TAKE THAT To-Do List!

The message in Wilder’s chapter on Literary Analysis is clear in the first paragraph. Wilder lists four criteria of literary analysis that “…cover the necessary elements…” and can either make or break a paper (7). Wilder states “a literary analysis 1. makes definitional (or interpretive) claims 2. that are debatable, supported with evidence from the text, 4. and that taken together make an argument about what the text as a whole means” (7). Without these four criteria a paper “…misses the mark entirely” (7). Wilder’s chapter is undeniably targeted toward writing students and is separated in four organized sections which explain each criterion in detail.

The first section supports the idea that a literary analysis makes definitional claims. Wilder explains the importance of definition as one of the five argumentative stases. A stasis theory is defined in the first paragraph of the section on definitional claims as something that “…helps us identify where a controversy rests or lie—where two ore more disputants recognize this issue on which they disagree” (7). Wilder points out that “…while it is possible to argue about literature at any of these five stasis points, research on the rhetorical practices of literary scholars indicates that these scholars’ arguments rest predominantly on the definitional stasis” (7). A chart on the following page introduces and explains the five different types of argumentative stases and provides questions one would answer in their paper for each method. Wilder uses charts to compare definition claims (literary analysis) with the two of the other argumentative stases: evaluation and casual. While the definition claim focuses on the meaning of the text, the evaluation claim asks if the text was enjoyable. Casual claims focus on the author’s motive for writing the text. The two other claims, proposal and existence, are described in detail in separate paragraphs. Proposal claims focus on what should be done about the text and existence claims seek to “…convince their reads of their finding’s legitimacy” (8). Wilder stresses that although “…it is possible to find published works of literary criticism that focus on proposal or cause/effect arguments…definitional arguments…are the main work of literary analysis” (10.) Wilder clearly believes that in order for a student to produce a worthwhile literary analysis, they must identify the meaning of the text.

The next section of Wilder’s chapter explains that a literary analysis must make debatable claims. Wilder states that “…people who have read the text must be able to disagree with your thesis; otherwise, you do not have an argument” (12). A reader could disagree with Wilder’s definition of literary analysis. Therefore, Wilder has provided a good thesis. Simply summarizing the text throughout the paper does not make it a literary analysis. The writer must come to a conclusion about what the text means (definition claim) and present that conclusion in their paper in a way that one could look at the text, and say “no, that’s not what it means at all, I think it means this.” Wilder explains “When readers want to see evidence after reading a statement, when there is some room for disagreement, for alternate plausible interpretations, we know that we have an arguable or debatable thesis” (13). In other words, if the meaning one derives from a text cannot be argued or debated with, it probably isn’t a well thought out thesis. For example, in exercise 2.2, the student is asked to identify debatable versus factual statements from a list of examples. The statement “’The Man to Send Rainclouds’ is about the clash of Native American and European Christian cultures” would be considered debatable while “’The Man to Send Rainclouds’ is set in New Mexico” would be considered factual. The second statement summarizes a part of the story while the first one could be argued with. Wilder strives to show the student the difference between a debatable thesis and a factual statement.

The third section in Wilder’s chapter on literary analysis deals with the importance of using textual evidence to support arguments. “For literary scholars, the most important source of evidence is the text itself” (14). Wilder stresses when making an argument about the text, the student must find textual evidence to back it up. A student can’t just make up an argument without points in the text that support it. Wilder uses examples from different writings about texts such as Hamlet and Alice’s Adventures in Womderland to back her argument. Thus, even Wilder uses textual evidence to back the claim that textual evidence is required in literary analysis. Wilder also mentions that “when supporting an argument, it is also important to consider that readers may interpret evidence differently from you or may think of other sections of a text that contradict with your argument” (15). Therefore it is necessary to explain how the quotes prove the thesis. So a reader must gather enough information from the text to a) figure out what the text means and b) make a debatable statement about the text. Then the reader must take the information they have gathered and use it to support their claims throughout the paper. Wilder states “In order to persuade the reader, you must support your major claims with good reasons and evidence” (14).

The last section of Wilder’s chapter focuses on defining the text as a whole. The thesis is developed after the student reads the text and figures out what the overall message was. The student analyzes what the author was trying to convey and which audience he/she was trying to reach. Wilder explains that a thesis does not have to be constricted to one sentence. On the contrary, it may be many sentences explaining the overall meaning of the work. Wilder provides a table containing examples of good theses which convey the overall meaning of a text. Therefore, according to Wilder, literary analysis consists of four steps which bring the student to an overall thesis. First the student must recognize the meaning of the text using the definitional stasis, then they must come up with an argument based on the meaning of the text, provide textual evidence to support the argument, and put it all together in a well thought out thesis. Wilder concludes that these four characteristics make up literary analysis.