Analyzing Fiction: A Brief Readers Guide to Short Stories and Novels Terry P.

Rizzuti This guide takes the form of questions appropriate to ask when examining any work of fiction. Its a slightly revised version of the one I got from a fellow graduate student of English at the University of Oklahoma who got it from one of his undergraduate professors, I think at Washburn University in Kansas. Its by no means intended to be exhaustive, but Ive used it successfully in teaching introductory writing and literature courses. Good literature writers think of their fiction as a workspace for developing ideas. Fiction is therefore a created world within which each word and each idea is chosen. The product developed, whether it be a short story, novel or whatever, is a world mediated by a series of choices made by the writer. To understand the intent of the work, the reader must become aware of the choices the author made and the pattern of those choices. While developing their ideas, good writers also develop various chosen elements of fiction. The questions that follow are intended to draw attention to the development of various fictive elements in a way that makes evident the reasons for that development.
I.

Point of View (POV): the angle of narration

A. What is the point of view? For example, is it omniscient third person, first person, etc.? 1. What advantage does this point of view give the author? 2. Is the point of view trustworthy? For example, is the POV character involved in the

plot? Is the POV character "normal"? Is the POV character in a position to give the reader a particular insight? 3. Does the narrator remain the same throughout the work? In other words, does the narrator change positions? does the same character narrate throughout?
B. Point of view controls other elements of structure. 1. How does it affect theme? 2. How does it affect plot? 3. How does it affect description? 4. How does it affect the time element? 5. How does it affect characterization? 6. How does it affect the distance between the reader and the work?

NOTE: the relationship of point of view to all other elements of the fictive world must be considered for a thorough analysis; however, some of the POV questions work more logically in later stages of analysis and may be delayed until they seem appropriate.
II. Characterization: the creation of a character within the fictive reality A. How do the individual characters function with other elements of the fictive world? B. What and how does the reader learn about each character? 1. From her or himself? (through the character's actions and words?) 2. From other characters? (through their actions and words?) 3. From the narrator? C. Which of the above methods of characterization tells the reader the most about the

character? (What purpose is served by using this dominant method?)

D. What are the interrelationships among the characters, and what significance do the

interrelationships have?
E. Are the characters generalized? (Are they purposefully "stock," "type," or "flat" characters,

for example, or are they individualized ("developed," "dynamic," or "round" characters)?

F. As the reader, are you involved with the characters? For example, are you approving,

disapproving, empathizing, sympathizing, dispassionate, etc. If so, why? and what other elements besides characterization have contributed to your position?
III. Tone: tone (mood) is a quality of the work as a whole that contributes toward developing in the

reader an attitude thats desired by the author. It should not be confused with the author's attitude.
A. What is the tone (mood) of the work? B. How does the author develop this tone? Which elements are significant in creating tone

POV? description? other?

C. What significance does the tone have to the overall work? D. Is the tone consistent throughout the work? If not, what does the shift in tone provide for

the work?
E. Is the tone straightforward? Comic? Ironic? How does this element of tone affect the

work?
IV. Structure A. Describe the conflict (or conflicts) in the work. (Is it character against character? character

against self? other?)

B. What is (are) the basis for the conflict? (physical? intellectual? moral? emotional? natural?) C. Is suspense integral to the work or a product of the work? 1. Is it character suspense or action suspense? 2. How is it created? (what other elements contribute?) 3. How is suspense important to the work as a whole? Or, how important is suspense

to the work?
D. Is the action linear-sequential? (i.e., is each incident logically following the previous?) 1. If it is, how does this choice affect the whole? 2. If it is NOT, what does this choice accomplish? E. How does action affect the stages of structure? 1. Generation? (introduction) 2. Complication? (middle) 3. Climax? (the end) 4. Dnouement? (conclusion) F. Are there one or more subplots? If so, how does it (do they) interrelate with or affect the

main plot?
G. If characterization is the main element, how does it dominate action in the narrative? 1. How are characters and conflicts related? 2. If there is character conflict, when does it occur and how does it function in the

work as a whole?
H. How do action and character function together? 1. Does action merely amplify character? 2. Is there a significant order in the action that reveals character? 3. Does every character function significantly within individual incidents of action?

How? NOTE: The reader should be able to determine the function of each individual incident in the action. If the focus has been the balance between characters and action, the reader should examine the extent to which action determines character development. Also, examine to what extent the various qualities of the characters determine or change the course of the action. Since in a balanced focus there are frequently climaxes appropriate to both action-dominated and character-dominated narratives (both a plotted turning point and a character confrontation), examine where each occurs and how they are related. And finally, examine the actual physical structure of the story itself. Can significance be found in the relationship(s) between what occurs in the beginning, exact middle and the end of the story? One way to facilitate this is by examining the Parts, Chapters, and/or Page Numbering. For example, in a four-part, 14-chapter, 100-page novel, can significance to the whole work be found in its exact middle, i.e., in Part Two, or Chapter 7, or on page 50 (give or take a few pages)?
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V. Theme A. What is the central theme of the narrative? 1. Is it Physical? (emphasis on forces of nature) 2. Emotional? (man/woman seen in light of individual needs) 3. Social? (man/woman seen in context of social reality) 4. Metaphysical? (man/woman seen as spiritual entity) B. Are there subordinate themes? How do they relate to the central theme?

NOTE: Theme is the statement that the total work makes about itself. Its concern is the work as a whole, working all elements through a cohesive motif toward its final, purposeful presentation. Theme is NOT: How does it turn out! Theme is NOT: What happens!
VI. Language is a very significant fictive element that cannot be clearly addressed aside from other

elements. Much of the important understandings from the use of language in poetry must be considered when examining short stories or novels. Such considerations as imagery and symbolism, for example, contribute significantly to the creation of fiction just as they contribute to poetry. It is necessary then to address language throughout the analysis of a work in that it can play an important role in the forming of all elements of the fictive structure.