[Your Name]

A Literary Analysis of _____[Name of Short Story], by [Author]_______


Literary Analysis Worksheet for Short Stories

Step 1: Theme

1. What is the theme of the story?

Step 2: Summary

2. Write a brief summary of the story in no more than 50 words.

Step 3: Point of View

3a. What is the point of view?
3b. Does the point of view shift?            (If yes, explain.)
3c. Is there an unreliable narrator?          (If yes, explain.)

Step 4: Characters

4a. Who is the protagonist? ___________________________
4b. Who is the antagonist? ____________________________
4c. Who is the pivotal character? _______________________
4d. Who is the foil? _________________________

Provide the following information for each major and minor character:

Name?
Major or Minor?
Flat, Round, Static, Dynamic, or Choral?
Description?
Relevance of character to story?

Step 5: Setting


5a. Does the story begin in media res?            

5b. What is the exposition?
5c. Does the story take place in a specified time and place? How do you know?

Step 6: Plot

6a. Are there red herrings used? If so, how do they contribute to the story?
6b. Is there any interior monologue? If so, how does it contribute to the story?
6c. What is the crisis?
6d. Is there more than one crisis? Explain where and what happens during each.
6e. How do the crises add suspense to the story?
6f. What is the epiphany?
6g. What is the climax?
6h. What effect do the crises and climax have on the reader?
6i. Is there any foreshadowing throughout the story?
6j. What occurs during the rising action?
6k. What is the complication?
6l. What happens to create suspense? Why did this action occur? Is there anything unusual, interesting or effective in this part of the story?
6m. What is the resolution?

Step 7: Imagery

7a. Look for words that appeal to one or more of the senses other than sight, sound, smell, and touch. Provide examples from the text as evidence.
7b. Do these words set a tone, establish a mood, present a character in a new light?
7c. Are there comparisons such as similes or metaphors? Provide examples.

Step 8: Tone and Style

8a. What does the author communicate to the reader through his or her use of words in the short story? [bitterness, sorrow, loneliness, romantic, etc.]
8b. What diction does the author use?
8c. What attitude does the author reveal through his or her development of the story?

8d. Is there irony in the story? Is there an ironic point of view, irony of fate or cosmic irony?

Step 9: Symbolism and Perspective

9a. Discuss the use of symbolism in the story.
9b. Author’s school of thought? Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, or Other?

Step 10: Biblical or Classical Allusions

10. Does what you’ve read relate in any way to something you’ve read in the Bible or in other classical literature?

(Adapted in part from: http://www.gc.edu/DistanceEd/English/dtaylor/1302/index.htm)