How to Read and Analyze Novels Like a Lit Major
Part 1
Part of the pleasure of reading literature is recognizing how an author crafts their written work. They do more than just tell a story. They use the tools of the novelist and fiction writer to create a literary work of art. Anyone can learn to appreciate the craft that goes into fiction writing.
Often readers do appreciate a work, but don’t have the tools for analysis or ability to express what they’ve read in the books or stories they have read and enjoyed.
Rather than try to cover everything all at once, I will break down the elements of literature to show how you can use them to analyze a work of fiction for its meaning.
There is no one right answer to what a work of literature means. There’s no secret code to unlock what a story or novel “means” according to a high school English teacher’s interpretation.
You can argue for the insights and meanings you find in literature by using certain tools to analyze the meaning you find in the work. Your analysis is valid as long as you use the text itself to prove your claims.
One of the first things you can do is to learn the meanings of terms used to talk about literature and be able to recognize them when you see them.
