11 How to Analyze a Short Story
What is a Short Story?
A short story is a work of short, narrative prose that is usually centered around one single event. It is limited in scope and has an introduction, body and conclusion. Although a short story has much in common with a novel (See How to Analyze a Novel), it is written with much greater precision. You will often be asked to write a literary analysis. An analysis of a short story requires basic knowledge of literary elements. The following guide and questions may help you:
Setting
Setting is a description of where and when the story takes place. In a short story there are fewer settings compared to a novel. The time is more limited.
- How is the setting created? Consider geography, weather, time of day, social conditions, etc.
- What role does setting play in the story? Is it an important part of the plot or theme? Or is it just a backdrop against which the action takes place?
Study the time period which is also part of the setting.
- When was the story written?
- Does it take place in the present, the past, or the future?
- How does the time period affect the language, atmosphere or social circumstances of the short story?
Characterization
Characterization deals with how the characters in the story are described. In short stories there are usually fewer characters compared to a novel. They usually focus on one central character or protagonist.
- Who is the main character?
- Are the main character and other characters described through dialogue – by the way they speak (dialect or slang for instance)?
- Has the author described the characters by physical appearance, thoughts and feelings, and interaction (the way they act towards others)?
- Are they static/flat characters who do not change?
- Are they dynamic/round characters who DO change?
- What type of characters are they? What qualities stand out? Are they stereotypes?
- Are the characters believable?
Plot and structure
The plot is the main sequence of events that make up the story. In short stories the plot is usually centered around one experience or significant moment
- What is the most important event?
- How is the plot structured? Is it linear, chronological or does it move around?
- Is the plot believable?
Narrator and Point of view
The narrator is the person telling the story.
Is the narrator and the main character the same?
By point of view we mean from whose eyes the story is being told. Short stories tend to be told through one character’s point of view
- Who is the narrator or speaker in the story?
- Does the author speak through the main character?
- Is the story written in the first person “I” point of view?
- Is the story written in a detached third person “he/she” point of view?
- Is there an “all-knowing” 3rd person who can reveal what all the characters are thinking and doing at all times and in all places?
Conflict
Conflict or tension is usually the heart of the short story and is related to the main character. In a short st