An analytical thesis does not summarise the plot. It makes an interpretive claim about how and why a writer achieves something.
Weak: “Scrooge is a character in A Christmas Carol.” Strong: “Dickens presents Scrooge as a cold, isolated miser, using imagery of winter to suggest that his meanness has frozen his humanity.”
A good thesis answers the question directly, names the writer's methods and suggests the deeper meaning. Every paragraph in your essay should develop part of it.
Worked example
Improve: “Ozymandias is a poem about a statue.”
- It summarises; it does not interpret.
- Add the writer's idea and method.
Answer:Shelley uses the ruined statue of Ozymandias to show that time destroys even the mightiest rulers.
Key words
- interpretive
- explaining meaning
- method
- a technique a writer uses
- summary
- a retelling of what happens
Practise this
New questions every time.
Common Core-referenced: W.9-10.1a