The Agony of Analysis

For the entirety of the following essay, the following nomenclature is adopted throughout:

·   “the Writer” is the one who analyzes; the reader of the original text;

·   “the Author” is the one who has written the original text;

and

·   “the Scholars” or “the Critics” are the ones that have written previous analysis which the Writer uses to find information.

The Agony of the Analysis

Analysis is the examination of the elements and relations of a complex concept, text, or substance. Analysis breaks down a complicated subject into smaller parts to identify key connections and functions of the subject. With literature, analysis examines the factors of writing that contribute to a text’s meaning. The Writer looks for literary devices, tone, voice, and other written techniques to discover how an Author conveys and develops meaning and themes. The Writer often writes an conclusion-based analysis after conducting research of various scholarly articles, literary criticism, and critically-accepted, peer-reviewed criticism. For much classic and canonical literature, a Writer will often research the ideas of Harold Bloom, renowned literary critic, to begin a comprehensive analysis of a text. From there, a Writer can use the information learned to find other Scholars and Critics to aid in the analysis of a particular Author’s text.

Often in student papers, students incorrectly analyze the mass of information they have researched. By taking the role of the Writer, a student researches the critically-accepted analyses, but fails to comprehend the meaning of the jargon-laced critical essays. Papers that demonstrate this error often quote and cite a Scholar’s text, but fail to add an explanation of the quote. For example, many novice analytical Writers would include, “Now that David has entered the realm of the Victorian culture, there is a constant demand for ‘moral and social imperatives which weave the network of disciplinary surveillance that entraps him’ (Cordery 77)” in an analytical paper on David Copperfield. Yet this merely restates the information in the Scholar’s, Cordery’s, text. Instead, the Writer needs an explanatory sentence that analyzes the meaning of this fact as it relates to the overall meaning and thesis of the Writer’s analytical paper. After that sentence, the Writer should add a sentence like, “To complete his bourgeois propriety, David must establish a household with a good wife in addition to his respectable work identity. However, David’s mind may be disciplined at this point in the novel, but he still operates with the ‘mistaken impulse of an undisciplined heart’ (Dickens 647).” In this way, the Writer has both explained Cordery’s opinions and made reference to the main Author’s text, David Copperfield.

Novitiate analytical Writers can follow a few particular steps in order to properly analyze and avoid the mere restatement of someone else’s ideas. After reading an Author’s or Scholar’s text, first check the meaning of any unfamiliar words, phrases, or concepts. By affirming literal meaning, a Writer has a clearer idea from the start about the text. Secondly, a Writer should isolate the most important ideas the Author or Scholar is attempting to assert, also known as a “thesis.” The thesis determines a text’s structure, so noting either the structure of the paper (which is the outline of most important ideas) or the thesis first will lead a Writer one to the other. Next, connect the Author’s or Scholar’s supporting evidence to his or her most important ideas. Once the Writer evaluates the logic, evidence, and consequence of a Scholar’s or Writer’s criticism, the final step of analysis may begin. The final step of analysis requires the Writer to directly link key analysis from Scholars and Critics to the Author’s text. In this way, a Writer can firstly cite a known authority and secondly provide evidence of his or her own creation in order to create a proper literary analysis.

References

Cordery, Gareth. “Foucault, Dickens, and David Copperfield.” Victorian Literature and Culture 26.1 (1998): 71-85. JSTOR. James B. Duke Lib., Greenville, SC. 22 Nov 2009.

Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield. Oxford University Press, New York: 2008.

RSSL, University of Maryland. Cook Counseling Center, adapt. “How to Read Essays You Must Analyze.” Cook Counseling Center Study Skills Self-help Information. Virginia Technical University, Virginia: 1 Jul 1994. Online. 28 Nov 2012. < http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/essays.html  >