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What is Analysis?
Analysis is the process of detailed examination of the elements or structure of something to find meaning. We
typically use analysis as a basis for discussion or interpretation. It’s when you pick something apart and examine it
closely.
You analyze things every day! It is our brain’s way of looking deep to find meaning in our lives.
EVERYDAY EXAMPLES OF ANALYSIS
In Relationships: “He texted me ten times yesterday.”
General Analysis: He likes me. He plays football and doesn’t have much free time so it took a lot for him to spend so
much time texting me. He must really be motivated to talk to me.
In Sports: Michael Jordan switches from basketball to baseball.
General Analysis. We might assume that Jordan is a great basketball player so of course he can play any sport. We
might assume his natural ability is so great in all athletics that he’d be just as good at baseball. We might assume
that he is burnt out on playing basketball so he needed a switch.
In Songs: “I came in like a wrecking ball!”
Specific Analysis. Diction (“wrecking ball”): Did she come between two people and “wreck” their relationship?
Was she a personal “wreck” (a hot mess)? Did she come into someone’s life too forcefully? Imagery: What is a
wrecking ball’s function? What size is it? What color is it likely to be? Where would you typically see a wrecking
ball?
STEPS TO ANALYSIS
1. CONSIDER the context or theme of what you are reading.
2. PINPOINT ONE focus area of what you are reading.
Such as: Plot, Setting, Point-of-View, Characterization, Irony, Diction (word choice), Symbolism, Syntax,
Imagery, Figurative Language, Mood, Tone, etc.
3. FIND evidence directly from the story. (These serve as your “quotes” in an analytical essay).
4. CONSIDER/QUESTION the characteristics and/or connotation of your chosen focus area.
5. CONNECT your observations back to the context or theme of what you are reading.
6. EXPLAIN how your connection proves your assertion from your thesis statement.
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NOW LET’S TRY IT
From “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros (from your My Name essay)
“And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many
women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry
because she couldn’t be all things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want
to inherit her place by the window.”
1. CONSIDER the context or theme of what you are reading.
This story is about exploring your identity through your personal history, specifically through the label of
your name. One clear theme is Cisneros’ refusal to accept defeat as her grandmother did. Therefore the
universal theme is our desire to be in control of our own destinies, despite social constraints.
2. PINPOINT ONE focus area of what you are reading.
Such as: Plot, Setting, Point-of-View, Characterization, Irony, Diction (word choice), Symbolism, Syntax,
Imagery, Figurative Language, Mood, Tone, etc.
Our focus is FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE, specifically the author’s use of METAPHORS.
3. FIND evidence directly from the story. (These serve as your “quotes” in an analytical essay).
“She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow.”
4. CONSIDER/QUESTION the characteristics and/or connotation of your chosen focus area.
Picture the act of leaning your chin on your elbow – almost as if your head is too heavy to hold itself up.
This typically means idleness, boredom, longing, and/or sadness.
5. CONNECT your observations back to the context or theme of what you are reading.
Cisneros is talking about her grandmother who did not want to marry, but was forced into it. The window
is a METAPHOR for the life she could have had – her missed opportunities. Her leaning into her elbow
demonstrates her defeat and almost acceptance of this fate that was thrust upon her.
6. EXPLAIN how your connection proves your assertion from your thesis statement.
Let’s say the ASSSERTION in the thesis statement for this essay is: Cisneros uses figurative language to
contribute to the universal theme of our desire to control our own destiny. We can now say that by
describing the grandmother’s past through the use of a metaphor, we can more easily understand exactly
how the grandmother felt, especially since there is not dialogue from the grandmother. Analysis of the
metaphor allows us to use a window as a frame so that looking through it, we see her reality on one side
and the life she dreamt of for herself on the other. The description of her “sitting her sadness on her elbow”
indicates she is in a defeated position and has given up trying to fight for the life she had always wanted.
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What
analysis
ISN’T
Quote
Poor
student
response
What is
wrong with
it.
What Analysis IS!
Analysis is
NOT a general
blanket
statement
about how the
words make it
more vivid for
the reader.
“At that moment the
bird began to flutter,
but the wings were
uncoordinated, and
amid much flapping
and a spray of flying
feathers, it tumbled
down, bumping
through the limbs of
the bleeding tree”
(160).
The author’s
use of
flutter
creates a
vivid image
for the
reader.
The word flutter indicates a light
flapping, but this bird was fighting
against plummeting to his death. A
little flutter is not going to get this bird
in flight so he must be very weak
from being sick.
“Bumping each tree limb” shows the
violence the bird met with his death.
This was not a fading away. The bird
collapsed when he could no longer go
on. He tried until his strength gave
out, just like Doodle.
Analysis is
NOT a
judgment or
evaluation of
the quote.
“The flower garden
was stained with
rotting brown
magnolia petals and
ironweeds grew
amid the purple
phlox” (160).
“It was a hot day
with the window
open in case a
breeze should come”.
This is a
very good
quote that
talks about
the flowers.
Yes, all
figurative
language
makes it more
vivid for the
reader. You
could say that
about
anything.
What does the
specific words
the author
chose have
Saying if the
quote is good,
bad, beautiful
or silly, etc. is
not analysis, it
is a judgment.
Setting an
image of how
hot the day
is almost
making you
sweat
reading it.
The coffin
was made
for Doodle
because
they thought
he would die.
Paris Green
is a poison.
This just
repeats what
the quote said.
Here is an example of when
identifying the theme first is essential
as the quote doesn’t have much
information on its own. The hot day is
still and stifling, much like Doodle’s
situation. The breeze is a relief that
Doodle is hoping for and so
desperately needs.
It is obvious to
anyone
reading it to
what it is and
does not need
any explaining.
The author
creates a
really strong
image. The
author used
a lot of
detail.
Nothing
insightful here
at all. In fact,
this could
apply to
anything.
Green symbolizes life, but here Paris
Green is a poison, so it is a
contrasting image that follows along
with the theme of conflicting nature of
love. The screech owl was nesting in
the coffin. He offered a warning
against death. The owl’s screech also
scared Brother further warning him
as he acted in this cruel way to
Doodle.
The colors his face turns show his
determination to survive and not give
up. The colors also follow the patterns
of his life. Red, meaning danger
reflects how everyone thought he
would die as a baby. Red also
symbolizes the passion with which he
lived his short life. Purple is a royal
color and Doodle is depicted
throughout the story as a saint,
second only to royalty. He has been
handled like a toy and his body
couldn’t take it anymore.
Analysis is
NOT repeating
what the
quote says in
different
words.
Analysis is
NOT
explaining the
quote.
“Doodle studied the
mahogany box
(coffin) for a long
time, then said “It’s
not mine”…..a
screech
owl….covering us
with Paris
Green”(160).
Analysis is
NOT simply
putting
pointless
words on the
page.
“trembling, he’d
push himself up,
turning first red,
then a soft purple,
and finally collapsed
back onto the bed
like an old worn out
doll”(160).
The flower garden, a symbol of
beauty and life is stained with rotting
dead things. Stained means the
marks cannot ever be removed. The
rotting magnolia petals foreshadows
death.
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NOW YOU TRY IT!
This is excerpt from The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. The story is about a family of
missionaries who go to Africa and live there for several years. Africa has not been kind to them and
they have lost (she died!) their youngest sister and their father went crazy and refused to leave. The
remaining family members, the mother and three daughters are walking through the jungle looking for
a way out of the country.
Go through the steps for analysis listed above. Choose ONE focus area and analyze it completely.
-------------------------------------------------First, picture the forest. I want you to be its conscience, the eyes in the trees. The trees are columns of slick,
brindled bark like muscular animals overgrown beyond all reason. Every space is filled with life...vines
strangling their own kin in the everlasting wrestle for sunlight. The breathing of monkeys. A glide of snake belly
on branch. A single file army of ants biting a mammoth tree into uniform grains and hauling it down to the dark
for their ravenous queen. And, in reply, a choir of seedlings arching their necks out of rotted tree stumps,
sucking life out of death. This forest eats itself and lives forever.
Away down below now, single file on the path, comes a woman with four girls in tow all of them in shirtwaist
dresses. Seen from above this way they are pale, doomed blossoms, bound to appeal to your sympathies. Be
careful. Later on you'll have to decide what sympathy they deserve. The mother especially--watch how she
leads them on, pale-eyed, deliberate. her dark hair is tied in a ragged laced handkerchief, and her curved
jawbone is lit with large, false pearl earrings, as if these headlamps from another world might show the way.
The daughters march behind her, four girls compressed in bodies as tight as bowstrings, each one tense to fire
off a woman's heart on a different path to glory or damnation.
Every now they resist affinity like cats in a bag: two blondes--the one short and fierce, the other tall and
imperious--flanked by matched brunettes like bookends, the forward twin leading hungrily while the rear one
sweeps the ground in a rhythmic limp. But gamely enough they climb together over logs of rank decay that
have fallen across the path. The mother waves a graceful hand in front of her as she leads the way, parting
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curtain after curtain of spiders' webs. She appears to be conducting a symphony. Behind them the curtain
closes. The spiders return to their killing ways.