Summary vs. Analysis

            Most students have always had to give a summary of something they have read.  For example, in elementary school students turned in numerous book reports, in these reports we most likely just summarized the book.  After this week’s lecture, I have come to realize that I have never really analyzed literature; I have always just summarized what I have read.       

            By summarizing, we are basically just re-telling the story, but in a much shorter fashion.  This is useful for trying to inform someone who has never read the book, or seen the movie we are writing about.  A summary has no opinions, biases or judgments, it is straight facts.  For example, the story Rapunzel is about a girl who has been locked in a high tower for many years.  Because she has been locked away for so long, her hair is quite long. One day a Prince happens to stumble upon the tower but he cannot rescue her because there is no way to reach her. In her desperation, she throws down her long hair and the Prince climbs up to save her, and Rapunzel and the Prince live happily ever after.

            An analysis is when we take a story and take apart different parts to understand the story better, ask questions, and give your beliefs on why certain things happened.  If I were to analyze the story of Rapunzel, I would want to know why she was locked away, and why did she not try and escape before she met the Prince?  In an analysis we can “dissect” the characters or even symbols in the stories.  This is a great tool because we can give our view of a story when we write an analysis, it creates and argument about different aspects of the story. 

             

Here is a great guide for literary analysis.