Merriam Webster defines analysis as a “separation of a whole into its component parts”. This goes along with what the lecture had said. I translate literary analysis to mean finding meaning in the background of a piece of literature. The meaning of any story would most likely be different to each person who read it, but each would have their own reasoning as to why they found the theme they did. The literary analysis would cause each person to state what they thought the underlying theme was in a story and facts from the story as to why they came to their individual conclusion.
A summary does not indicate that each individual may have a different perspective. What events take place is nonnegotiable and will be the same no matter who summarizes it. The summary is meant to take a brief overview of the whole (whether it be a play or a movie or a book or anything else in which a sequence of events takes place) and cut out all of the details until only the brief and overbearing events are left. The reader of a summary is usually looking for an idea of what the book or movie is about, the ending is usually left out for spoiler reasons.
Here is a website that shows both the summary and the analysis of How to Kill a Mockingbird.
Briana,
ReplyDeleteI loved you explanation of Summary versus Analysis on your most recent blog post. I like that you included both pieces from the lecture, a definition, and personal opinion in your post. I think it added strength to your point when you emphasized personal perspective more than anything else. It is obvious that you rely on personal interpretation more than what others tell you to think about a piece of writing. In your post you had stated that, “The literary analysis would cause each person to state what they thought the underlying theme was in a story and facts from the story as to why they came to their individual conclusion,” what a great way to look at it! A piece can vary so widely based on who is reading it. Keep up the good work, I look forward to reading your other posts.
Stacey