All
claim statements must
answer What (What are you
trying to show in your analysis?
Often a THEME STATEMENT) and
How (How are you going to
prove it? Often a literary
device).
 Characterization
 Imagery
 Conflict
 Symbolism
 Setting
 Point
of view
 Diction
 Etc.
In
TITLE OF THE WORK, NAME
OF AUTHOR demonstrates
THEME STATEMENT through
his/her use of OR development
of OR depiction of LITERARY
DEVICE.
 In
The Kite Runner by Khalead
Hosseini, Amir is a young man who
figures out his true identity after he
destroys and rebuilds his family.
SUMMARY
 The
characters in William
Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and
Juliet, would have been better off if
they had only communicated with
one another.
Not Provable
 In
Albert Camus’ short story, The
Guest, choices are made and
responsibility is avoided with tragic
results.
No HOW
 Through
the character of Amir in
The Kite Runner, Hosseini shows how
a man can sacrifice everything for
the thing he values most.
Device: Characterization
(Amir)
 Through
the development of a
lonesome urban atmosphere in the
novel, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D.
Salinger creates a story that reveals
a young man’s mental and physical
isolation.
Device: Setting & Imagery
 In
Frankenstein, Mary Shelly
illustrates how man’s attempt to
control nature results in madness
and destruction through Dr.
Frankenstein’s creation of the
monster.
Device: Conflict (Man vs. Nature)
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their
Eyes Were Watching God, and Lucille
Clifton’s poem, “Hips,” the writers use
the women’s physical totems to show
how 1people can overcome personal
oppression and 2assert their true selves.
 Theme
st= COMPLETE & COMPLEX
 Device st= SPECIFIC AND APPLICABLE
In Gabriel Garcia-Marquez’s short story,
“The Handsomest Drowned Man in the
World,” and Arthur Miller’s play, Death
of a Salesman, 1the life changing effect
that one individual can have on another
is shown through the villagers and the
Loman family.
 Theme
st= COMPLETE & not
COMPLEX
 Device st= SPECIFIC AND APPLICABLE