Finding Meaning in Literature
How do I figure out meaning in literature?
Analysis looks at an entire work through
one or more of its parts.
Explication is used in analysis on a part of
the literary work in a thorough, sustained,
meticulous, systematic way.
Exposition is background information
regarding the setting, characters, plot,
often found at the beginning of fiction.
Plot is the sequence of events that moves
the story along. Events come out of,
reveal, and influence characters.
Plot is movement
A. Look at beginnings and endings because fiction
always involves movement.
B. Look at the situation of the major character(s) at
the beginning and ending of the story. The nature
of the changes suggests meaning.
C. Note the changes in all the important stages. How
and why do the characters achieve change?
D. What works AGAINST movement in the story?
What do serious complications show about the
story?
E. Consider the various lines of action. Separate
them and determine how they are connected.
• Conflict is the problem to be solved in the story.
• Internal conflict is person versus self.
• External conflict is person versus person, person versus
society, person versus nature, person versus technology,
person versus fate.
Rising action is the movement of
plot toward conflict resolution.
Complication is a plot event that shows one of
the conflicts; it is part of the rising action. An
example of complication is when Aslan is
killed in The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe.
Climax
• The point in the story with the highest
excitement. The conflict is about to be
resolved. For example, when Dre wins the
championship in The Karate Kid.
Denouement
• Also known as the resolution, it is the
unraveling of complications at the story’s end.
Some works of fiction do not have this.
Foreshadowing and Flashback
• Foreshadowing is when the author provides
clues concerning what will happen in the plot.
Dreams are a great example of this.
• Flashback involves something that has
occurred before the story’s beginning.
Character is a function of two forces:
individuality and archetypes (basic
types of characters like heroes,
villains, wise elders) .
A. If characters change, the
HOW and WHY are key.
B. What do characters learn or
not learn by the
denouement?
C. What lesson does the reader
learn due to the character?
D. Questions to ask:
Which character is most interesting and why?
What purpose do minor
characters serve?
In which ways does the
author reveal character?
Which characters are
believable—if any?
How and why do characters change?
With which character do you most identify or sympathize?
Direct
characterization
--How the author
describes the
character (height,
age, eyes, clothing)
--What other
characters say
about the
character (“He’s
mean!” “She’s
friendly.”)
The glassy-eyed creature
looked like a crazed Rastafarian
in a Star Wars sequel.
Indirect
characterization
--What a character
says
--What a character
does
--What a character
thinks
--How a character
interacts with
other characters
--Reader must infer
“I do not want to fight, but I
must protect my people and
honor my family’s name.”
Protagonist
• Main character who tries to
reach a goal and keeps the
story going. NOT ALWAYS A
“GOOD GUY.” Most
complications involve
setbacks toward achieving
the goal.
Antagonist
• Main character or force that tries to keep the
protagonist from reaching the goal.
Point of View: The Narrator
• First person—The narration of the entire novel
(not the dialogue) is in first person (I, me, my).
• Ex. “TRUE! nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been
and am; but why WILL you say that I am mad? The disease
had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them.
Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in
the heaven and in the earth” (Edgar Allen Poe).
• The reader knows what the narrator is
thinking. It’s as if the narrator is telling the
reader what he or she has seen.
Third-Person Point of View
• Third person means the narrator tells the
story without using I, me, my (do not look at
anything inside quotation marks.
• Ex. “Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with
the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out
dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard.
Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87
with which to buy Jim a present” (O. Henry).
Third-Person Point of View
Third-person limited—Reader knows what only
one character in the story is thinking.
Third-person omniscient—Reader knows what
several characters in the story are thinking.
Third-person objective—Character knows what
nobody is thinking (like a news story).
Questions to ask regarding point of view:
A. Whose side, if anyone’s, does the narrator take?
B. What is the narrator telling you?
C. What ISN’T the narrator telling you?
D. If the narrator isn’t telling you everything,
why not?
E. How reliable is this narrator?
F. Why did the author use this point of view?
Setting is the time and place of action
Setting includes the description of buildings,
weather, time of day, time of year, geographical
information.
Ex. Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray, when the man
turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank,
where a dim and little-travelled trail led eastward through the fat spruce
timberland. It was a steep bank, and he paused for breath at the top,
excusing the act to himself by looking at his watch. It was nine o'clock.
There was no sun nor hint of sun, though there was not a cloud in the sky. It
was a clear day, and yet there seemed an intangible pall over the face of
things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark, and that was due to the
absence of sun” (Jack London).
Setting may be an important factor in
determining atmosphere and limits for the story.
A. Be sure to look at the connotation of words.
B. Questions:
What is the relation between setting, plot
and characters?
What would be lost if the descriptions of
setting were deleted?
How crucial is the particular setting that is
used?
Three Types of Irony
Verbal– what is said and what is meant.
• Dramatic—contrast between
what is real and what character
thinks is real
• Situational—contrast between
what should be and what is or
what happens and what
reader thinks should happen.
Which type of irony?
• “Nice hat,” she said as she looked at the
ugliest had she had ever seen.
• “Of course there is such thing as the tooth
fairy,” said the little girl.
• “Give peace a chance,” said the protester as
she punched the officer in the stomach.
• “Nobody came while you were gone,” said the
boy while his friends hid in the closet.
Mood
• The climate of feeling in a literary work.
• The reader’s emotional response
• The choice of setting, objects, details, images,
and words all contribute towards creating a
specific mood.
• Ex. Sad, mysterious, ironic
Tone
• The attitude a writer has towards the subject
he or she is writing about.
• It is evident in word choice, especially in the
emotional impact of words, as well as the
length of sentences and type of figurative
language.
• Tone can change in a literary work but mood
usually does not.
Figurative Language—not Literal
• Simile involves a direct comparison between
two unlike things, usually with the words like
or as.
• Ex. The muscles on his brawny arms are
strong as iron bands.
• Metaphor involves an implied comparison
between two relatively unlike things using a
form of be. The comparison is not announced
by like or as.
• Ex. The road was a ribbon of moonlight.
Personification
Gives the qualities of a person to an animal, an
object, or an idea. It is a comparison which the
author uses to show something in an entirely
new light, to communicate a certain feeling or
attitude towards it and to control the way a
reader perceives it.
Ex. The tornado decapitated the house.
Hyperbole
An exaggerated statement
used to heighten effect. It is
not used to mislead the
reader, but to emphasize a
point.
• Ex. She’s said so on several million occasions
• Ex. I have a ton of homework.
• Ex. It’s raining cats and dogs.
Allusion
• Links concepts that the reader already has
knowledge of, with concepts discussed in the
story.
• Historical: Waterloo, George Custer
• Literary: Scrooge, Knights of the Round Table
• Biblical/religious: Jonah, Job, Judas
• Mythological: Aphrodite, Thor, Pluto
Theme
• Theme is the central truth about the story.
Ex. Things are not always as they seem.
Love can be more important than money.
Theme is NOT a moral or a command. It NEVER
starts with a verb.
Ex. Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Be nice to strangers.
Theme is always the important goal
in a well-written story.
A. In order to discover the theme, one must
examine the FACTS of the story (setting,
characters, conflict, plot, denouement)
B. Additional considerations are title, names,
repetition, a pattern of symbols,
and ironic juxtaposition (what is placed next to
what)
C. Symbolism must support theme.