Suggestions for analyzing fiction

As so aften occurs, one has to struggle when trying to evaluate literary texts without being unfair or too enthusiastic. So how do we go about it? Here are a few suggestions that came to me  when I was a teacher of short stories and novels some time ago.
Hope this might help.

I. Point of view

On whose authority is the story told? Is the point of view consistent? In the light of your understanding of the purpose and the theme of the story, is the point of view well chosen? What influence does the point of view have on the structure of the story?

II. Plot (The events of the story) and Plot Structure (How are the events put together?)

Summarize the story briefly in your own words. Is the story bare (limited in setting and people), or is it crowded (vast and panoramic)?

Divide the story in parts –the beginning, middle and end (Not necessary in chronological order).  Indicate time, place, and action. Indicate whether the parts are scene, nondramatized narrative, description, exposition of a state of mind or of a character. Does the plot movement contain a climax –a high point of action or revelation, a turning points? What is it? How does the author build to a climax? What is the purpose of details and events after the high point (Falling action)?

Does the author use devices like motifs, symbols, contrast, or irony to help achieve unity of structure?

Does the author use dramatic conflict of characters as a focal point of his structure? (Sec III, 4).

Do you get a sense of totality? Do all events and details contribute to a single effect, impression, illusion, or theme (or patterns of these)? Or is the structure intentionally loose and sprawling (picaresque)?

III. Characterization

1. How does the author develop his/her characters? Is it biased? By what other characters say about them, or by their own action and words, or by revealing their innermost thougths, or by physical description, or by comparing them with the other characters? The author may use a combination of all those, and in addition he/she may make direct comments of the character himself/herself. By this choice of words or his/her tone, an author can reveal his/her own attitude toward characters.

2. Is there one main character in the work, or is the emphasis placed on several characters? Give the important traits of the main character (with specific details to interpret each characteristic). Do the traits reveal a pattern, a totality of characters?

3. Are the characters actions well motivated? Are they consisitent? If not, is there a valid reason for inconsistency or unexpected conduct?

4. What forces, internal and/or external, motivate and shape the characters´ actions and personalities? Is there any outstanding character conflict that dominates the plot? It may be a clash of personalities, or the internal conflicts of a character (motivated possibly by reactions to external forces), or the conflict of a character and his environment, or simply a clash of ideas. What is the conflict and how does it affect or motivate the actions of the character?

5. Is the character a human being, true to life according to his/her own experiences? Why or why not? Is the character a type (representative), or is he/she flat and stereotyped? Is he/she a caricature? Is he/she idealized too much? Is he/she larger than life or life size?

IV. Setting and Atmosphere

Describe briefly the setting and the atmosphere. Does the setting (which includes time, place and state of mind) help bring out the theme of the work? Do the characters and ideas transcend the setting and become universal and timeless; significant for  human being in general? What moods are evoked by the atmosphere and the setting? Do they help you to understand the people and the actions involved?

V . Style

Give several adjectives (such as graceful, verbose, lovely, dull, terse, simple, emotional) to describe the language in which the work is written. Does the author use  abundant content words? Do you think the author has written in a style appropriate to his story and his characters and his purpose, or could he have used a different kind of language to achieve his/her purpose?

Please note the following possible ways to consider the style of a navarrative work: sentence structure, vocabulary (diction), effective use of colorful energetic adjectives and verbs, figures of speech, economy of language or expressions, handling of impressions, etc. For example, do the metaphors form patterns of meaning related to characters and/or theme?

What does the author´s use of dialogue contribute to his style? Is the author´s tone objective, that is, does he/she keep a distance between himself/herself and his/her characters and actions? Or is his/her tone subjective (pessimistic, cynical, optimistic, ironical, arrogant, unreliable, etc.)?

VI. Psychological values

1. Sensory. What passages in the story are richest in sensory value? Analyze passages in order to show on what types of imagery its effectivenesss depends.

2. Emotional. What are the feelings and emotions experienced by the major character in the story? Are the feelings and emotions impressive for their variety or intensity, or both? To what extent is your emotional response to the story affected by the emotion of others than the main character?

3. Empathetic. To what extent do you find yourself identifying with one or another character in the story? If identification does not take place, what elements in the story compensate for the abscence of such identification?

4. Analytical. Is one of the important values of the story the authors´s analysis

5. Do sympathy, empathy, lead to pathos?                                             

Recopilación y contribución para La Coleccionista de Espejos: Franklyn Perry P.

Nota: Ann+e, o algun@ de las Gaby's, ¿Podrían encargarse de la traducción?

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