Stephanie Davis
ENG 313
Textual Analysis
4/23/09
Teaching the Textual Analysis: Endowing our Students with the Ability to
See Beyond the Text
The process of reading, analyzing, and writing about a text is a skill that most individuals
in the secondary education arena are encouraged to participate in at various levels. This process
constructs the textual analysis which is a common format of writing viewed in high school and
collegiate classrooms. However, the purpose of this form of writing instruction is not as simple
as merely placing it in a unit plan as a means to reproduce the same school structure through the
years. There is a distinct purpose for the skills acquired in producing a textual analysis and it is
these skills that writing instruction should impart on students. In reading many sample textual
analyses at both the professional and student-level, it is clear that textual analysis manifests itself
in various ways. This is even true in the case of analyses written on the same text, such as a
student example entitled, “My Interpretation of The Joy Luck Club” and a professional example
of the same text entitled, “Memory and The Ethnic Self: Reading Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck
Club” by Ben Xu. However, the purpose remains the same. Teaching the textual analysis
encourages and provides tools for students to see beyond the surface of the text to the purpose of
the work the text does through its themes, form, characters, and other narrative conventions.
These skills then transform themselves into the ability to be critical at all levels—not just at the
textual level as it pertains to the written word, but to all textual forms. Most importantly, to the
text that constructs their individual experience and the world around them.
Though each textual analysis and its author’s perspective are different, this is not to
indicate that there cannot be similarities in structure and even in point-of-view or perspective.
This is certainly the case for the two examples listed above. Though one is a professional text
and the other written by a high school student, the two have glaring similarities. Of particular
importance are the similarities of structure and content that comprise a quality textual analysis.
The most crucial component of these analyses is that of including a thesis that presents the
author’s argument and following that up with support in the body paragraphs. The most pinnacle
form of support is that of textual evidence by using quotations directly from the text. Though the
levels of writing ability and experience may be completely different between these two authors,
they both include the textual evidence that supports their argument.
The student writer begins their textual analysis with the following thesis: “In The Joy
Luck Club, the attitudes of four daughters toward their mothers change as the girls mature and
come to realize that their mothers aren’t so different after all.” This thesis illustrates an analysis
of the relationship between the main characters of the text and how that transforms as the texts
continues. The writer follows this thesis by supporting, with textual evidence throughout the text.
Some of the evidence illustrates the four daughter’s initial dispositions towards their mothers.
The analysis then continues to pair these quotes with complementary passages that convey the
four daughters’ maturity and growing understanding for their mothers and their culture. The
professional example is much the same. The author begins with a thesis, also pertaining to the
discrepancy between the two generations within The Joy Luck Club, and “the existential
unrepeatability that separates them” (Xu, 14). Once more, this author includes various quotes
directly from the text as well as summations of the events, to impart to the reader the intricacies
of the argument being made. Furthermore, this textual evidence is developed in the same format
in which the author builds up the transformation of the daughters to a realized self that is
accepting or at least in the process of accepting their identity as their mother’s daughters and
their culture as Chinese Americans. A particularly poignant quote that is included in this
professional example is one that communicates this self-actualizing moment for one of the young
daughters in The Joy Luck Club. “I feel different. I can feel the skin on my forehead tingling,
my blood rushing through a new course. My mother was right. I am becoming Chinese” (Tan,
306). This quote is reflective of both the characters transformation, but also to the author’s
ability to pinpoint passages that are in tandem with their argument. Thus, illustrating the success
of the author in developing their thesis through using evidence.
In correlation with the ability of each of these authors to retrieve important passages from
the text in concern, these authors were also successful in acknowledging a main theme within the
text. Each of these writers points to the relationship between the four mothers and their four
daughters. They each also develop the theme in relation to the tension that is created by their
mother’s Chinese upbringing and their own childhood in America. Depending on the reader and
their interpretation of The Joy Luck Club, the understanding of this theme or its importance may
vary. However, of extreme importance is that each of these authors takes this theme and
connects it to issues in the real world. Thus, the authors further their analyses from questioning
the text and its meaning, to questioning those same meanings and their implication in the world.
This is an important component of the textual analysis because, as stated above, the purpose is to
acquire the ability to be critical of the text as well as the world. For instance, the student writer
begins their analysis with claiming that “Children, as they become adults, become more
appreciative of their parents.” This quote takes the theme in question and applies it to a general
statement about the relationship between mothers and daughters. Though this statement may not
be thoroughly profound, it illustrates that the reader is able to step out of the confines of the text
to the big picture. Thus, reaching towards the purpose of teaching the textual analysis. This
purpose is more fully realized by the professional writer, Ben Xu, who looks deeper into the
Chinese-American culture. “With many Chinese-Americans like Lindo Jong, survivalism has
led to a cynical devaluation of heroism, and to a resignation that is tinged with a bitter sense of
humor.” This quote points to the feelings of the mothers and the way in which their identities are
structured by their place as Chinese-Americans. Though Xu makes a stronger and more explicit
connection, the same is true, that both of these authors reach outside the text to the world, using
their abilities as readers and analysts to reconfigure their views on the world.
As stated above, it appears that Xu’s points are much more developed, explicit, and
strong. This indicates the differences that exist between these two analyses. In referring back to
the importance of textual evidence, it is clear that the professional text takes this a step further by
citing other sources outside of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. “Hayden White suggests that, in
the narrative of individual life as well as in the narrative of history, the meaning of a given set of
events, which he recognizes as taking the form of recurring tropical enfigurations, is not the
same as the story they consist of” (White 111). The use of this quote illustrates that Ben Xu
understands the importance of searching for all valid sources that can support his claim. This
was a step that the student did not take, however, it is a skill that can be developed as the
budding writer continues to gain experience in this genre.
Another sign of Xu’s ability was that he complicated each point to look at all levels,
including the indications this has on the world. This can be viewed when the author poses a
series of hypothetical questions: “Can she really share her mother’s unrepeatable life-experience?
Can she ever learn to overstep her own existential limits through her mother’s story?” These
questions continue in a complete list to illustrate Xu’s ability to question the text¸ to question the
text’s implications, and also to pose those questions to the reader to encourage them to formulate
their own perception. This is clearly different from the student example that presents the thesis,
uses textual evidence, and then follows with a brief conclusion. Xu’s text presents a few
different ideas and takes the time to complicate each of those ideas while working out his own
perceptions and finally closing with a strong argument from the vast array of information he
collected. Thus, the large difference between these two textual analyses is the author’s
experience and ability.
Each analysis is valid and concrete, it is just a matter of how intricate the author’s
argument is. Furthermore, both of these analyses point to a more refined definition of what a
textual analysis should look like, and what it should contain. In this case, both author’s
incorporated textual evidence, analysis of the major themes and characters, as well as connecting
that analysis to it’s implications on the world. Though they share these similarities, they are
obviously quite different. However, this would likely be true of two student texts of the same
novel or two professional texts, but each author has validity and represents their own
interpretation based on their individual experiences and undoubtedly, a different reading of text.
Thus, in teaching the form of textual analysis one is not teaching students what they should think
and write about a text. Rather, one is teaching students the format with which to communicate
one’s own perception while simultaneously endowing them with the skills to think critically
about texts and about their world.