Analytical Writing Techniques PDF

WRITING TO ANALYZE ANALYTICAL WRITING SOURCE: HTTPS://WWW.SLIDESERVE.COM/KARLYN/ANALYTICAL-WRITING Writing that asks the questions “Why” and “How” Writing that challenges both its writer and its readers to look beyond surface presentations, and disassemble “complete things” to examine their pa...

WRITING TO ANALYZE ANALYTICAL WRITING SOURCE: HTTPS://WWW.SLIDESERVE.COM/KARLYN/ANALYTICAL-WRITING Writing that asks the questions “Why” and “How” Writing that challenges both its writer and its readers to look beyond surface presentations, and disassemble “complete things” to examine their parts.  Writing that proposes and expresses an informed and supported point of view LITERARY PERSPECT IVES  Helps to explain why people interpret the same story in different ways Perspective is likened to a lens to which one can look to examine a text Using different perspectives/lenses in reading a literary text often helps one to discover something new, intriguing, or unexpected DIFFERENT LITERARY PERSPECTIVE S/ LENSES READER-RESPONSE asserts that a great deal of meaning in a text lies with how the reader responds to it.  Focuses on the act of reading and how it affects our perception of meaning in a text (how we feel at the beginning vs. the end)  Deals more with the process of creating meaning and experiencing a text as we read. A text is an experience, not an object.  The text is a living thing that lives in the reader’s imagination. READER + READING SITUATION + TEXT = MEANING 2 IMPORTANT IDEAS IN READER-RESPONSE 1. An individual reader’s interpretation usually changes over time. 2. Readers from different generations and different time periods interpret texts differently. GUIDE QUESTIONS What does the text have to do with you, personally? How much does the text agree with your view of the world? What is your over-all reaction of the text? FORMALIST emphasizes the form of a literary work to determine its meaning, focusing on literary elements and how they work to create meaning. – Examines a text as independent from its time period, social setting, and author’s background. A text is an independent entity. – Focuses on close readings of texts and analysis of the effects of literary elements and techniques on the text. TWO MAJOR PRINCIPLES OF FORMALISM 1. A literary text exists independent of any particular reader and, in a sense, has a fixed meaning. 2. The greatest literary texts are “timeless” and “universal.” GUIDE QUESTIONS How do various elements of the work reinforce its meaning? What recurring patterns (repeated or related words, images and others) can you find? What figures of speech are used? PSYCHOLOGICAL/ PSYCHOANALYTICAL views a text as a revelation of its author’s mind and personality. It is based on the work of Sigmund Freud. – Also focuses on the hidden motivations of literary characters – Looks at literary characters as a reflection of the writer GUIDE QUESTIONS What forces are motivating the character? What conscious or unconscious conflicts exist between the characters? Are the theories of Freud or other psychologists applicable to this work? To what degree? What do the characters’ emotions and behaviors reveal about their psychological states? MARXIST emphasizes economic and social conditions. It is based on the political theory of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.  Concerned with understanding the role of power, politics, and money in literary texts GUIDE QUESTIONS What does the work say about economic or social power? Does the story address issues of economic exploitation? Does the work challenge or affirm the social order it depicts? Can the protagonist’s struggle be seen as symbolic of a larger class struggle? FEMINIST is concerned with the role, position, and influence of women in a literary text.  Asserts that most “literature” throughout time has been written by men, for men.  Examines the way that the female consciousness is depicted by both male and female writers. TAKE THIS RIDDLE… A father and his son are in a car accident. The father dies at the scene and the son is rushed to the hospital. At the hospital the surgeon looks at the boy and says "I can't operate on this boy, he is my son".... How can this be? THE SURGEON IS THE CHILD ’ S MOTHER What does this simple riddle reveal about our assumptions regarding gender? GUIDE QUESTIONS How are women’s lives portrayed in the work? Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s gender? How do the male and female characters relate to one another? Does the work challenge or affirm traditional views of women? HISTORICAL  A branch of history which looked at literature of evidence about economic and political events going on at the time at which the works were produced, and that also looked at historical events to explain the content of literary works. insisted that to understand a literary piece, we need to understand the author’s biography and social background, ideas circulating at the time, and the cultural milieu GUIDE QUESTIONS What literary or historical influences helped to shape the form and content of the work? How does the story reflect the attitudes and beliefs of the time in which it was written or set? What historical events or movements might have influenced this writer? ARCHETYPAL/MYTH assumes that there is a collection of symbols, images, characters, and motifs (i.e. archetypes) that evokes basically the same response in all people identifies these patterns and discusses how they function in the works asserts that these archetypes are the source of much of literature's power. SOME ARCHETYPES  archetypal women - the Good Wife/Mother, the Terrible Mother, the Virgin (often a Damsel in Distress), and the Fallen Woman.  water - creation, birth-death-resurrection, purification, redemption, fertility, growth  garden - paradise (Eden), innocence, fertility  desert - spiritual emptiness, death, hopelessness  red - blood, sacrifice, passion, disorder  green - growth, fertility  black - chaos, death, evil  serpent - evil, sensuality, mystery, wisdom, destruction  seven - perfection  hero archetype - The hero is involved in a quest (in which he overcomes obstacles). He experiences initiation (involving a separation, transformation, and return), and finally he serves as a scapegoat, that is, he dies to atone. GUIDE QUESTIONS How does this story resemble other stories in plot, character, setting, or symbolism? What universal experiences are depicted? How and why are these archetypes embodied in the works? SOURCES Lim, Hamada, Alata , (2019). A Course Module for Purposive CommunicationLiterary Theories www.wsfcs.k12.nc.us Critical Approaches to Literature, dinus.ac.id THANK YOU