Step 1: Look at your protagonists journey. How does the character change throughout the course of the story? What do they learn?
Literary Element: Character
Step 2: Look at the central conflict of the story. What are the opposing forces? Which one wins? Why?
Literary Element: Conflict
Step 3: Sometimes the characters will state the theme.
Note:
You want to avoid being too vague or obvious with your theme.
Themes can be very subjective so there is no wrong answer - you simply need to support what you've seen with evidence from the text/script.
Writing:
Try not to force a theme. As a writer you will naturally gravitate toward messages that are important to you; try to be aware of this tendency and avoid reading your own message into a story or script.
How to Analyze Literature
Literary Analysis: examining something critically by looking at its separate parts.
Step 1: Choose a theme.
Theme: a recurring idea or insight in the text/script (its hidden meaning)
Step 2: What literary elements does the author/screen writer use that support your theme?
Literary Elements: The parts of stories. Some common literary elements are:
Character
Symbolism
Plot
Setting
Imagery
Tone/Mood
Dialogue
Conflict
Use these literary elements to think critically about the whole story
Note: Avoid summarizing the plot of the story in your analysis paper.