GUIDE TO LITERARY
ANALYSIS / EVALUATING A STORY
A close scrutiny of a fine literary text may be in itself a richly satisfying and rewarding experience as it enhances our intercultural sensitivity and awareness that there are universal truths and sentiments that bind us. To be able to do it a student should be aware of the literary devices writers use to enrich their language and create complexity within a story. The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only the one or a few significant episodes or scenes. The form encourages economy of setting and concise narrative; character is disclosed in action and dramatic encounter but is seldom fully developed. The way a story is presented is a key element in fictional structure.
Any work of
fiction consists of relatively independent elements — narration, description,
dialogue, interior monologue, digressions, etc. Narration is dynamic, it
gives a continuous account of events, while description is static, it
is a verbal portraiture of an object, person or scene. It may be detailed and
direct or impressionistic, giving few but striking details. Through the
dialogue the characters are better portrayed, it also brings the action
nearer to the reader, makes it seem more swift and more intense. Interior
monologue renders the thoughts and feelings of a character. Digression
consists of an insertion of material that has no immediate relation to the
theme or action. It may be lyrical, philosophical or critical. The
interrelation between different components of a literary text is called composition.
Most novels and stories have plots. Every plot
is an arrangement of meaningful events. No matter how insignificant or
deceptively casual, the events of the story are meant to suggest the
character's morals and motives. Sometimes a plot follows the chronological
order of events. At other times there are jumps back and forth in time (flashbacks
and foreshadowing). The four structural components of the plot are
exposition, complication, climax and denouement. Exposition contains a
short presentation of time, place and characters of the story. It is usually to
be found at the beginning of the story, but may also be" interwoven in the
narrative by means of flashbacks, so that the reader gradually comes to know
the characters and events leading up to the present situation. Complication is
a separate incident helping to unfold the action, and might involve thoughts
and feelings as well. Climax is the decisive moment on which the fate of
the characters and the final action depend. It is the point at which the forces
in the conflict reach the highest intensity. Denouement means "the
untying of a knot" which is precisely what happens in this phase. Not all
stories have a denouement. Some stories end right after the climax, leaving it
up to the reader to judge what will be the outcome of the conflict.
The way a
story is presented is a key element in fictional structure. This involves both
the angle of vision, the point from which the people, events, and other details
are viewed, and also the words of the story. The view aspect is called the focus or point of view, and the verbal aspect the voice. It is important to distinguish between the author, the
person who wrote the story, and the narrator, the person or voice telling the story.
The author may select a first-person
narrative, when one of the characters tells of things that only he or she
saw and felt. In a third-person
narrative the omniscient author
moves in and out of peoples thoughts and comments freely on what the characters
think, say and do.
Most
writers of the short story attempt to create characters who strike us, not as
stereotypes, but as unique individuals. Characters
are called round if they are complex
and develop or change in the course of the story. Flat characters are usually one-sided, constructed round a single
trait; if two characters have distinctly opposing features, one serves as a foil to the other, and the contrast
between them becomes more apparent. Round and flat characters have different functions in the conflict of the
story.
The conflict may be external, i.e. between human beings or between man and the
environment (individual against nature, individual against the established
order/values in the society). The internal
conflict takes place in the mind, here the character is torn between
opposing features of his personality. The two parties in the conflict are
called the protagonist and his or
her antagonist. The description of
the different aspects (physical, moral, social) of a character is known as characterization when the author
describes the character himself, or makes another do it, it is direct characterization. When the
author shows the character in action, and lets the reader judge for himself the
author uses the indirect method of characterization.
A short
story is more than just a sequence of happenings. Its setting may be no less
important than the events themselves. The term setting is generally taken to
include not only the geographical place in which the events in a story happen,
but also a historical era, the daily lives and customs of the characters. The
particular time and physical location of the story form the setting. Such details as the time of the year, certain parts of
- the landscape, the weather, colours, sounds, or other seemingly uninteresting
details may be of great importance. The setting can have various functions in a
given story:
1) it can provide a realistic background,
2) it can evoke the necessary atmosphere,
3) it can help describe the characters indirectly.
The author's choice of characters, events,
situations, details and his choice of words is by no means accidental. Whatever
leads us to enter the author's attitude to his subject matter is called tone. Like the tone of voice, the tone
of a story may communicate amusement, anger, affection, sorrow, contempt. Of
the clearest indications of the tone of a story is the style in which it is written. In this sense, the notion of style
means the language a writer and includes such traits as the length and
complexity of sentences, the choice of words (abstract or concrete, bookish or
colloquial) and the use of such stylistic devices as simile, metaphor,
synecdoche, etc. One of the chief devices is the symbol. It may be a person, an object or an action that represents
sometimes else because of its association with it. It is frequently a visible
sign of something invisible.
The theme of a story is like unifying
general idea about Life that the entire story reveals. In some stories the
theme is unmistakable, in others, it is not obvious. That is, it need not be a moral or a massage; it may be
what the happenings add up to, what the story is about. Frequently writers are
interested in suggesting rather than explaining the theme of a story, leaving
it to the reader to infer, or deduce, the hidden meaning. They have a variety
of means at their disposal, such as parallelism, contrast, repetition, artistic
details, symbols, etc. Indeed, plot, focus and voice, and character are not so
much interrelated, as they are fused and inseparable. The author rarely gives a
direct statement of the theme in a story. It is up to the reader to collect
and combine all his observations and finally to try to formulate the idea
illustrated by the story. The most important generalization the author
expresses is sometimes referred to as the message.
The message depends on the writer's outlook, and the reader may either share it
or not.
There are
few absolute rights or wrongs when it comes to analyzing a short story.
Nevertheless, the underlying premise of our approach is that students must read
each story twice at home.
There are no hard and fast rules about text interpretation but one is usually expected to sum up the contents and express his overall view of the story. The following questions will be useful in the analysis if a story.
COMPOSITION AND PLOT; FOCUS; VOICE
What are the bare facts of the story? What is the exposition, complication, climax and denouement? Are the elements of the plot ordered chronologically? How does the story begin? Is the action fast/slow moving? Which episodes have been given the greatest emphasis? Is the end clear-cut and conclusive or does it leave room for suggestion? On what note does the story end? Is the plot of major or minor importance? Does the author speak in his own voice or does he present the events from the point of view of one of the characters ? Has the narrator access to the thoughts and feelings"of all the characters? — Only a few? Just one? Is the narrator reliable? Can we trust his judgement? Is there any change in the point of view? What effect does this change have? Is the narrative factual/dry/emotional? Are the events credible or melodramatic?
CHARACTERS AND SETTING
What are the characters names and what do they look like? Does this have any significance? Are the characters round or flat? Does the narrator employ interior monologue to render the thoughts and feelings of the characters? Are the characters credible? Do they act consistently? If not, why not? With what main problem is the protagonist faced? Is it a conflict with another individual? With society? Within himself? In the course of the story do the characters change as a result of their experience? Does the narrator sympathise with the characters? Remains aloof and detached? Is the particular setting essential or could the story have happened anywhere at any time? Has the narrator emphasised certain details? Which? Why? What functions does the setting have?
THEME AND ARTISTIC EFFECT
What is the general effect achieved? Has the writer
caused characters, and settings to come alive? What was the conflict and how
was is solved, if at all? Were there any striking repetitions of actions,
words, thoughts or symbols? Has the protagonist learned anything? Has he or she
acquired a greater knowledge or insight or reached a new awareness? Does the
title of the story indicate anything about the theme? Are the theme and story
fused and inseparable? How does the word choice and syntax contribute to the
atmosphere? Does the story abound in tropes or does the narrator use them
sparingly? What images lend the story a lyrical, melancholy, humorous effect?
Are they genuine, poetic, fresh, trite, hackneyed, stale? Is the general tone
matter-of-fact, sentimental, moralizing, bitter, ironical, sarcastic? What
attitude to life does the story express? What seems to be the relationship
between the author, the narrator and the reader?
