Contemporary Connections – Literary Analysis

Thematic Connections

By no means are the ideals and tenets of Transcendentalism and Romanticism limited to the time period from which they were born. The belief in the individual, the distrust of "city" or "big government," the reliance on emotion and intuition, and the need to get back to nature are very much a part of American culture today. The same themes found in the poetry of Whitman, the essays of Emerson and Thoreau, the novels of Cooper, and the tales of Poe are still relevant. The same themes found in the literature of the Romantic period are easily found in the art and literature of the contemporary period.

Peruse the photographs by Ansel Adams and you will see black and white evidence of the Transcendentalist view of preserving nature and balancing the ravages of progress and urban sprawl. Read the essays, prose, and poetry of writers like Gretel Ehrlich, Galway Kinnell, and Annie Dillard and you will hear echoes of the voices of Whitman and Thoreau. Pick up a novel from best-selling authors like Stephen King, Dan Brown, James Patterson, Stieg Larsson, Patricia Cornwell, and Max Brooks and you will find residual vestiges of Poe's treatment of human suffering and despair. Think about all the songs you have heard on the radio that carry a message of optimism and hope.

The same themes from the Romantic period are echoed in literature and art today. What themes from the Transcendentalists can be found in television shows and movies about zombies? Inherent in many of these apocalyptic stories is a warning against rapid technological advancement. After all, do not most zombie movies and stories begin with an outbreak of some man-made or genetically altered virus or disease? Horror movies and crime drama still caution audiences that evil exists within all men and to be wary of the masks of social respectability. Science fiction and fantasy stories strive to help readers understand that truth and meaning exist just beyond the realm of the physical and human experience and that one simply needs to surrender to natural or supernatural forces to find it.

Literary Analysis

So how do you find these thematic recurrences and deeper meanings in literature, art, and movies? The answer is you gain a deeper understanding when you analyze. To analyze means to break things down into their fundamental elements or components. When you analyze literature, you examine the literary elements of a story, novel, poem, or play. A literary analysis allows you to understand the big ideas or complex issues presented in a piece of literature by seeing how the smaller pieces fit together.

You can begin to understand the psychological effects of torture and torment on the human mind and psyche in Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" by analyzing the plot events in the story. In this interactivity, use the NEXT button or the numbered tabs at the bottom to explore the story's plot and see how all the events fit together into the "big picture." Click on the player button to begin.

View a printable version of the interactivity.

 

To complete a literary analysis, there are specific elements and devices to look for and examine as well as steps to take to ensure you do not miss any important information. When you analyze prose, you should follow the steps below:

1. Make sure to understand what you are reading.
   
2. Examine the conflict, how it is resolved, and which characters change.
   
3. Determine the theme.
   
4. Note the author's style through use of literary elements.
   
5. Observe images and symbols.
   
6. Determine the cultural and historical context of the work.
   
7. Outline the plot development.
   
8. Make a note of the structure and format of the work.
   

It is important to keep in mind the literary elements with which you should already be familiar. Take a moment to review several key literary elements. In this interactivity, click the checkboxes on the clipboard to examine a list of literary elements in more detail. Click on the player button to begin.

View a printable version of the interactivity.

 

Grammar: Usage Errors

Lastly, take a moment to look at some common usage errors, most of which are sentence formations and verbiage that you can recognize immediately as incorrect. You can avoid these common mistakes by taking note of the following key points:

Who Versus Whom

You should be familiar with identifying subjects and objects (both direct and indirect) so that you can choose the correct pronoun between who and whom. The words who and whoever are used as the subject of a clause; they carry out the action. However, the words whom and whomever are used as objects in a clause; they receive the action. Often, if the pronoun is preceded by a prepositions such as to, for, with, by, etc., you will usually use the pronoun whom, but not always.

 

Subject-Verb Agreement

The most common error on standardized tests is subject-verb agreement. If the subject of a sentence is singular, then the verb must be singular as well. If the subject is plural, then the verb should be, too. Here is where confusion sets in: singular nouns usually do not end in "s" but singular verbs do end in "s." The plural forms are also the opposite: regular plural nouns end in "s" but plural verbs almost never end in "s." Many times you can "hear" the correct one and have a feel for which form is correct, but if the sentence has a lot of phrases or is an inverted sentence, then going for what sounds right may not help. To avoid errors in subject-verb agreement, remember how to identify the subjects and verbs and how to properly match them. Also, keep in mind that if more than one person or object is referred to as a unit, such as a basketball team, you should use a singular noun.

 

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Sometimes phrases, usually prepositional or verbal phrases, are not placed next to the word they modify and are thus called misplaced modifiers. This can lead to sentences that are misleading or confusing. It is important to have all modifiers, whether a word or a phrase, directly before or after the noun they modify. By the same token, make sure that it is always clear to whom or what the modifier is referring. If you do not ever name the noun that is modified, either within the sentence or preceding it, the reader will not know whom or what you are describing; this is called a dangling modifier.

 

Active Versus Passive Voice

Declarative sentences that use the active voice rather than the passive voice are more effective and have stronger meaning. To use the active voice, follow a basic sentence pattern of subject-verb-object. If the person or thing that is doing the action is buried in the sentence, then the sentence is considered passive. Good sentences are active with the subject before the verb. With active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action. With passive voice, the subject receives the action and feels weaker. Remember, you want the focus of the sentence to be the subject. If your dad tells you, "You have to do your homework before you go out," then he is focusing on you and your well-being, not the sake of the homework. On the other hand, if he says, "The chores must be done before you go out," then his greatest concern is that the chores are taken care of more than who is doing the chores. Using the active voice helps to ensure that you keep the focus of the sentence on your subject.

 

Nominative Versus Objective Pronouns

All pronouns, like who and whom, are either nominative (meaning they work as the subject of the sentence) or objective (meaning that they work in one of the object places of a sentence). If the pronoun is the subject, it should be in the nominative case like I, you, he, she, they, or we. If the pronoun is a direct or indirect object or the object of a preposition, it should be in the objective form like me, you, her, him, them, or us. Some pronouns look the same in the nominative and objective forms, like it and you. It may be easier to just remember the nominative and objective forms and choose the correct pronoun for its place in the sentence rather than trying to go by what sounds right since oddly formed phrases and clauses can disrupt your natural ear for language. Also, what people say orally and informally unfortunately may be incorrect.

Grammar Review

Now that you have explored how to avoid common usage errors, review your knowledge in this non-graded activity. Read each sentence and identify the usage error, and then select the appropriate answer. Click on the player button to get started.