
• A better quote that gives you rich material to analyze and
respond to:
• However, when Plato’s prisoner sees reality for the first time, “Will he
not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than
the objects which are now shown to him?” (451).
• Now you can talk about Plato’s tone and assumptions
• can and should include plot details in your examples,
but describe events in your own words.
RESPOND TO YOUR EXAMPLES
SOME TRAPS TO AVOID
• Saying you agree/disagree is just a start
• There’s so much more you should say besides “I agree.”
• Good only if it really gets you below the surface
• Explaining why is everything
• Comparison to your own experience can be good,
but it’s not enough just to say “me too,” or “not like
me.”
• One of the biggest pitfalls is giving an example from the
book, then saying “I agree or disagree” and jumping to an
example from your own life. Neither example gets any
analysis, really. They just sit next to each other.
• Critical thinking level is low if that’s all you do with your
examples.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD
• Point out the connotations of the writer’s words
• emotional impact, associations, etc
• Make reasonable inferences about how this affects people
across time & across society.
• Time is a way of thinking about causes & effects
• How did this develop? What conditions help keep it going? (etc)
• Looking across society asks you to consider how this would affect
different groups:
• children, parents, employers, workers, ethnic groups, rich & poor, etc
• Imagine how this issue affects people from the inside to the
outside
• personality/emotions, friendships & family, work & education, role in
society, impacts for economics, politics & history
• Not all of these categories will work for every example, but try
to push yourself to open up the discussion to society, history
and the mind.
TRY IT
Choose one example or quote from your section of
“The Allegory of the Cave” and discuss in your group
how this applies to modern society
1. Start with agree/disagree & why.
2. Move to connotations of words (link to agree/disagree if
possible).
3. Discuss how Plato’s idea affects people across time &
across society.
4. How does Plato’s idea affect people from the inside to
the outside? (emotional, physical, social, economic)
5. How is this relevant for our understanding of our society,
our moment in history, or our minds?