How to Analyze Themes in Literature
Every literature is divided into certain pieces which are generally called as chapters. An author represents different scenarios in each chapter consisting of characters, story and the overall social setting to create a theme which express the general point of his work.
If you don’t analyse the theme in the literature, you cannot understand the point which the author is trying to express. It is not very difficult to analyse the theme in the literature, you just have to read it carefully and have to pay attention to the detail.
Instructions
-
1
First, you have to read all the pieces of literature thoroughly. Keep some blank papers and a pen with you and take notes on the pieces. You have to pay attention to each and everything which has been discussed by the author in order to get understanding about the theme. You can also draw the scenarios on the pages in order to get a clearer and concise picture of the whole story. In addition, you should underline the important words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs or metaphors which are used by the author. Note down the thing which has been discussed by the author the most. Besides, you should also note the circumstances in which that particular thing has been introduced and discussed.
-
2
Analysing the characters is the most important part in creating understanding about the theme in the literature. You have to know the intentions and motives of the characters. Moreover, you should understand the difference between the perceptions and behaviour of the characters for which you will have to analyse the social setting of the literature. Social setting is the overall environment which has been portrayed by the author. It may consist of politics, religion, economics, culture, tradition, norm or any other component which makes up a nation or a society.
-
3
You don’t have to judge the characters or relate them with any person in your real life. It will be absurd to relate a character in the story with any real human being as there will always be some differences in the environment of social settings in literature and reality. However, you can relate some part of the characters with the real people (the similarities between the two or the similarity in the social setting), to comprehend the point of the author.
-
4
You can complete your analysis about the theme in the literature by connecting all the notes and points with each other in the end.
