1. Analyze the plot, the meaning of the sequence of events in the story. Make sure that in writing this essay you go out on a limb—in other words, don’t stick to facts but go to the mysterious aspects of the text, the why for example, so that you are forced to form an opinion that needs to be supported in your essay. Your thesis could state what happens and what the story suggests causes these events—for example—because the question of cause is often a debatable one. In this case your thesis would be a claim, a statement of opinion, about what happens and why. Remember to support your claims (thesis and sub claims) with evidence, explanation and reasoning. Or you could write about how the events change the main character or protagonist of the story or what the events reveal about this character or what they are trying to do to the reader.
2. Analyze an important symbol or motif (series of interlinked symbols), in the story. State what you think it symbolically represents and support this claim (thesis) with evidence, explanation and reasoning. It needs to be clearly stated, almost as though it were an equation. Make sure that you use the descriptions of the object from the story, concept or image you are analyzing to support your claim about its meaning. Remember that the way we read certain objects, colors, figures, images as a culture is important, but even more important when you interpret literature is how the text itself creates associations surrounding the symbol. Sometimes an object is just an object, serving a function in the text, but not a symbolic one.
3. Analyze important characters in the story. What do the characters’ actions suggest about this character’s motives? How do the events or the character’s past contribute to the character’s behavior. What is the basic point conveyed through or about the character in the short story you chose? Sometimes the story attempts to reveal something about the reader (you) even more than it attempts to convey something about the characters. Is the story this type of story? If so, how is the description of the character attempting to reveal to you something about yourself?