Analyzing Literature

Analyzing Literature: Short Story, the Novel and Drama

The Concept of Theme

The analysis of literature does not have to be a “touchy-feely” process that is impossible for anyone who is not highly intuitive.  Instead, it can be done systematically.  It is a process that any college student can learn, and that process is what you will learn in this course. 

The key to this type of systematic analysis is to learn a handful of basic literary devices, which are like the writer’s toolbox.  I teach eight basic devices in this course.  Once you learn them, you can, with practice, analyze all but perhaps the most difficult short stories, novels, movies, television dramas, and stageplays.  (The analysis of poetry and song is a bit different; we’ll cover that later in the course.) 

However, before I introduce the eight basic literary devices, it is crucial that you understand what you are aiming toward:

Your goal in using the literary devices is to figure out a theme for the story or drama.

So what is a theme?

Theme: the author’s message; a moral lesson which applies not only to the characters in the work, but to its readers too—to me and you.  Once you have practiced using the literary devices to help you figure out a work’s theme, you will be able to state a theme for a work in one sentence. That statement of theme will state the specific moral lesson taught by the work.  However, you will word that moral lesson so it will apply to us as well as the character in the work. 

So this is Lesson One; you are starting to learn to do this right now.  One thing to avoid is confusing the issue of the work with its theme (its moral lesson).  Let’s say I have asked you to read a short story about a couple who go through a nasty divorce.  If I ask you “What is the theme of this work?” and you answer, “Well, it’s about divorce,” then you have stated the issue, but you have not stated the theme yet.  Note the wording in that answer:  “…it’s about (whatever).”  When you say “it’s about…” or “it has to do with…” then almost certainly you are telling the issue, not the theme.  Yet telling the main issue, which we can also call the main challenge or problem of the characters, is a good step and can point you toward the theme of the work. 

So the issue of this hypothetical literary work is divorce.  You have taken a good first step.  Now the question becomes this:  What does the writer think about divorce?  Or, What is his (or her) message or lesson  about divorce?  When you answer this question, presto!  You have a theme.  Of course, not all works deal with divorce, but you get the general idea.

So let’s push on.  A very effective way to state a theme is actually to include the issue in that same sentence.  Example: “In this work, the author suggests to us that when we experience ____________________, we should _____________________.”  The first blank is to tell what the issue or challenge is; the second blank is to tell what message or lesson the author is sending to us about such a challenge, should we ever be faced with it.

Note also that the lesson is not stated so that it applies only to the character in the story.  Instead, the statement of theme says that “we should (do something or other if faced with that issue).”  Alternate wording might say “a person should…” or something else similar. 

Lastly, notice the verb in the wording of the second, most important part:  “…we should…” do something or other.  Other wordings are also possible, such as “we often tend to... .”  But I like the first better, because it jumps past what we may do and says what we ought to do—it is worded as a true moral lesson.

Please note that I intend for you to use this general wording, or something similar, whenever you state a theme for a story we are studying.  You are reading this to learn how to state a theme in this course.

Let’s go back to the hypothetical work dealing with divorce.  Using the general pattern of wording I am teaching you here, a statement of theme for that work might go like this:  “In this story, the writer suggests that if we experience the conflict and heartbreak of divorce, we should …”  We should what?  Swear off romance?  Be more careful next time around?  Learn to avoid lunatics when choosing a mate?  Or should we try to see how we ourselves contributed to this sad outcome?  Well, every one of those four possibilities is a moral lesson, with the last one being perhaps the one which reaches deepest and might be most useful.  Each one is a possible moral lesson—a theme.  Which one does the work teach?  To learn that, you first need to learn the eight basic literary devices writers use to show us their themes in the first place.  But study what I have covered here.  Yes, of course you can change the wording around quite a bit, but now you know how to state a work’s theme clearly.  The next step:  Study the Eight Basic Literary Devices. 

Questions on Theme

The following questions on the concept of theme are to be answered in Blackboard for the Quiz One assignment.  You will create a file, answer the questions in complete sentences and numbered just as the questions are, you will name the file Q1 plus your three initials, you will save the file as Rich Text, and you will submit it within the Quiz One assignment under Daily Grades in Blackboard.  For a more detailed review of how to do the above steps of submitting the quiz, go now to the assignment in Blackboard.

Here are the quiz questions:

1. In a complete sentence and in your own words, define what is meant by the issue of a work of literature.  By "in your own words," I mean that you may use my key terms from the material above, but do not just copy and paste my sentences!  You don't learn much that way!  Use my key terms in a sentence of your own wording.  Number your answer.
2. Tell me, in one sentence, the difference between the issue of a work and its theme.
3. Who all does the theme of a work apply to?  Be careful with your answer.  Think beyond the work itself.
4. Think either of some work of literature you know well, or alternatively, think of some experience in your own life which taught you a moral lesson.  Review above how I want you to state a theme.  As your answer to this question, use something close to my wording above, but state the moral lesson from the work or experience you are thinking of.  Note that if you choose a work of literature, your answer must name the work; if you choose a personal experience, your answer must briefly name the experience.  (You do not need to tell the whole story, in either case!)  In either case, state the theme in wording that makes it clear that it applies beyond just yourself or the main character in the work.  (Movies are okay as choices.  I am not grading you here on whether I agree with a theme for some literary work; I am grading you on whether you know how to state a theme.)
5. Now do the same thing again, with another literary work or personal experience.  Vary your wording slightly.  If you chose a personal experience for #4, try to choose a movie, novel, etc., for this one.

Eight Basic Literary Devices Literary devices, in general:  As I said already in the link on Theme, literary devices are the tools a writer uses to build a drama, story, or perhaps even some poems.  Here are the eight major literary devices: The First Device:  Conflict  The device of conflict is always present in any work that tells a story; without conflict, in fact, there would be no story.  Every single conflict in any story, novel, TV show, movie, or stage drama will be one of four types.  Note that the last two are the really important ones:  person versus nature:  Also called natural conflict.  In this conflict, the characters are pitted against the forces of nature—usually in the form of natural disasters such as hurricanes etc., but sometimes in the form of other species (bears, lions, even insects, bacteria, etc.) or even in the form of a character’s failing health (due to disease, old age, etc.).  Hint:  This type of conflict is seldom the main kind of conflict in modern works, because humankind has so subdued our environment.  Usually, natural conflict becomes a sort of “container” for some other types of conflicts.  Example:  The movie Titanic used the ship’s collision with an iceberg as a device by which to show us other things:  romance, rich versus poor, and so forth.  In movies, this is actually a lucrative formula, and such movies are commonly called “disaster flicks.”  The natural disaster is just a vehicle with which to do other things with the characters. person vs. person:  Also called interpersonal conflict.  This type of conflict is about one character being at odds with some other character.  It is present in virtually every story ever written.  It is all but universal.  But beware!  It is so common, that it is not too helpful to us.  So note that interpersonal conflict exists, then realize this:  if you will look beneath the surface of any conflict between two people, you will find that they are in conflict because they are representing two different social groups.  What I am saying is that when you look beneath the surface of interpersonal conflict, what you will find is one form or another of the third type:  social conflict.  So please read about that one next. person vs. society:  Also called social conflict.  As I just said, if you show me any two people squabbling, I will show you two people acting as members of warring social groups.  Two hints:  First, this is a crucial device, a key step towards interpreting the theme of any story.  Second, it is not enough to refer vaguely to “social conflict.”  The question becomes this:  What is the main kind of social conflict in the story?  You see, there are many, many subtypes commonly found.  Here are just a few: Gender conflict (women vs. men) Racial/ethnic conflict (blacks vs. whites, Anglos vs. Latinos, etc.) Generational conflict (young vs. old, often parents vs. sons or daughters) Socio-economic conflict (people of different social and/or economic classes) person vs. self:  Also called inner conflict.  This one is unique, because it happens within a person.  Anytime you are upset, confused, indecisive, angry, embarrassed, sad, agitated, or anything else besides perfectly calm—that is, most of the time—you are experiencing inner conflict.  Usually, it passes.  Sometimes, though, it escalates into real trouble.  Often, stories choose to tell about a time when inner conflict escalates.  Hint:  There is a crucial cause/effect connection between social conflict and inner conflict, which I will explain later.  So pay special attention to these two types:  Social conflict and inner conflict. A Second Device:  Character  The literary device of character spans seven terms, several of which come in pairs.  Here they are: protagonist (the main character):  the character the story focuses on the most.  How do you tell who is the protagonist, especially since some works may feature a “dual protagonist” (two main characters), or even an “ensemble cast” (a number of characters, with focus split pretty evenly among them).  Here are ways to tell who the protagonist is: Who is present in most scenes? Who is probably there in the first scene, and almost certainly still around in the last scene? Who speaks the most lines? Who has the most trouble? Who has the fullest range of human personality traits? (See round vs. flat characters, below) antagonist (the “bad guy”):  This character is usually pretty easy to spot.  But here are two things to take note of:  In some stories, the “bad guy” is not all bad, but may have good qualities, or may struggle between good and evil, just as the protagonist does.  Also, in some stories which really emphasize inner conflict, there may not even be an antagonist; in such stories, the main character is “his own worst enemy,” as the saying goes. catalyst (a minor character who strongly influences the protagonist):  Such characters are used in one main way.  Sometimes, a minor character, who is never the antagonist, will say or do something, perhaps even unconsciously, which has a profound effect on the main character, perhaps even causing that character’s personality to change, for better or worse.  Two related terms regarding character:  Characters can be round (realistic, with many traits), flat (one-dimensional, showing only one character trait), or somewhere in between in terms of how fully developed the author makes them.  Usually, the most well-rounded character will be the protagonist.  You can actually make a list, if you wanted to, of the various character traits shown by a particular character.  The longest list will be that of the most well-rounded character.  Note, however, that roundness or flatness of a character does not determine whether that character is a good or bad person.  Lastly, the two most important terms about character:  Most importantly, characters—especially the protagonist—will be either static (his or her personality does not change) or dynamic (his or her personality changes permanently in some major way).  A “character change,” as it is called, is not like a mood swing, which can be up and down and back up.  Instead, a character who becomes dynamic will change drastically, almost certainly only once, and usually towards the end of the story.  Either outcome—either static or dynamic—can be good or bad, depending entirely on the circumstances of the story; in other words, a static, unchanging character can be good in one story, bad in another, and a dynamic, changing character can likewise change for the bad in one story, and for the good in another.  Tip:  Be careful not to get round and flat mixed up with static and dynamic.  Also, note that determining whether the main character changes personality or not, if so in what way, and whether his/her outcome is a positive one or not, puts you on the very doorstep of seeing the theme of the story!! A Third Device:  Climax  No sub-terms.  This is the last major turning point, after which the fates of the characters are set.  It occurs in some single particular scene, all at once.  In the climactic scene of a story, the protagonist will, as a result of intensifying inner conflict, reach a point of high stress where there is a window of opportunity for character change, for good or for bad.  Note:  Even if the character remains static, there is still a climactic scene where his/her personality might have changed, but did not.  The climax is harder to spot with a static character, it’s true, but it is still there.  Every story has a climax.  Many times, especially with dynamic characters, the climax is very obvious.  A Fourth Device:  Tone Also called mood.  No sub-terms.  This is the emotional “feel” of a scene, judged by what the characters say and do, and also by the features of the physical setting (gloomy, messy, sunny, neat, etc.).  Tone is especially useful in helping us judge whether an author means for us to see the protagonist’s outcome as being a good one or a bad one. A Fifth Device:  Setting There are three kinds:  historical (the time setting.  Often the setting is a contemporary one, meaning present day.) geographic (the place of the story, but in a large sense:  what part of the country, what part of the world).  These first two types may predict certain types of social conflicts. physical (place also, but in a more immediate sense:  indoors, outdoors?)  What are the features of the physical setting?  This often helps establish tone (mood).  Also, sometimes the physical setting is used symbolically. A Sixth Device:  Symbolism Symbolism occurs when a thing takes on a meaning deeper or broader than itself.  Symbols are used by writers when they want to show you something, but don’t want to be so obvious as to come right out and say it.  Two types:  universal symbols, which mean much the same in any culture.  Example:  Red = danger. contextual symbols, which are symbolic only within a certain work, as used by that author.  Example:  In a story called “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the title is a combination of both types.  The word yellow symbolizes caution, just like the Yield signs at intersections.  That is a universal symbol.  But normally, wallpaper is not symbolic.  In this story, however, it symbolizes the distracted and finally insane state of the main character’s mind.  So it is used as a contextual symbol.  Important symbols will always be stressed and usually repeated; this is especially true of contextual symbols, because the writer knows the reader will miss it unless it is made to stand out. A Seventh Device:  Irony Irony, in general, is defined as an unexpected twist or outcome.  Three types:  verbal irony, occurs on sentence level, like puns, double-meanings, overstatement & understatement situational irony, when a plot event has an unexpected outcome.  This is, to me, the most interesting type. dramatic irony, like situational irony except the outcome is not a surprise to the reader, who has been given knowledge by the author which the character does not have.  Be careful not to get these last two reversed. An Eighth Device:  Point of View Point of View does not refer to "opinion," as used here.  It refers to who is telling the story  Overall, there are five types: First person point of view:  The main character is also the narrator:  “I thought this, I did that.”  First person point of view is extremely common.  Also, note that it helps you to figure out which character is the protagonist. Second person point of view:  The narrator speaks directly to someone, usually the reader, as in a letter:  “You should realize that…”  This p.o.v. tends to pull the reader more deeply into the story, until you almost feel like one of the characters.  This p.o.v. is pretty rarely used. Third person point of view:  The narrator is unidentified, and is not one of the characters.  The narrator speaks about the characters:  “At that point, he thought he should do something, so he stood up and . . .”  Three sub-types: Third person omniscient point of view:  The narrator tells virtually all inner thoughts and feelings of the characters, especially the protagonist.  This is old-fashioned, as in Dickens or Tolstoy.  Modern readers tend to become impatient with this type of storytelling, because we know more about human nature than readers did several centuries ago.  We simply don’t need to be told the motivation behind every action. Third person limited omniscient point of view:  The narrator tells some but not all of inner thoughts and feelings, usually during important scenes.  This type, along with first person p.o.v., is extremely common in today’s literature. Third person objective point of view:  The narrator tells none of the inner thoughts and feelings.  It is like watching a video or movie, in which we see actions and hear dialogue, but must interpret thoughts, feelings, and motives for ourselves.  Such stories tend to use symbolism quite a lot.  Hemingway is an example of such a writer. These are the eight basic literary devices.  You will become more familiar with them as you actually use them to interpret the assigned readings, which will begin very soon.  However, I strongly recommend that you spend some time studying these devices.  Commit them to memory; it's not that many terms.  That will help enormously when it is time to begin using them for interpretation; rather than having to refer back and forth to this link or even to a printout of it, you will have the eight devices and their subterms in mind already, and can much more easily begin to apply them. And that application will become a good deal easier when you study the next link, An Interpretive Strategy for Fiction and Drama.  In that link, certain devices reveal a cause-and-effect relationship, a pattern which, with awareness of it and practice spotting it in a work, will lead you reliably to a discovery of theme. Quiz Questions on Literary Devices: The following questions on the above eight literary devices are to be answered in Blackboard for the Quiz Two assignment.  You will create a file, answer the 15 questions below in complete sentences and numbered just as the questions are, you will name the file Q2 plus your three initials, you will save the file as Rich Text, and you will submit it within the Quiz Two assignment under Daily Grades in Blackboard.  For a more detailed review of how to do the above steps of submitting the quiz, see the assignment in Blackboard. Here are the quiz questions.  Each answer counts five points with the exception of #1(4x5=20 pts) and #11(3x5=15 pts).  Do not just copy and paste your answers!  By actually typing them, you are helping yourself remember them! What are the four basic types of conflict? What is the main character of a work called? What is the term for a minor character who has some powerful and usually positive effect on the main character? Characters who have life-like, multiple-trait personalities are called what kind of character? Characters whose personalities are one-dimensional, showing just one main trait, are called what kind of character? A character (usually the main character) whose personality undergoes a major change in the story is called what? When the character's personality does not change, the character is called what? A type of symbol whose meaning is familiar to most readers is called what kind of symbol? A symbol which is only symbolic in the story in which it occurs is called what kind of symbol? The main turning point of a story's plot, past which point the characters are locked into their various fates, is called what? What are the three different types of setting? Irony is defined as an unexpected outcome.  What type of irony involves an unexpected turn of events which surprises the characters and also the reader? What type of irony is like the previous type except that the audience expects the turn of events while the character does not? When the main character tells his or her own story, the point of view is called what (two words)? When an unknown narrator tells the main character's story, and exposes some but not all of that character's thoughts and feelings, the point of view is called what (four words)? An Interpretive Strategy for Fiction & Drama A key stage in learning the skill of basic literary interpretation is to realize that the eight major devices do not simply work in isolation from one another.  Several of these devices, in particular, form a pattern.  The pattern is one of cause and effect. And here is that pattern:  In many, even most stories, the main character (protagonist) is subject to some particular kind of social conflict, perhaps even several kinds together.  Perhaps it is gender conflict, for example.  That particular kind of social conflict causes inner conflict in the main character.  The inner conflict gradually worsens as the story goes on.  Finally, the main character's inner conflict gets so bad that he or she is pushed to the very brink of a character change, a personality change.  The personality of the main character may change, or it may not.  Either way, that may be a good thing, or it may be a bad thing.  But in every case, the outcome for that character shows the theme, the moral lesson of the story.  The author means for me and for you to learn a lesson by experiencing, second-hand, how these conflicts have changed the character (or not). Put as simply as possible, the pattern I want you to learn to see is this:  social conflict creates inner conflict; inner conflict, in turn, creates a window of opportunity for character change.  The outcome of that window of opportunity shows the theme of the work.  The pattern is then essentially a simple one, comprising those three steps. So then, here is a good strategy for interpretation:  Figure out who is the protagonist; Figure out that person’s major social conflict(s); Realize that often, social conflicts will create inner conflict in the protagonist; Decide if she/he is static or dynamic as a result of those conflicts; Decide whether the author means for that static state or dynamic change to be seen as a good thing or a bad thing, or some of both; Decide what message or moral lesson that implies about that character; and State that lesson so that it applies to us as well.  At that point you have a theme. Become reasonably good at spotting this pattern in short stories and dramas, and you will do well in the first two-thirds of this course.  One last word, however:  Many of you may be wondering how the other devices relate to this pattern.  The answer is that they can all help in following this pattern in a story.  It is just that the devices mentioned specifically above (social conflict, inner conflict, and the presence or absence of character change) are more directly useful, whereas the usefulness of the other devices is usually subtler, more indirect. Quiz Questions on Basic Interpretive Strategy: The following questions on basic interpretive strategy are to be answered in Blackboard for the Quiz Three assignment.  You will create a file, answer the five questions below in complete sentences and numbered just as the questions are, you will name the file Q3 plus your three initials, you will save the file as Rich Text, and you will submit it within the Quiz Three assignment under Daily Grades in Blackboard.  For a more detailed review of how to do the above steps of submitting the quiz, see the assignment in Blackboard. Here are the quiz questions.  Each answer counts 20 points.  Do not just copy and paste your answers, even if that is possible!  By actually typing them in your own words, you are helping yourself remember them! What relationship does social conflict have to inner conflict? What relationship does inner conflict have to the opportunity for character change? Name one particular kind of social conflict the protagonist of a story may face (this is material you should remember from quiz two).  Do not confuse types of social conflict with any of the other three main kinds of conflict. What tends to happen to the protagonist's inner conflict as the story goes on (does it stay the same, or what)? If the protagonist is dynamic (changes personality), is that always good, always bad, or could it be either one?  What does it depend upon?  Material shared by Dr. Wendell Villanueva ©2016