From cluelessness to a solid basis: how to analyze a novel you know nothing about.

You are studying English literature at school or in college, and your teacher or professor assigned you a novel to read and analyze. You are puzzled: you have never read it before, you have no clue about its historical context or the author whatsoever. What do you do?

Then keep reading because I am about to tell you my personal strategy to analyze novels that I used throughout high school and part of my bachelor studies. This is not meant to be the ultimate strategy, just a starting point when you have no idea what to do.

The first step might sound very controversial, but here it is: do not read the book as a first step. If you are like me, then your brain will not tolerate reading a novel twice, not to mention that you might not have enough time for two reads.

The very first thing you should do, instead, is getting a grasp of the context surrounding the novel and its author. So start reading the synopsis, i.e. the small summary that often appears on the cover of a book, and the author's biography if they are included in the edition that you found, or search for those information on the Internet. If you think it could help you, look for a summary of the novel as well.

Once you have found these information, underline and keep in mind any detail that you should keep in mind during your reading, such as the names of the characters, the geographic setting, the key events, and so on.

If you found a synopsis, keep in mind if there are any clues on the moral and the values linked to the story. They are some of the key factors that you might need the most for your analysis. Do not forget to research any topic or element that does not sound familiar to you. It does not have to be a thorough research, you just need to know the general meaning.

Now you are going to actually read the book. However, you have to be mindful while reading. Notice and take note of all the recurring elements, the dialogue lines that hint at certain key events or themes, the references to nature, and so on.

A lot of the criteria that you are going to adopt are already present in the synopsis or the summary that you have found, so start by retreiving those elements in the text and, as you read, notice the elements that are repeated, be it lines, metaphors or mentions of certain objects.

Once you are done, gather all the information in an organized manner. You can do a mind map or write a whole text, all that matters is that it is readable for you and you only. You can list the information by topic or theme or by following the order of the events in your novel, for example.

If your teacher or professor holds a lesson or a lecture on said novel before your test or exam, attend that lecture and see if there are missing or wrong points. If asking for a feedback mid-way before the final exam is allowed, grasp that opportunity and ask if your method is in line with the requirements. At the end of the day, your work has to meet their requirements, and it's better to know if there is something to fix before submitting your assignment, isn't it?

The bottom line is that context and implicit information are crucial when analyzing novels and any piece of literature, and those elements make simply reading said novel not enough. Grasping these implicit elements is therefore key to build a solid basis for your analysis.

With that said, I hope this story has been helpful to some of you, and if you have further suggestions, leave a comment below.

Happy (as happy as possible) finals to those of you (including me) who are still studying for them!