Literary Analysis help - please =)

[graceforeight]

HI - I really need help for the Literary Analysis paper. We have the sample, but I am not sure where to tell dd to start. Can anyone recommend a graphic organizer or something to help get our brains started?

Also, I am not sure which book to guide her towards, and feel the need to give her some better guidelines than I have given her. Can someone please walk me through the process or point me to a place that can give me something a little more concrete than I have in the Writing Aids? I am not sure that I have ever done any Literature Analysis since college.

Please help...
Kimberly

[April in CA]

Hi Kimberly!
Take a deep breath, let it out, repeat...you can do this! (I say to encourage myself, since my guys need to write some literary analysis papers for year 4 literature - you are not alone!)

First, think about what analysis is - taking things apart to see how they relate to each other and the whole. Then think about a novel that your daughter has enjoyed this year - it is always easier to start with a work that you have enjoyed! What did she like about it? What are the themes of the novel? How did the author develop the theme? Or, how did the main character's experiments in living (significant choices) demonstrate what the author was trying to say about the theme? Or you could just look at technique - how did the author build suspense? How did the author use humor? or whatever. Be sure to use quotes from the book to support your points.
I am just thinking out loud here - hope something is helpful!
Blessings,
April

[Christine TX]

Hi! We are in the same place. This is what I have decided to do: He is about to read The Heart of Darkness. I am going to have him underline every single instance that refers to darkness. After he has finished the story, we will go back through together and discuss the techniques he used to make darkness a major them of the story. What was his purpose. Together we will make out a thesis statement. After that, I think he will be ok to write it on his own, but if not we will make an outline together. I hope that helps.

Christine

[graceforeight]

Okay, dd is totally frustrated and I can't think how to help. We are doing The Light Princess, but I am now wondering if she has chosen one that might be to hard. Part of the problem is that I haven't read it, so I am going to start there, and read it. Then maybe I will do what you have suggested and work on a thesis statement (as you suggested Christine) with her, asking the questions that you have helped me with April.

Thank you so much for the help. I am still feeling like I should take a deeper breath, but hopefully I will be able to get somewhere. Whew...

Any other ideas on books to try would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you ladies!!
Kimberly

[cjsomerville]

Kimberly... is that The Light Princess fairy tale by George MacDonald? Also, if you are still stuck, please feel free to call Customer Service at Lampstand Press and tell them that I said to give you my private cell phone number. Maybe a talk by telephone would help---I'd love to be of use to you if I can! :-)

Christy Somerville

[graceforeight]

Christy - yes, it was the one by George McDonald. Since then, I have read the book, and decided that that is not a good place to start. I decided that we are going to do The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. This is something that she is much more familiar with (me too.)
However - I believe that I am totally lost on how to begin writing this paper. All the rest of the writing assignments have been easy to understand, and but for some reason, though I understand what literary analysis is, I don't have much of an idea as to how to write it down. It could be because I haven't had time to really sit down with it. (We have 8 kiddos, and love them very much, but the twins are 2, 5 kiddos are under 6 - and keep us hopping...) =)

I would love to call, but really have no idea what to ask. I think the problem may be that I understand the definition of it, but have no practical reality with writing it or teaching it. What should I do?

Thank you so much for offering to let me call. I know you are amazingly busy, and I don't want to take up your time rambling. But would love to call all at the same time.
Thank you -
Kimberly

[cjsomerville]

Please do call! If you don't really know what your question is, then maybe we can figure it out together by talking it through. I'd love to try to help! :-) And God bless you with all those precious kiddos---as one of six children, I can sort of imagine what it must be like!

Christy