It is pertinent to note that some writings are different from the conventional writing that we usually engage in. Each discipline has its specialized disciplinary requirements. To do justice to any topic, it behooves the writer to locate the subject within a specific discipline to write effectively on them. Today we are going to be talking about the requirements for engaging in literary analysis which is slightly related to what we just did in a book review. Why study literary analysis when we are not all students of literature? Whether we recognize it or not, we are always analyzing people, places, events, and circumstances. What does it mean to analyze? To analyze is to study a complex event, thing, or person by examining one or more of its parts and then showing the relationship of each part to the whole. In literary analysis, each writer is expected to have his interpretation of the material, which is carefully developed from the examination of the text.
Read the material slowly
The difference must be clear between the strategy you adopt in wading through a pile of junk and the strategy you adopt in reading good or great literature. It’s ok to wade through or scan through junk, but when one is reading a good text that deals with complex ideas and emotions, often with complex means of expression, the most reasonable thing to do will be to read through slowly. What is required to engage in a full-fledged analysis cannot be achieved using skimming or scanning techniques of reading? Reading slowly to understand the text is required to be able to deal competently with all the concerns of a well-written analysis.
Reread
Most literary texts do not yield their full meanings to the reader at first reading. Many great works need to be read over and over again before they are fully comprehended. When you read a selection again, all the ingredients will begin to register differently, a way that is emotionally and intellectually impossible to achieve in a first reading. The seemingly different parts of the story can now come through to you as pieces within a logical pattern. Without a sense of logical pattern and of how all elements are related to it, your analysis will be weak and incomplete.
Assume that everything is significant
Nothing should be taken for granted in the analysis of good literature. Every word, every character, every thought, and every incident should contribute to the total effect the author is trying for. The contribution is sometimes obvious and direct: Like if an author mentions that a character is a chain smoker because later on the character will die of lung disease. Sometimes, this contribution is indirect: the author spends a paragraph describing a garden to establish a perfect space for a romantic scene. While engaging in reading for literary analysis, take note that nothing is beyond your notice since everything serves a purpose. So you need to read closely and pay attention to details.
Do not study details out of context
You are expected to relate particular details in the text to the context of the whole text. War can be a symbol of hope in some texts while it can be a symbol of despair in others. You need to be able to relate parts to the whole to interpret a particular part of the text appropriately.
Distinguish between moral and theme
Many of us are from cultures where stories often teach a moral. In Yoruba culture for example, after telling a story to children, the storyteller often feels compelled to ask the question: what have we learned from this story? In good literature, however, one expects more than morals. What we have in literature is usually a general comment on life. According to Skwire and Wiener literature produced by a thoughtful writer attempts to capture some of the quality of life itself, and the preachy oversimplifications inherent in moralizing spring from distortions of life. As readers and critics, we are much better off dealing with a writer’s something to say if we think not of the moral but the theme.
Learn what a symbol is and is not
A symbol is a person, place, or thing that stands for or strongly suggests something in addition to itself, usually an abstract idea more important than itself. What for example is the symbolic meaning that might go with riding a Hummer jeep, a Range Rover sport, and 2014 editions of expensive cars in Nigeria? Symbols stand for something or suggest something in addition to itself, not instead of itself. The symbolic level of a story or poem should never dwarf the other levels—especially the basic level of people and plot. Symbols are usually obvious. If it is too difficult for you to establish that something is a symbol, possibly the author never meant it to be so. Do not confuse symbols with ordinary significant details. A symbol stands for or suggests something substantially different from itself. Rain may symbolize death, a veil may symbolize isolation, and springtime may symbolize youth, rebirth, longing, or hope.
Avoid plot summary
Try not to tell the story all over again. You are writing an analysis and this is completely different from writing a book report. Do not overuse direct quotations
Use the language of literature
Literature uses language to express images, attitudes, and feelings. It does this by using descriptive, connotative, and figurative language. Writers often use words that create sensory impressions or responses. They are intended to help the reader recreate mentally what the author is describing. For example, in describing the reflection of the sun on a river in the short story “the Lagoon” Joseph Conrad writes “the sun appeared unclouded and dazzling, poised low over the water that shone smoothly like a band of metal.” These terms help you visualize the sun reflecting on the water and help you imagine its intensity. Instead of saying two characters looked at each other, a novelist can say “their eyes locked momentarily in a gaze”. This is a descriptive usage of language. Language is commonly perceived or understood in terms of its primary, denotative meaning. Connotations, however, are commonly suggested meanings other than the primary or denotative meanings. A date denotes an appointment between a young man and a woman but it connotes a romantic evening spent in the company of two people who are trying to get to know each other. A connotative meaning may carry either a positive or a negative impression.
