Fiction Analysis: an Explication Guide

Fiction Analysis: An Explication Guide

1. Meaning: Give a brief overview of the story. Name main characters (protagonist/antagonist), their conflict, and the basic plot structure. Include only broad strokes of the most relevant information. There will be time to develop details later.

2. Context: What is the setting? How specific is it? Do we know when (date, year) the story takes place? What impact does that place and time have on the plot, characters, and conflict?

3. Point of View: Who is telling the story? Who is the narrator? From what perspective do we receive the information? How does this POV impact the revelations of the characters? How does it involve the reader? (And if it doesn’t, include that, too.) Is it reliable or unreliable?

4. Details: What literary devices do you see at work? What are the most prominent symbols, motifs, and allusions? Look for the repetition of colors, objects, or events. Look for character foils. Is there an objective correlative? If so, what information do you get from it?

5. Climax: Where is the point of the story in which everything changes irrevocably? What happens to the characters, or what do the characters do? What does the point of view tell us about the climax?

6. Characters: Describe the characters. Are they static or dynamic? Are they reliable or unreliable? Who changes? Who stands out to you the most? Who is the most (or least) sympathetic? What effects are they intended to have upon the reader?

7. Theme: What is the subject of the story, and then what comment on the subject is the story making? What universal human truths are explored? How do you know this? List the evidence to indicate your observations.

8. Tone: How does the author feel towards the characters, conflict, and plot? What indicators of tone do you see? Does the tone change? If so, where? How does diction develop the tone?

9. Genre: Do not think in terms of contemporary genres. Let the story assume a position in the continuum of realism. Then, think in terms of subgenre: How old is the protagonist? Do they grow as a result of the conflict and climax? Is the story didactic? If so, for whom? Is the reader supposed to learn something? The protagonist?

10. Speculation: What do you feel is missing from this story? What would you have done differently? What do you wish happened? How would that change impact the meaning or theme? What would be the reader’s takeaway?