Summary v Analysis

A Summary is a description of a piece of literature including who, what, where, when, and how.  Who are the characters?  What is the basic story line and conflict?  Where did it take place?  When did it take place? And how did the conflict get resolved?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summary.  An analysis is when the summary is taken more into depth.  Characters relationships are described and what their role is in the story.  Places and objects are described and what is their significance.  What are the consequences or results of the climax and what decisions cased the events.  What are the strength and weaknesses of the characters and what advantages and disadvantages or gains and losses do they discover.  http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/comp2/analysis.htm.

Summary Example:

In Anita Stansfield’s book When Forever Comes Jack is a farm boy that grew up in a small town in central Utah.  From the time that he met Hillary he knew that he loved her.  Hillary however, knows because of the recent tragic death of her brother that she wants nothing to do with that small town life, including Jack.  Circumstances soon throw them together and they quickly become best friends.  After years of their own trials and their own growth, Hillary realizes that she wants to be with Jack and they quickly become engaged.  Before they have a chance to get married Jack is in a horrible accident and losses the ability to use his legs.  Hillary stays with Jack and together they find a way to get through the depression and the new identity that Jack must find with his new lifestyle.

 Analysis Example:

In Anita Stanfield’s book When Forever Comes Jack experiences loss in three different areas.  This loss is because of the accident that took his ability to walk.  First, is his physical loss, his entire life he centered so much of his identity on the physical ways that he could help and serve people.  “He couldn’t get out of bed if his life depended on it.  He never felt so defenseless, so useless” (Stansfield).  Now because of these physical limitations it starts to affect him emotionally, which is loss number two.  After almost a year after his accident he still didn’t feel comfortable in front of other people and his marriage starts to feel the effects of that emotional strain.   One night he is listening to other couples talk about their trials in life not really participating in the conversation.  “Jack briefly caught the exchange of glances around the table.  He felt certain that every one of these people knew the meaning of adversity, yet each of them seemed so confident and strong at that moment.  He wondered if he could ever feel that way about himself again” (Stansfield).  His final loss is spiritual,   “He had so many unanswered questions to even consider being at peace with himself.  And if he couldn’t be at peace with himself he wasn’t going to find any peace with God” (Stansfield).   Jack is able to overcome the loss that he feels with the help of his wife and close friends.  He is even able to realize that his worth is more than what he can do physically, when he is able to help those in his life realizes that they can overcome anything.

Work Cited

Stansfield, Anita. When Forever Comes.  American Fork, UT:  Covanant Communications, Inc, 1998.

A Good Reader

       Vladimir Nobakov says that a good reader is one that has an imagination, a memory, a dictionary, and some artistic sense.  He talks about how the more you read a novel or a piece of literature the more you become acquainted with it.  You can read it and get more out of it then the first initial reading.  I would dare say that I have to agree with him.  I feel that a good reader is one that can loose themselves in what they are reading.  Whether it is a book of fiction or Non-fiction, one that is a good reader can set all else aside and focus on the authors words.  Another thing that I think makes a good reader is to not pass judgement or think critical of a piece of literature until you have read through it completely.  Then maybe even read it again in case you have missed something.  Sometimes different events in life can bring a whole new perspective to light that has never been thought of before.  Everyone experiences things differently.  So maybe reread something that you may not have related to before but circumstances now may have changed that. 

    I have always considered myself as a good reader.  Ever since I was a little girl my father instilled in me a passion for the written word.  I remember that he said that he would not spend his money on toys we had to use our own money for those.  However, he would be willing to buy any amount of books that we desired as long as we read them.  It would drive him crazy when I would be in a room with the television on  but completely lost in a book.  I have always been able to block everything out and concentrate completely on what I was reading.  There have been times where I have read books over and over again.  Some of these books would be the collection of one of my favorite authors, Jane Austen.  Nobakov briefly mentions her in his article asking whether we could believe her words because of her own life experiences.  Something that I have always enjoyed about Jane Austen is that in spite of what people may think of her she wrote about what she knew.  She new of love and of loss, she also knew what it was to try to succeed in a world when because she was a women she was limited.  http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/jausten.html  My favorite of all of her novels is probably Emma, I have read it numerous times, and each time I never get bored.  I can picture myself in that life.  So because of I love to read and I consider myself a good reader, I hope that someday I can instill my passion for reading in my children.

Introductory Video