Stylistic analysis

the message
3. Setting
4. Type of narration
5. Description of the author's

style
6. Description of characters through their language
7. Stylistic devices and their functions in the text

of location - building, room, etc.
The geographical location, including

in the kitchen sink. That is, my feet are in

it; the rest of me is on the draining-board."
“I capture the Castle”
by Dodie Smith

and stormy night… .”

a story.
Beginning


Expositions
Climax
End

Resolution

Himself

a work
some insight into the human nature or society
•

the moral lesson (perhaps)
•stands clear only through the overall analysis

a) the story is told from the point

of view of one of the characters who uses the 1st person pronoun “I.”
b) the story is told from the point of view of one of the characters who uses the 3d person.

like – something modish?”
“No. Simple.”
“What figure would the young lady

be?”
“I don’t know; about two inches shorter than you.”

go to Brighton after all.”

in a piece of fiction
Chronological: starts at the beginning and

moves through time.
Flashback: starts in the present and then goes back to the past.
Circular or Anticipatory: starts in the present, flashes back to the past, and returns to the present at the conclusion.
Panel: same story told from different viewpoints.

sentence structures (simple, compound, complex sentences);
simple vocabulary or higher-level word

choices
dialogue
figurative language (similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, personification, symbolism)
level of detail (detailed or schematic)
descriptive / too wordy / too flowery / too confusing or “convoluted”
means to visualize the images, to understand the concepts, to build suspense

by the language/word choices the author uses.

early for baseball practice. They decided to run up and

down the bleachers to exercise before the rest of the team arrived. Larry was first to the top. He whispered to Donovan, “Look over there.” He pointed to a man sleeping on the highest, narrow bench of the bleachers. His pants and shirt were faded, worn, and too large for his thin frame. One big toe stuck out of a huge hole in his sock. His scraped-up shoes sat a few feet away. Donovan whispered, “We should help him out. Let’s hide something good in his shoes. Then, when he wakes up, he will have a nice surprise.”

tone of this passage?
Angry
Detached
Sympathetic

Evidence: help him out, something good, a

nice surprise

IN THE READER.

Authors “move” their readers’ moods through their

choice of words and level of detail.

and hummed with preparations. We ate cookies and drank cider

while we helped her wrap bright packages and trim the tree. We felt warm and excited, listening to Christmas carols and even singing along sometimes. We would tease each other about our terrible voices and then sing even louder.
Mood: content, happy ("warm, excited, glittered”)

the decorations away and settle in for the long, cold

winter. The house seemed to sigh as we boxed up its finery. The tree was dry and brittle, and now waited forlornly by the side of the road to be picked up.

Mood: dreary, depressed. ("cold, sigh, brittle, forlornly“)

many character traits.
Dynamic Character: undergoes some type of change in

story because of something that happens to them.
Flat Character: stereotyped, shallow, often symbolic. They have one or two personality traits.
Static Character: does not change in the course of the story

- the character who opposes the protagonist.

characters’ thoughts, words, and actions
reactions/comments of other characters
character’s

physical appearance
characters’ thoughts

itself.
A Journey can symbolize life.
Black can represent evil or death.
Water

may represent a new beginning.

are before the action starts.
Rising Action: the series of conflicts

and crisis in the story that lead to the climax.

Climax: The turning point. The most intense moment (either mentally or in action.

Falling Action: all of the action which follows the Climax.

Resolution: The conclusion, the tying together of all of the threads.