ShmoopTube

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[Dino and Coop singing]

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The world is full of different types of arguments... [Planet Earth]

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Political ones...

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Personal ones...

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And flat out pointless ones... [A giraffe hitting another giraffe]

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But today, we're focusing on one very special type of argument…

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And no, it's not the one between your dad and uncle at the Thanksgiving table over who [Two guys fighting over the dinner table]

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won that touch football game like a million years ago… [Video of a football game]

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Nope, today, we're talking about literary analysis. [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

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We know, we know.

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It doesn't sound like an argument between two people, but that's because it's not. [No sign appears over two arguing people]

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It's actually a point of view argued in an essay.

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In simple terms, “literary analysis” is a fancy name for the opinions people give

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after reading a work of literature.

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Now you might be thinking, “But what's there to argue? [Girl looking confused]

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You read the book, you finish the story, and that's that.” [A book is thrown through a window]

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But here's the thing: the meaning of a work of fiction is always up for debate.

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Let's say we take ten people and ask all of them to read the same story.

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Sure, they might all identify the same main characters. [A line of ten people]

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And yes, they might even agree upon the central themes of the story. [The main characters appear]

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However, each person would probably have their own unique take on the various messages of [Ideas appearing above the peoples heads]

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the story, and interpret it based on their own personal life experience.

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So let's say you've just finished a book and want to write your own literary analysis! [Someone typing on a keyboard]

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Sounds pretty great, but….how do you start??

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Is there a class you have to take?

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A Youtube tutorial??

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A super long, boring lecture from your mom??

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No, no, and thankfully, no! [No signs appearing over all the learning]

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All you have to do is use the logical argumentative structure that you've probably used a million [People working at a construction site]

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times before.

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That means you'd begin by presenting a claim about the work that you intend to prove as true. [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

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Something like, "Thaddeus was the best character in the entire book, no question about it!"

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After that, you write your reason or reasons for that claim.

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Maybe, "Thaddeus had a great sense of humor, was super generous, and always carried a corndog [The analysis being written out on paper]

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in his front pocket!" …huh.

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This Thaddeus is kinda an odd duck.

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[Duck appears]

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Anyway, from there, you'd provide evidence for that reason by using examples from the

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story!

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And finally, you'd summarize your point once more to really drive it home.

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Easy, right?

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And the best part of literary analysis? [Fireworks going off]

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No matter how many other people write their own analysis about the same book, each and

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every one will be different, since each and every person has their own unique point of view. [Peoples ideas about the story popping up]

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Cool, right??

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So give it a shot! [People playing basketball]

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...Or you could watch your dad and uncle have a re-match of their infamous football game… [Dad and uncle getting ready to fight with football helmets on]

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…Yeah, we'd rather do literary analysis, too.

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That's just embarrassing… [Dad and uncle jumping on each other]

Full Transcript