Last updated on April 1, 2024
Starting Points for Literary Claims about a Text
Start with you, every time—with your gut reaction. What did you find interesting or engaging as you read? Is there a question you have about the text (maybe from class discussion) that you’d like to look at more closely? Did you find yourself asking how the author achieved something—some effect on you or some really interesting turn in the writing? What character or situation is sticking with you? Was there something about the writing that just struck you as amazing–even just one phrase or one moment?
If you can start with an aspect of the text that struck you, personally, as interesting, then ask yourself a good question about that aspect of the text, and then turn your answer into a specific claim, you probably have a nice basis for your analysis.
Beyond that, consider the following broad categories that might suggest to you something specific to analyze inside the text. Remember, as you look at these, that you aren’t aiming to say everything that can be said about the text. You’re aiming to say something significant about some quality or trait that runs through the text, that you can point out, and that you can draw a conclusion about.
“What was that about?”
Is there some element of the text you’re trying to understand? Some moment that you’d like to fit in with the rest? You could use your close reading to make a case about the way that piece of the text makes its contribution to the whole work as a whole.
Themes/Ideas/Ideologies
Is the author presenting, through the text, some idea or set of ideas? Is there a major theme that we can more clearly understand by looking at a series of key moments or images? Can you trace the story’s expression of some ideology or ideological stance?
Plot and Organization
Has the author done anything especially interesting with the way the text is put together or sequenced? How does what the author has done with sequence contribute to the storytelling in interesting ways?
Character/Persona
What series of “moves” does an author make in revealing a character’s personality, motives, or point of view? What does the author suggest about the motives and psychology of a character (or a group of characters), and about the sources and consequences of those motives and psychological traits?
Narrative Point of View/Style
Has the author created a narrator or narrative voice worth analyzing? Does the voice itself make some contribution to the text, through, for example, what is revealed, what is ignored, or how things are presented?
Setting
Does setting–the locations where the story takes place–play an important part, thematically, symbolically, or otherwise? How do you know? Show how the settings make a contribution to the storytelling.
Symbolism/Imagery
Does the author include a symbol, a series of symbols, or a series of images that, closely observed, shed light on the work as a whole? How does paying close attention to the imagery reveal something about how the text works? (Be very careful with this approach! Be sure your symbol readings are rooted in the text itself, and not in your general guesses about what a symbol might mean. A thriving tree might be about thriving nature in one story and oncoming evil in a different story.)
Sound and Sense
What does language choice, sequence, or rhythm tell us about this text? This can be a very good for poetry and drama, but it also works for prose, for sure.
Form
How is the form that this text takes relevant to the content? (This option can be excellent for texts that take non-traditional forms and approaches, but be careful that you are discussing not the form alone but the way the form and content work together in service of the text’s significance. You need to closely read the story inside the form, not just the form.) Also keep in mind: Form is relevant to traditional storytelling as well as innovative storytelling and writing, even if it’s harder to notice in familiar-feeling texts.
Theoretical Approaches
Is there a term, notion, or analytical framework that you can apply, briefly, to the story or text? If you’ve taken “Intro to Critical Strategies” (or some course like it), you might revisit your notes and consider potential approaches. If the course you’re writing for is addressing theories and approaches, strategies based on those ideas will probably be most impressive.
Performance Concerns (Especially for Drama)
Can you shine a light on a particular concern for directing, staging, or acting the play? Can you argue that certain performance decisions can (and should!) follow naturally from a close reading of the text and its characters? (Here, don’t just speculate on what might be done. Root your claims and arguments in evidence from the text.)
Editing / Cinematography.(Especially for Film)
What stands out about the way this film was shot and put together? Is there a cinematic technique used (well or not well) in the film that you could analyze and draw a conclusion about? How did the cinematic technique or editing choices contribute to the telling of the story? It’s very important here not only to see the technique being used but also to notice how it becomes important to the storytelling. If you choose this starting point for your thinking, look for a scene or moment you can analyze closely, and center your paper on that, rather than on the film techniques; use the film art as backing for a case you make about the importance of the scene to the story.
Mise-en-Scène (Especially for Film and Drama)
Does the mise-en-scène play an important part, thematically, symbolically, or otherwise? As above, it’s very important here not only to see the technique being used but also to notice how it becomes important to the storytelling. If you choose this starting point for your thinking, look for a scene or moment you can analyze closely, and center your paper on that, rather than on the film or staging techniques; use the film/theatre art as backing for a case you make about the importance of the scene to the story.