Summary, simply put, is a re-telling of the story in fewer words. When a writer summarizes they do not add any personal thoughts on the story and its meaning. They simply re-state key points of the story so that the reader of the summary is able to understand the plot of the story with minimal details. By staying away from personal opinions of the writing the individual doing the summarizing is able to keep away from any incorrect details or criticism of their thoughts. Analysis does not have this problem.
When analyzing, the key is not to tell what was read, but rather what was gleaned from the reading. Without analysis of the literature, it is simply a story with only one point of view. Analysis requires that your readers question the validity of your thoughts on the true meaning of the text. This being said, a good analysis no matter how far fetched, has enough well thought out points to create a belief in your ideas even if they do not coincide with the readers own opinions.
In my opinion summary and analysis are the inside of a cave. Summary is what you would see walking inside without a flashlight. On the other hand analysis is what would be seen walking in with a single flashlight. While you could simply summarize that the cave is large and dark maybe even damp without a flashlight, when that light of analysis turns on the details truly begin to emerge. A single analysis, like a flashlight, can not show all there is to see inside the cave or the literary work. It takes many different points of view to show all the possibilities there may be for the true meaning of any work.
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Great post! The part of your post that really caught my attention was your analogy of summary and analysis with the cave and a flashlight. This was a great analogy for these to subjects! And I feel that your analysis really worked well here because I came away with a greater understanding of the differences between summary and analysis. This example gives your post that piece that really ties it all together.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Aaron. You did a great job of comparing summary/analysis with your flashlight idea. It really gives your reader a better perspective. I also liked the ending when you said "a single analysis, like a flashlight, can not show all there is to show inside." You're right. You need a lot of perspectives to find the full meaning in a piece of literary work.
ReplyDeleteI love that someone other than just myself found the idea of summary and anlysis links well with the study of religion in today's society. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThat was very well said, I loved your example with the cave. Thats an interesting way to look at it, yet a good way to practice summary vs analysis by comparing it to a real life situation. I appreciate how creative you are with your writing, its so interesting to read from that person who thinks outside the box and comes up with really cool ideas! Way to go!
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