Text analysis scheme I

AUTHOR

TOPIC

- what is the text/extract/passage about

- the author and the narrator

- place and time of the action/plot/setting

- main personages/characters (usually one main personage/protagonist, or may be several and an antagonist). If two characters have distinctly opposing features, one serves as a foil to the other, so that the contrast between them becomes more apparent. The foil may be called the antagonist)

- event sequence

TONE The main tone in which the story is written.

STRUCTURE

a) form:

- narration is dynamic/slow/gives a continuous account of events

- description is state – a verbal portraiture of an object, person and scene. It maybe detailed and direct and impressionistic, giving few but striking details

- through the dialogue the characters are better portrayed, it also brings the action near to the reader, makes it seem more swift and more intense.

- interior monologue renders the thoughts and feelings of a character

- digression – an insertion of material that has no immediate relation to the theme or action. It may be critical and philosophical and lyrical.

- the plot may follow the chronological order of events or include flashbacks or foreshadowings

b) structure of the composition:

- exposition/introduction/prelude

It contains a short presentation of time, place and characters. It takes place usually at the beginning, but may be interwoven in the narration by means of flashbacks so that the reader gradually conies to know the characters and events leading up to the present situation.

- complication is a separate incident helping to unfold the action, might involve thoughts and feelings as well

- climax is the decisive moment on which the fate of the characters and the final action depend. It's the point at which the forces in the conflict reach the highest intensity,

- code/outcome/ending/denouement

It is 'the untying of a knot'. Not all stories have one. Some end right after the climax, leaving it up to The reader to judge what will be the outcome or the conflict.

c) In a story there is always the angle of vision, the point from which the people, events and other details are viewed – it is the focus/the point of view

CONFLICT

External – between human beings, man and environment, individual and the established order of things, values in the society.

Internal – takes place in the mind of a character. The character is torn between opposing features of her/his personality.

CHARACTERIZATION The description of the different aspects (moral, physical, social) of a character.

Direct characterization – the author/the narrator characterizes heroes verbally or lets the other character do it.

Indirect characterization – the author shows the character in action/surroundings.

THEME The unifying general idea about life that the entire story reveals. The author rarely gives a direct statement of the theme. It up to the reader to collect and combine all her/his observations and finally to try to formulate the idea illustrated by the story.

TITLE Greatly contributes to the theme.