How and why to Analyze?

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Analysis" is a word that is regularly heard, in a multitude of contexts: a diver analyzes his performance, a financial economist analyzes the market, studies to be a programmer-analyst, analyzes the political situation regularly in wartime, The doctor explains to us the result of our blood tests, someone has the spirit of analysis ...

But the analysis is what exactly?
The New Robert's first definition of analysis is the "action of decomposing a whole into its constituent elements." When he gives a definition by disciplines (chemistry, computer science), he comes to say that it is a "decomposition of a problem posed to detect the constituent elements". If we go to the word "analyze", this dictionary gives for synonyms (among others): to dissect, to examine, to dissect, to peel, to study, to explain.
It must therefore be understood that analysis is above all an intellectual operation of methodical decomposition of an object (painting, text, sports performance, stock market, computer program, behavior, examination question, etc. .) In its essential elements.

It is not because one studies literature that one must see the analysis in a more complex way: it is exactly the same intellectual operation in question; Only, the methodically decomposed object is a literary text. One could say, broadly, that literary analysis is written that reports of a literary text or excerpt of literary text "so [in] to methodically show items of interest 1  " for reader. 

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And what's the point?
It is not for nothing that the analysis seems to touch all fields: that is what makes us understand . Indeed, the analysis makes it possible to establish non-explicit relations between certain elements , which leads to a mental image, a general outline. In fact, the analysis makes it possible to highlight the links which allow the understanding of the mechanics of an object (which, it must be repeated, can be as varied as it is possible to imagine it, from text to Viruses via a transport network or the structure of a bridge).
In turn, this personal understanding can be useful in different ways: it may allow us to appreciate the object more, to explain it to someone else as we have explained it ourselves, To extract the historical interest,
In literature, analysis is an invaluable contribution, since it allows, among other things, to place the text in its social and historical context and to understand the ideas, concepts, philosophies, Vehicle despite the time that has passed. It is used to make the text understand and make appreciate to a potential reader.
A literary text has two important components, the form and the background . Contrary to a purely informative or descriptive text, in which only the content counts, it is the play between the substance and the form that makes the literary text (we must not forget the preoccupation with the aesthetics which enters the definition of literature). Unfortunately, this game is not always immediately apparent. This is where the analysis comes in. It happens, for example, that a text is read in which an army of one hundred thousand men fights against another of twenty thousand men only. If we take the figures literally without seeing the hyperbola, One can not understand the massacre of the first army by the second because it seems quite impossible - one will then find the text quite ridiculous, whereas it would have been necessary simply to see the bravery of the warriors of the second army. It is also possible that the form and the background are opposed (in a figure of irony or a litote, for example). At that moment, what is most important is the form - it is the problem of those who take irony in the first degree: they mean the opposite of what they should understand. But, taken alone, form means nothing, since it is defined in relation to the substance: a litote taken without its context, for example, is incomprehensible, because we do not know what meaning to give to words, which then lose Any value - what to do, for example, with a replica such as:  "Do not get into it, Ben, it's pretty unsightly ," 2 if one does not know that the character, smeared with blood and covered with scraps of skin of someone who has just been Shattered by a bomb placed in a photomaton, is describing the scene to his friend to prevent him from being tortured by such a vision of horror? This kind of opposition between the discourse of a character and the context in which it takes place often arises only after a more thorough study of the passage read and becomes meaningful only at the end of the analysis. In the preceding example, such a litote could be part of an analysis of the author's black humor, which allows him to criticize a society too accustomed to violence. So, Background and form are inextricably linked in literature and it is only through analysis that one can bring out the complexity and beauty of their relationship.
In the end, literary analysis focuses on three questions 3 to which it tries to answer:
Who ?
This question refers to the author of the text studied. A product of his time, the writer writes under the influence of the social, political and ideological context to which he belongs.
If it is not necessary to present at length the author of the text to be analyzed, it is nevertheless necessary to explain the context clarifying the specific themes (for example, it is necessary to explain what is the phenomenon of courtesy in Middle Ages to talk about fin'amor ).

What?
On the one hand, it is necessary to replace the extract in the work from which it is drawn so that the reader understands well what it is about. This may be very brief.
On the other hand, and this is the most important aspect of literary analysis, we must analyze the purpose of the text: what is it talking about? This is to interpret what is said in the excerpt, not to repeat it. This interpretation is based on a careful study of the dominant themes treated by the author in the extract studied.

How?
This question addresses the formal aspect of the text. Form is an essential part of the literary text. However, linguistic concern is not just pure aesthetic research: it is also a sure way to achieve greater efficiency.
It is thus a question of showing how the author succeeds in passing his message, in what way he expresses his ideas: what are his strategies of writing, whether more particularly the figures of style or not.
As the way of writing necessarily supports the purpose -that is, the author voluntarily uses exaggeration, for example, to draw the attention of the reader (you) to an important detail, It is important not to confine their study to a separate paragraph from the thematic analysis.

How it works ?
Since it is certain that we can not analyze sports performance, reproduction of a bacterium or a text of opinion in the same way, we will concentrate here on the analysis of the text, since reading is more often than not The first way to learn. It must therefore be understood that the following applies not only to the reading of literary texts but to any type of text.
When you have a text to analyze, you can not do it in any way. It should first be skimmed over - look at the titles and subtitles if there are any, the images, the fourth cover page of a book, the boxes, the graphics, and so on. - in order to get a general idea of ​​what we are going to read. Reading the text should then be done, but no matter how: it is important to use reading strategies. We must not forget, indeed, that the purpose of the analysis is the comprehension of the text. It is a good idea to work paragraph by paragraph - this is the best way to avoid getting lost in the text. It is also important to read with a pencil , That is to say not only to search the dictionary for unfamiliar words which prevent reading, but to record key words, phrases expressing an important idea and leave marks in the text , using margins for Putting comments, words that summarize the main theme, important style figures, etc. But do not abuse the highlighter: if everything is underlined in a paragraph, what can you retain? It is therefore important that you ask yourself questions by reading the text you have to analyze. What does the author talk about in this paragraph? (We see then appear the themes addressed.) How does he talk about it? (It is the link that must be made between the form and the background, By showing how the style of the author serves his purpose.) What does he say  ? Why does he say that? (This is the explanation of the text by the sociohistorical context and other literary knowledge.)
In order to be able to analyze the text, it is necessary to identify the subject. This is why it is suggested to summarize it according to the main themes it addresses. It should not be forgotten that the summary is not the beginning of an analysis: it is factual data on the text. In other words, the broad outlines of it are given without interpretation - it is the essence of the author's words that we restore in our words. If the text has a certain length, it may be of interest, before summarizing it, to summarize each of the paragraphs or parts in one or two sentences.
Once the summary is completed, the actual analysis can be started. But where to start ? First, we must define the problem if we have not been given it in advance. It will constitute the guideline for second reading. If we already have a statement, we must understand it, in order to know exactly how to re-read the text, the proposed problematic to guide the reading in order to produce an appropriate demonstration. Indeed, this second reading, which will pay particular attention to the passages that have been annotated, will have to be more "narrow" than the first one, since it is this one that will make it possible to sort among the important elements of the text And to establish links between them (for example, we can see a correlation between page 4 and page 25 which, Related topics). It is also this rereading that will make it possible to make links with concepts from other sources (sociohistorical context, other writings of the author, films, etc.). It is time to regroup the similar elements that emerged from the text.
If a written analysis is required, it is important to structure the information that emerged first. This is the stage of the plan . In a literary analysis, the plan takes care not to divide the study of the context, the study of the content (themes) and the study of the form. Rather, it is a question of combining these various elements in order to show how contextual, thematic and stylistic manifestations act together and mutually support each other to produce the overall meaning of the text. It should always be borne in mind that thematic study remains the center of literary analysis. It is pertinent to note the contextual and stylistic elements of an excerpt only insofar as they come to illuminate the themes developed by the author.
If there is no miracle analysis plan adaptable to all texts and problems, the traditional three-part plan should be respected: introduction, development, conclusion. The introduction serves to bring the subject of the analysis, to ask it and to announce the aspects to be addressed (ie each of our main ideas). The development is divided into paragraphs. Every one presents a main idea, which is deepened by explanations, and which is developed by means of secondary ideas, themselves supported by proofs (quotations from the text). The essence of the analysis is there. It is here that we make explicit the implicit links that were made in the groupings after second reading, that we present our way of understanding the text.
It is of utmost importance to foresee a logical progression to its text. You can not say anything no matter how. It is certain that we can not always say everything we have found: we must choose what is relevant to our analysis and abandon the rest. Thus, since the contextual information is, to the limit, infinite, only those that help to better understand the text itself must be retained. Similarly, making a detailed statement of the various figures of style in an extract offers, in itself, little interest: it is to evaluate how the style privileged by the author contributed to the meaning, how the way of saying Allowed him to say better, to say more.

But what to analyze and when?
The analysis is useful when dealing with a complex problem: you will not waste your time analyzing something simple like a 25-line newspaper article or how to refuel your car. On the other hand, we will analyze the cellular structure of a virus, a text of psychoanalysis, the structure of a car before it goes into production, fluctuations in the stock market, etc. In fact, we must analyze what we do not understand at the first attempt or when we feel that our understanding is false or incomplete.
The world constantly presents us with problems that we analyze unconsciously. But one uses analysis when one makes conscious this approach to see beyond the evidence. And, it is necessary to affirm here, literature is never content to say the obvious.

1. PARDON, Paul, and Michel BARLOU, The Text Commentary at the Baccalauréat , cited by Vital GADBOIS in Writing with Competency at the College , Montreal, La lignite, 1994, p. 101.
2. Daniel PENNAC, The Happiness of the Ogres , Paris, Gallimard (Folio), 1985, p. 139.
3. Adapted from Marie-Josée NOLET (H-1997) and Denise BESSETTE and Luc LECOMPTE [sd].