This document provides a guide for analyzing literature through 6 topics: the author, plot, characters, themes, quotes and dialogues, and symbolism. It suggests beginning by researching the author's background and historical context to better understand their perspective. It then advises analyzing the plot by summarizing chapters and identifying the beginning, middle, and climax. Characters should be understood by compiling notes on their traits and how they influence the story. Themes are perspectives the text can be analyzed through and should relate to the author's context. Quotes and dialogues provide evidence to support analyses. Symbolism represents abstract ideas and requires close attention to details with deeper meanings. The overall aim is to equip students with approachable techniques for literary analysis

1. A Guide to How to Analyze
‘Literature’
By: Husain Necklace
Al Jamea Saifiyah Arabic Academy
With Special Thanks to Professor Erick Oduor Opiyo

2. Introduction
Literature has always been an important element and part of the human civilization.
Charles Dickens, a well renowned author, used his literary skills to convey numerous thoughts
associating with the society and the world. A prominent example of which would be his ‘A Tale
of Two Cities’ in which he depicts the French Revolution and how it changed the course of the
European world while simultaneously affecting the entire world at large.
Similarly, another renowned public figure to have articulated his literary gifts in order to grasp a
larger meaning of the world and infuse it into his writings would be the poet Robert Frost, who
through his poems imparted his understandings of the society, humans, world, and various other
perspectives on life and death. A very evident example of this suggestion would be his poem ‘Out,
Out’ where he depicts a small boy’s labor and how death claims him through his work.
Likewise, there are a plethora of authors and poets who did the same through their literary criticism
as well as literary writings such as Shakespeare, T.S Eliot, Richard Wright, Edgar Allan Poe, Jane
Austen, etc.
All of this arduous work suggests that Literature is widely accepted in the society. Some may even
further claim that it is a necessity through which the fabric of the society is woven, as we are
literate beings and our literacy is dominantly projected through our writings and literary works
alike.
However, most of the time maneuvering through Literature can be an excruciating task to
accomplish. That is because some literary texts such as James Joyce’s ‘Ulyssess’ are so
complicated and endowed with so many layers of allusions and meanings that to extract all of them
in one lifetime seems next to impossible.
For this reason, perhaps, scholars, academics, and literary analysts decided to formulate a ‘method’
of analyzing Literature. These methods consist of various literary theories such as the reception
theory, the hermeneutic circle, Poe’s unity of effect, etc.
Even then, with the help of these theories, analyzing Literature can still be a tedious task.
Therefore, this article strives to explain simpler ways through which the most complex of literary
texts can be analyzed and understood. It aims to explain or hover above no particular literary

3. theories, but strives to impart the readers with a simple method for the attainment of maximum
results.
This guide will focus and discuss the following topics:
1. About the Author
2. The plot
3. The Characters
4. The theme
5. Quotes and Dialogues
6. Symbolism

4. About the Author:
It is imperative that the readers possess a rough background about the author of the text in order
to discern their perspective and historical context of the text.
Likewise, to possess a general knowledge of the author also helps the readers into analyzing the
text through the author’s perspective, while making them more confident about what the writer
means to convey through their writing.
For example, knowing that Jane Austen resided in the eighteenth century which was dominated
by social class differences and gender issues, the readers can easily identify the themes of social
class, gender equality, feminism, etc. from her texts.
Moreover, understanding the author’s historical context also gives the readers a general idea of
what sort of literary text they may be diving into and what sort of themes and motifs to expect.
This is the first and foremost step into analyzing any form of literary text.
The Plot:
Aristotle, in his Poetics and Fine Arts explains that plot is one of the most crucial of elements in a
story. It consists of three milestones:
1. The beginning
2. The middle
3. The climax
In order to analyze any literary text it is first incumbent for the reader to understand the plot of the
story or the text which they are reading. In order to do this with much more efficiency, I would
suggest reading an in-depth summary of the text, novel, or comprehension prior to reading the
actual text. It has been established that having a prior understanding of the text helps the readers
to focus less on the events that are happening in order to understand the plot better while dismissing
other important elements of analysis.
However, as stated by Aristotle, comprehending the plot is just as important and so is analyzing it.
Therefore, for this purpose I would suggest the readers to make their own personal summaries of
chapters as per their convenience and keep referring to them every once in a while. In this manner,
once they are finally done reading the text they will possess a fairly comprehensive understanding

5. of the plot which will help them refer back to important events in the novel for the construction
and building up of evidences.
Furthermore, once the readers are done reading the original text it will do them benefit to have a
rough analysis of the plot. A simple way to do this and how I feel it most beneficial and helpful is
to go about it in three stages as per Aristotle’s statement: beginning, middle, and climax.
Analyzing the plot in this particular manner helps the readers to engage with the storyline in a
much better way and comprehend all of its elements in all of its entirety; leaving no minute details
behind.
The plot is the most important of all because the plot serves as a guide for the readers to maneuver
through in order to reach their analytical destinations. Once the plot is crystal clear and sunk into
the reader’s head, the next step begins.
The Characters:
Then comes the part with the characters.
Primary task of any Literature student studying a literary text after having a clear idea of the plot
should be to have a formidably in depth idea of the characters who drive the plot. This is vital
because characters are the one important element who are the likes of a soul within a text; without
clearly crafted and good three dimensional characters no matter how engaging the plot the story
would fall short.
Analyzing characters can be very hard – even boring – for some. In this guide I am going to
mention a few easy steps which have always helped me understand all sorts of characters with a
keen perspective and allowed me to muster a better understanding of them.
Step 1: In order to first contemplate the characters which I am going to meet in the text I am about
to read, I make it a point to print out the list of characters present in the text and go through their
personalities. This list can be found through the internet on websites such as sparknotes, shoomp,
litcharts, etc.

6. Step 2: While reading the text make it a habit to sit with a pen and paper in hand. Whenever you
come across a dialogue or an action which helps you justify the personality of a character as stated
in the list you printed out, make a rough note of it.
Once you are finished reading the entire text, sit back and think about each character you’ve met.
Make your own personal notes about them – they don’t necessarily have to be long sentences, they
can be as small as a one word point as well. Formulating a mind map is encouraged, too.
Do this for each important character you feel has achieved their place in your character analysis
folder (or tab if you use a binder like me).
Once you are done with this, try and analyze those characters. Think about:
 Their personalities. How does that drive the plot?
 How do their personalities and actions affect other important characters in the novel?
 How do they react to certain events in the text and why?
 Do they possess an alter motive? If so then why?
 Are they protagonists or antagonists? Try and justify through the text.
 How does a particular character react with other important character in the book?
Write questions as such on a plain sheet of paper and then try to answer them through your analysis.
Although, remember, it is imperative that you give evidence of each point using the text at your
disposal. Similarly, your justification should not defy the bounds of logic and neither should your
analysis.
Step 3: Repeat step 1 and step 2 for each character and you will have analyzed every character of
importance in the novel with precision and with enough evidence to make others believe of your
perspective associated with those characters.
Themes:
Themes, fundamentally, are the numerous topics, perspectives, or lenses through which a text or a
novel can be analyzed. For example, Charles Dickens’s ‘Oliver Twist’ can be analyzed through
the theme of orphanage, Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ can be analyzed through the theme

7. of pride and prejudice, Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’ can be analyzed through the theme of
supernatural and gothic, and etc.
There can be a range of themes for any particular text – as long as the reader can justify and adhere
to those themes.
These themes are basically the reasons behind the author writing the text, because they explain a
sort of a picture to the readers; an observation of the author and their opinions about a certain topic
or subject. Discerning these themes is paramount and vital in order to analyze any literary text.
Analyzing themes and figuring out the range of themes embedded within a text is by far the easiest
task. That is because it subjugates the reader to look at the text keenly with a single perspective in
mind.
Moreover, while trying to extrapolate a suitable theme for the text, remember to look back at your
research about the author and their historical context. Allow that information to formulate your
understanding of the text and help you to extract a suitable theme. Try to think of something
besides the usual ‘love’, ‘feminism’, ‘discrimination’, etc. Try and be more specific while choosing
a theme as it will act as an anchor for your mind.
While analyzing a specific theme, it is easy to sift through the novel or book at least two times and
to make note of particular justifications which you may think would help you back-up your theme
and its authenticity. Once that is done, again, making a mind map with your thoughts, comments,
and justifications is highly recommended.
After that is done, pick an A4 sheet of paper and start writing your theme and its analysis as per
your thoughts. Don’t worry about how long it gets, just keep writing as long as you think you can
or you should.
Once you’re done, glean through your work, make the necessary changes, look closely at the
evidences you have provided and be sure that they make sense in the context of your theme.
And that’s it. Repeat the same procedure for other themes if you would like and you will be met
with the same results.

8. Quotes and Dialogues:
Quotes are another important aspect of literary analysis; not as important as the plot or the
characters, but important enough to be paid attention to.
Quotes and dialogues are largely used for the basis of evidences as well as proof regarding a theory
or a character analysis. However, there are books such as ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Great
Expectations’, ‘Ulyssess’, etc. which withhold rather magnificent quotes with such unanimous
gravity that the entire novel can be analyzed through the perspective of those quotes.
For example, the very first quote of Jane Austen’s novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’: “It is a truth
universally acknowledged…” entails that the theme of the book can be based upon societal
differences, marriage, and even irony. Likewise, the dialogues in the novel are of similar
importance because they narrate feelings of the characters through them. Hence, analyzing the
dialogues in that manner would also prove to be valuable as well as unique.
Now, the procedure of analyzing quotes and dialogues is very simple. All you have to do is pick
any quote which you deem important and dissect it bit by bit, explaining to your readers what your
observation of the quote and knowledge of the book has led you to believe.
Another way of analyzing a quote or a dialogue is to do so through an already selected theme.
However, then you would be using the quote or the dialogue as an evidence rather than the primary
source for your analysis.
Symbolism:
Symbolism, in its essence, is the practice or art of using an object or a word to represent an abstract
idea. An action, place, word, or object, all can have a symbolic meaning. When an author or a
writer wants to either suggest or allude towards a certain mood or meaning, they can use
symbolism to do so in order to give it more depth rather than just blatantly saying it; it can give
more richness, color, and meaning to their writing.
In Literature, however, where nothing is actually as it seems, symbolism, too, can take many forms
such as:

9.  A figure of speech where an object, person, or situation has another meaning rather than its
literal meaning.
 The actions of a character or event that have a deeper meaning in the context of the whole story
Now, analyzing as well as understanding symbolism can be a tricky task. It requires the reader to
first have a comprehensive idea of the plot and the theme of the story and then glean through the
text one more time – quickly – during which the reader would have to pay close attention to events,
quotes, dialogues, or actions which may contain deeper meaning underneath the surface.
Don’t worry, it sounds overwhelming, yes, but it comes through practice, like every other thing in
life does.
An easy way to grapple symbolism in a particular text would be to first skim through the internet
and have an idea of different symbolisms other students have come up with. This will help you
produce your own idea and material for your analysis. Once that is done, and once you have made
those symbolisms your own, you are now free to glean through the text and put your skills into
practice.
Don’t try and make it complicated, it doesn’t have to be that way. Symbolism are basically larger
allusions, therefore, having an idea of the author’s background would again prove handy here.
Moreover, try and focus at recurring actions or quotes or things where the writer – according to
you – has stressed in order to make his point be noted. Those are the most obvious of symbolisms.
Yet, it is up to each individual to discern what the writer may be wanting to allude towards through
it.

10. Conclusion
This guide has been compiled by a literature student much like yourself who is still in his way to
understanding and studying the wide arrays of literature.
The purpose for culminating these ideas into a simple guide is because when I was in my first
years of studying Literature I felt very overwhelmed by all the literary devices and analysis which
the professors expected us to comprehend. At times I even thought of letting it all go and look at
other career options.
However, those times passed on quickly, thanks to my professor Mr. Erick Oduor Opiyo who
helped me grapple with Literature tediously and in a manner which has enabled me to produce this
humble guide for students who are in their prime years of studying Literature and who find it hard
just like I used to myself.
I claim to be no professor nor a professional in this field. I am only a student wanting to help other
students like myself. Therefore, I fully accept and agree that there might be mistakes, loop holes,
and other perforations which an expert might spot. Yet, I believe that this guide will strive to help
anyone who wishes to claim a fair idea of how to analyze Literature. In order to become experts
in this field, no guide can help us through that. Our only guide then is our minds, our determination,
our perseverance, and our love for Literature.
Hope this has helped you, the reader, who has taken out his/her time to read through this guide and
is now sifting through these final words. I hope this has enabled you to understand and comprehend
the analytics of Literature in a fair manner.