Using my prior knowledge and having watched the video, I feel like I have a good enough understanding of summary vs. analysis to be writing a page on the subject. ( :
Summary and analysis similar, this is true. That’s the reason the differences between the two can sometimes be unclear. In my opinion, they support each other. Each is important to the literary world and I don’t see one as better than the other. Yes, analysis is… deeper and therefore I think it is often seen as better, but I disagree because summary and analysis each serve a purpose. Analysis is often times not appropriate, summary will do the job just fine.
SUMMARY answers basic questions about a story, like who, what, where, when, why, and how. It sequences major plot points, describes characters on a surface level, and in general includes information that would be obvious to anyone that read or watched the story. Summary is so tempting for writers to use in place of analysis because essentially it is just purging what we already know, rather than thinking of deeper, more original ideas, as is done with analysis. But summary is very useful when we are trying to describe what a story is about. Like I mentioned there are many times when analysis would be inappropriate.
ANALYSIS answers deeper questions about the story, and the main thing is that it presents an argument. The argument needs to be something not completely obvious. Argument needs to be arguable, that’s the point. Arguments are supported by facts of the story, often things that would have been included in a summary. I see analysis as an interpretation of the summary. Analysis dives in, talking about things like relationships and roles of characters, causes and effects, and strengths and weaknesses within the story. Analyses are often harder to come up with because the writer must think hard, and formulate opinions about why specific elements of the story are the way they are. These opinions or ideas must not be stated in the text, but observed by the reader/(writer of the analysis) and then interpreted into an argument. Analysis I believe is inarguably more interesting than summary, but no more important.
A book I enjoyed in high school was To Kill A Mockingbird. This is a summary and analysis of the first chapter from SparkNotes. It is a good example of the difference between the two.
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