Note:

This is a pretty long lecture, but do go through it. It synthesizes quite a lot of material explored at even greater length in our textbook.

Most important, if you are not comfortable with literary analysis, this lays out the entire process from first reading the story to taking notes to, eventually, putting together an analytical discussion or essay. It should help you :)

If you come back later saying, "I don't know how to get started," or "I don't have any idea what to write about," then it is likely you need to review the assigned readings on Understanding and Writing About Literature in our textbook and, probably, this lecture.


Another Note:

Throughout the rest of this lecture you will see that I often put something like (142) after a passage that I have quoted from "A&P"--this is called parenthetical citation, and it is absolutely required in a literary analysis.

It can be handled a little differently for web sources, plays, poems, but the basic form is to follow a direct quotation with ( then a page number and then ), so "Blah blah" (142). means that I found that quotation on page 142 of Updike's story.

That # is specific to the text I used; it may not be the same # as the text YOU use. Always cite from the text YOU are looking at.

the steps: starting with the first (quick) reading and ending with an essay

It starts with reading the story, poem, play, novel, whatever, and as we saw last week, you do this very closely, preferably taking detailed notes (so you don't forget things), focusing on patterns and peculiarities until they lead to some suggestions and eventually even themes

But let's come back to this in a bit; let's go backwards (this lecture is going to go backwards for a bit)

step 1: what's the purpose?

Even before you read the work, it's kinda nice to know WHY you are reading it. Sure, it's an assignment, but will it be the subject of a test, a discussion, a longer paper? If it's going to be on a test, will it likely be a detail-driven objective test or a more idea-driven essay exam?

Most (not all) English classes will have you discussing and writing papers at this level, and that means you are searching for ideas/themes/meaning. Remember that themes are not one word; they are complete sentences that express some idea relevant to the reader. Yes, even dusty ol' Shakespeare is about US. This concept is important because it OFTEN (not always) drives discussions and literary analysis papers, and it affects what we are looking for in the work.

And we are ALMOST NEVER looking for plot; plot summary is a grammar school activity. Who on earth cares that the main vampire love interest in Twilight is named Edward? While we're thinking of Twilight (arguably NOT the greatest literary work ever, but who can say?), does that first book in the series have themes (ideas that we can relate to)? How about this one:

It is rare that any one person will ever fulfill all of your desires in a relationship.

I know, that thought is kind of a bummer, so just ignore it if you don't like it, but the book is ALL ABOUT what Team Edward provides Vs. what Team Jacob has to offer (I've always been on Team Edward, by the way).

If you doubt that that sentence expresses an idea common to human nature, just watch the Kamamo Show for ten minutes.

Let's say the teacher gives the class a prompt in advance, something like "How does William Faulkner create suspense in 'Rose for Emily'?" And suppose that same teacher gives you some Tips on how to do that: pay attention to who is narrating the story; how does the fact that the plot is not told chronologically help?

Well that's SUPER! You know exactly what to focus on when you go through the story; you are not just reading blindly. So even before you begin reading, see if there are some discussion questions or a writing prompt coming up. With that above prompt YOU KNOW you are not going to study symbolism or character UNLESS they relate to the author creating suspense and surprise.

step 2: the (quick) reading

IMPORTANT NOTE: if you are reading an entire novel, you likely WILL NOT HAVE TIME for this step. This step suggests you will read the work at least twice, which works for a short story like "A&P" but not for a much longer work such as The Night Circus.

A very quick reading of "A&P" might reveal this:

So I read the story, "Blah, blah, blah." Stuff happens to people I don't know. Sammy is the narrator, and at the climax (the point where the story makes its ultimate turn; typically, the main character makes a choice or fails to) of the story he quits his job at the supermarket because he feels his boss is embarrassing these three girls in bathing suits. After that he goes out to the parking lot hoping to see the girls, but they are gone (those things that happen after the climax are called the resolution).

Not much happens. All things considered, I would rather watch an episode of Twin Peaks or Sense8. Still, the story was assigned, so I better look for something here. Since the teacher did not give us a prompt or any discussion questions, I have a few immediate questions that came to mind:

step 3: what questions come to mind?

Again, ideally the teacher gives you something you are supposed to be focusing on, but sometimes you are on your own, and so instead of the teacher asking questions for you to answer, YOU have to ask questions for you to answeer, so back to "I have a few immediate questions that come to mind:"

  1. Is Sammy just a dumb kid who quits his job, or is he acting out the classical role of heroic knight in shining armor coming to rescue damsels in distress?
  2. Is Sammy really all that upset that he now has no job?
  3. Why the heck are those girls in the store "in nothing but bathing suits" (142), and why is everyone making such a big deal out of it?

Note: for that third question I actually wrote down a note, a quotation from the story and followed it with a parenthetical citation; I am ahead of the game. WOOT!

I could probably come up with more quick questions, but this is plenty to start with. Now it's time to try to answer the questions. For this lecture, I will mainly look at question 1: "Is Sammy a hero or not?" It's time to go back to

step 3: read and take notes; look for patterns and peculiarities; find details that relate to your questions

Especially in shorter fiction (short stories, poems, one-act plays), if an author takes time to repeat something (a kind of image, a word or phrase, etc.), it is meant to stand out. Likewise, anything that is odd, weird, peculiar will pop out, and it is very rare that that is accidental. The author is saying, "LOOK AT THIS!"

If we are looking for evidence to answer our question, "Is Sammy a hero?" we need to think about what makes a classic (old fashioned?) hero. Here are some things that come to my mind:

That's enough to get started with. Now the long part. I need to go back through the story, taking notes (this is very important; you will need these notes later) looking for things that are described/narrated that tell me if Sammy is self-sacrificing, expects no reward, has a heroic character. This story has a lot of material that addresses these points, and here are my notes just for one page of the story; do this for the entire story (if you do not have a print version of the story and lack a printer, you will either need to make notes on the file OR take nots on paper (be sure to indicate what page you got each bit of evidence from). And yes, I know; you would rather skip this step. Your paper WILL suffer, and the excuse "I'm just not good at English" will NOT be a valid excuse.

A&P with annotations

That is a lot to work with already, and there are examples like this throughout the story. Don't worry if you can't decipher my sloppy writing and abbreviations; I will explain examples in a bit. If your notes are sloppy, that's fine. Just be sure they make sense to you, and be sure you have enough notes--more is (usually) better.

Just on that first page, there are several patterns that help answer some of our questions; it is time to fill in lists that relate to the qualities I am looking for and tie them to annotations (highlights, underlining, marginal notes) I made on the story:

So far, I am building a pretty strong case for "Sammy is NOT a hero," and the list will grow as I find more examples from the story. Is there anything in the story that supports the other position--"Sammy is a hero"?

First, the story is a flashback to an earlier time. We know this because Sammy says, "Now here's the sad part of the story, at least my family says it's sad but I do't think it's sad myself" (144). Sammy can't know his family's reaction unless the story is being told after the events he describes. Those events end before he goes home. That means he has had some time (how much?) to discover "how hard the world was going to be." To find out why it was hard, we should go back to that key moment when Sammy quits. Lengel knows Sammy is being rash, tells Sammy he will feel this for the rest of his life and that he does not really want to do this. Sammy thinks, "It's true. I don't. But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it" (146).

So what has just happened? Sammy shows he has integrity. He makes a gesture, and he does not weasel out of it. This is the event he is looking back to where he knows he will live life as a person who keeps his word, and that is harder than not following through.

step 4: turn your question into a thesis for your paper

Thesis statements are actually conclusions. No, they are not that last paragraph you think of in a paper, but they are ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS (and the questions can either be posed by the teacher, a study group, a text source or YOU.

Here ws my initial question after my quick read:

  1. Is Sammy just a dumb kid who quits his job, or is he acting out the classical role of heroic knight in shining armor coming to rescue damsels in distress?

How hard is it to turn a question into a thesis? It is not hard at all; just answer the question:

And feel free to take either side; I actually believe this is a sotry of a hero, but I want to be smart about this paper. I have so much to write about suggesting that he is NOT and much less suggesting that he IS a hero. Heck, I can easily get several detailed paragraphs on Sammy's character flaws alone. I would rather have an easy time of this. Of course, if the instructor ASSIGNED the prompt, I'd be stuck having to support THAT prompt.

Since the thesis is the one sentence that drives everything that goes in our paper, let's break it down; there is a lot going on in this thesis:

I've added the opposing position with my "Although" statement, and I've clarified my position with a little more detail. Note that the author and title are both in the thesis (they must be because the story is the subject of your paper). The last part of the thesis clearly states my position; it is what my paper will develop and illustrate.

IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT take both sides.

step 5: on to the essay (this lecture is nearly done...*whew*)

Now you take the material from your notes, sort it into meaningful categories (Sammy is a sexist; Sammy is disrespectful, etc.) and build your paper using the OBSERVATION-QUOTATION-EXPLANATION formula.

After your paper's opening (which should be livelly, if possible, and should relate to the thesis somehow), you will put in your thesis (often the last sentence of your opening paragraph.

Then you will suppport that thesis with various claims (obervation) which you back up with quoted/documented examples from the text (quotation) followed by parenthetical citatioons, and then you will have transitional sentences that explain how those examples fit and which then lead on to your next point (explanation).

So about 2/3 of the paper will be YOU, your words, ideas, claims, though do not use "I/me" in a literary analysis. That means about 1/3 of the paper will be evidence in the form of quoted examples from the story (poem, whatever).

I call it a formula, but it's really more of a general guideline. It allows you to get enough of your own thinking into the discussion/essay, and it shows that you can support your conclusions with evidence (and know how to document that evidence).

Here is what it looks like. Here is the beginning of my essay on "A&P": click on this link (file is a .pdf document), and it is in MLA format (your papers must also be in MLA format).