文学评论写作点拨：

本短篇小说的评论文章，应该从内容着手，去深刻思考之所以出现这样状况的原因。在去年《伟大的愚蠢》短篇小说的评论中，我用了鲁迅看客，和国民愚钝方面的材料，今年，我依然感觉，我们可以用鲁迅的一些话，鲁迅的遭遇，以至于20世纪的中国，来写这篇评论文章。

对于这篇小说，有一个最好玩最好笑的理解：群众的力量是巨大的，如果官员不能满足群众的要求，人民群众必定去推翻它，就如“水能载舟亦能覆舟”。无疑，这种理解是肤浅的，要是放在研究生入学考试来考查，就实在是太小儿科了。

前半段明显让人感觉这些村民已经缺乏了自主意识,失去了反抗的能力，村民对加之身上的一切都默默地承受...这可不可以理解为愚弱的国民，如鲁迅笔下“哀其不幸怒其不争”的阿Q、孔乙己之类，或者是总是作为看客的人民大众，默默承受着权力和淫威压在他们身上。

中段,村民对玩尖脚猫游戏成了习惯，就如同一只从小被套在小树桩上的小象，挣脱不开之后，逐渐就失去了抗争，或者是锅中刚开始用冷水煮着的青蛙，刚开始没反应，随着水温升高，逐渐已经来不及了….不同的是，这里的群众都没有反抗，他们是直接接受了官员的安排，让无聊的游戏成为一种习惯。这种习惯一旦养成，就难以废除掉，逐渐逐渐，成为他们生命的一部分，但不管怎么样，这游戏的性质，依旧是无聊，官员们觉得不够“高尚”。 最后，当官员们开始改过的时候，群众却起来推翻了他们，但这不是中国式的农民革命战争，而是一群习惯了自己生活方式的群众，推翻了本来可以给他们更多自由的官员，其实，这是一个悲剧。鲁迅说：在中国，连搬动一张桌子都是要流血的。在这里，我们看到了类似的场景。

当群众无事可做时候，推翻了官员。统治或者说控制的秘诀在于：给群众事情做。这很

重要！如果没有事情做，那是很可怕的。谁也不能长期忍受这种空虚和孤独。让他们做起来，就万事大吉了，至于为什么要做这个事情，这个事情有什么意义，是不是自己内心的需要，能不能带来真正的快乐和幸福，等等，都不重要。

这篇短篇，很大程度上，就是中国20世纪的国情所在。革命的时候，群众不理解，愚昧麻木，用革命者的鲜血来治病；革命成功以后，大家都玩着尖脚猫游戏，大家都有事情做，比如大炼钢铁，大跃进，虽然在政治的集权下，人们的自由受到限制，但是大家都有游戏玩，大家都很开心，乐此不疲；改革开放到来了，享受到的权力更多了，这也就意味着我们需要推翻一些过去已经被压抑的东西，现在重拾起来，但因为在集权的环境下，既得利益的人，已经获得了巨大的成功，现在要毁掉“尖脚猫游戏”，他们不肯了，他们希望继续维持原有秩序，他们不需要改革，不需要革新。于是我们看到了当今中国改革的举步维艰，我们看到我们的社会止步不前，因为，那些玩“尖脚猫游戏”的人试着把“激进改革派”的人推翻，激进改革的人害怕，双方就一直僵持着，僵持着，因此，我们的改革，举步维艰。

以上是我对20xx年【文学理论和中国现当代文学】真题一个简要分析，可以看出，武大文学考研继续重基础，继续重视作品，主要是小说的考查，继续基本保持了20xx年到20xx年试题出题的模式（虽然在文学理论、文论方面有着较大的变动），十几年的真题复习对于考研复习有着极大的帮助。我在20xx年跨考武大的复习过程中，也觊觎过北京大学、北京师范大学，终究知道自己能力不足，必定考不上，但对于北大、北师文学考研题目极度熟悉。11年7月份，在和已考上北师大古代文学的高中同学聊天时候，他说武大文院题目怪、险、偏，无学术深度，不似北大北师大的题目，他认为考研题目应该有学术方面的思想性，对此，我是比较赞同的。我认为，武大文学院2012的考研真题，注重基础知识，进一步体现了对考生能力的要求，题目难度适当加大，和北大北师大考研题目风格更加接近。在注重细节方面，北师大20xx年试题考了《死魂灵》几个地主各自不同的特点，比12年阿

Q与小D,王胡的关系难度更大。

对于13年考武大文学院的同学们，我想已经不能再完全用武大原有的参考书，特别是在文学理论方面，而需要更加注重能力，注重综合运用能力。这种能力的要求，离不开基础，需要厚积薄发，对于那些要拿高分的同学来说，需要已报考北大的力度来报考武汉大学文学院了！

 

第二篇：如何写作文学评论

HOW TO WRITE A LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY

The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to carefully examine and sometimes evaluate a work of literature or an aspect of a work of literature. As with any analysis, this requires you to break the subject down into its component parts. Examining the different elements of a piece of literature is not an end in itself but rather a process to help you better appreciate and understand the work of literature as a whole. For instance, an analysis of a poem might deal with the different types of images in a poem or with the relationship between the form and content of the work. If you were to analyze (discuss and explain) a play, you might analyze the relationship between a subplot and the main plot, or you might analyze the character flaw of the tragic hero by tracing how it is revealed through the acts of the play. Analyzing a short story might include identifying a particular theme (like the difficulty of making the transition from adolescence to adulthood) and showing how the writer suggests that theme through the point of view from which the story is told; or you might also explain how the main character?s attitude toward women is revealed through his dialogue and/or actions.

REMEMBER: Writing is the sharpened, focused expression of thought and study. As you develop your writing skills, you will also improve your perceptions and increase your critical abilities. Writing ultimately boils down to the development of an idea. Your objective in writing a literary analysis essay is to convince the person reading your essay that you have supported the idea you are developing. Unlike ordinary conversation and classroom discussion, writing must stick with great determination to the specific point of development. This kind of writing demands tight organization and control. Therefore, your essay must have a central idea (thesis), it must have several paragraphs that grow systematically out of the central idea, and everything in it must be directly related to the central idea and must contribute to the reader’s understanding of that central idea. These three principles are listed again below:

1. Your essay must cover the topic you are writing about.

2. Your essay must have a central idea (stated in your thesis) that

governs its development.

3. Your essay must be organized so that every part contributes

something to the reader’s understanding of the central idea.

The thesis statement tells your reader what to expect: it is a restricted, precisely worded declarative sentence that states the purpose of your essay -- the point you are trying to make. Without a carefully conceived thesis, an essay has no chance of success. The following are thesis statements which would work for a 500-750 word literary analysis essay:

Gwendolyn Brooks?s 1960 poem “The Ballad of Rudolph Reed” demonstrates how the

poet uses the conventional poetic form of the ballad to treat the unconventional poetic

subject of racial intolerance.

The fate of the main characters in Antigone illustrates the danger of excessive pride.

The imagery in Dylan Thomas?s poem “Fern Hill” reveals the ambiguity of humans?

relationship with nature.

Typically, the thesis statement falls at the end of your introductory paragraph.

The introduction to your literary analysis essay should try to capture your reader?s interest. To bring immediate focus to your subject, you may want to use a quotation, a provocative question, a brief anecdote, a startling statement, or a combination of these. You may also want to include background information relevant to your thesis and necessary for the reader to understand the position you are taking. In addition, you need to include the title of the work of literature and name of the author. The following are satisfactory introductory paragraphs which include appropriate thesis statements:

A. What would one expect to be the personality of a man who has his wife

sent away to a convent (or perhaps has had her murdered) because she took too much pleasure in the sunset and in a compliment paid to her by another man? It is just such a man—a Renaissance duke—who Robert Browning portrays in his poem “My Last Duchess.” A character analysis of the Duke reveals that through his internal dialogue, his interpretation of earlier incidents, and his actions, his traits—arrogance, jealousy, and greediness—emerge.

B. The first paragraph of Alberto Alvaro Rios?s short story “The Secret Lion”

presents a twelve-year-old boy?s view of growing up—everything changes. As the narrator informs the reader, when the magician pulls a tablecloth out from under a pile of dishes, children are amazed at the “stay-the-same part,” while adults focus only on the tablecloth itself (42). Adults have the benefit of experience and know the trick will work as long as the technique is correct. When people “grow up,” they gain this experience and knowledge but lose their innocence and sense of wonder. In other words, the price paid for growing up is a permanent sense of loss. This tradeoff is central to “The Secret Lion.” The key symbols in the story reinforce its main theme: change is inevitable and always accompanied by a sense of loss.

C. The setting of John Updike?s story “A & P” is crucial to the reader?s

understanding of Sammy?s decision to quit his job. Even though Sammy knows that his quitting will make life more difficult for him, he instinctively insists upon rejecting what the A & P represents in the story. When he rings up a “No Sale” and “saunter[s]” out of the store, Sammy leaves behind not only a job but the rigid state of mind associated with the A & P. Although Sammy is the central character in the story, Updike seems to invest as much effort in describing the setting as he does Sammy. The title, after all, is not “Youthful Rebellion” or “Sammy Quits” but “A & P.” The setting is the antagonist of the story and plays a role that is as important as Sammy?s.

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The term regularly used for the development of the central idea of a literary analysis essay is the body. In this section you present the paragraphs (at least 3 paragraphs for a 500-750 word essay) that support your thesis statement. Good literary analysis essays contain an explanation of your ideas and evidence from the text (short story, poem, play) that supports those ideas. Textual evidence consists of summary, paraphrase, specific details, and direct quotations.

Each paragraph should contain a topic sentence (usually the first sentence of the paragraph) which states one of the topics associated with your thesis, combined with some assertion about how the topic will support the central idea. The purpose of the topic sentence is twofold:

1. To relate the details of the paragraph to your thesis

statement.

2. To tie the details of the paragraph together.

The substance of each of your developmental paragraphs (the body of your essay) will be the explanations, summaries, paraphrases, specific details, and direct quotations you need to support and develop the more general statement you have made in your topic sentence. The following is the first developmental paragraph after one of the introductory paragraphs (C) above:

TOPIC SENTENCE Sammy's descriptions of the A & P present a

setting that is ugly, monotonous, and rigidly

regulated. The chain store is a common fixture

in modern society, so the reader can identify

with the uniformity Sammy describes. The

EXPLANATIONS AND fluorescent light is as blandly cool as the TEXTUAL EVIDENCE "checkerboard green-and-cream rubber tile

floor" (486). The "usual traffic in the store

moves in one direction (except for the swim

suited girls, who move against it), and

everything is neatly organized and categorized

in tidy aisles. The dehumanizing routine of this

environment is suggested by Sammy's offhand

references to the typical shoppers as "sheep,"

"house slaves," and "pigs” (486). These regular

customers seem to walk through the store in a

stupor; as Sammy indicates, not even dynamite

could move them out of their routine (485).

This paragraph is a strong one because it is developed through the use of quotations, summary, details, and explanation to support the topic sentence. Notice how it relates back to the thesis statement.

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Your literary analysis essay should have a concluding paragraph that gives your essay a sense of completeness and lets your readers know that they have come to the end of your paper. Your concluding paragraph might restate the thesis in different words, summarize the main points you have made, or make a relevant comment about the literary work you are analyzing, but from a different perspective. Do not introduce a new topic in your conclusion. Below is the concluding paragraph from the essay already quoted above (A) about Browning's poem "My Last Duchess":

If the Duke has any redeeming qualities, they fail to appear in the poem.

Browning's emphasis on the Duke's traits of arrogance, jealousy, and materialism make it apparent that anyone who might have known the Duke personally would have based his opinion of him on these three personality "flaws." Ultimately, the reader?s opinion of the Duke is not a favorable one, and it is clear that Browning intended that the reader feel this way.

It is essential that you give your essay a title that is descriptive of the approach you are taking in your paper. Just as you did in your introductory paragraph, try to get the reader's attention. Using only the title of the literary work you are examining is

unsatisfactory. The titles that follow are appropriate for the papers (A, B, C) discussed above:

Robert Browning's Duke: A Portrayal of a Sinister Man The A & P as a State of Mind

Theme in "The Secret Lion": The Struggle of Adolescence

Consider the reader for whom you are writing your essay. Imagine you are writing for not only your professor but also the other students in your class who have about as much education as you do. They have read the assigned work just as you have, but perhaps they have not thought about it in exactly the same way. In other words, it is not necessary to "retell" the work of literature in any way. Rather, it is your role to be the explainer or interpreter of the work—to tell what certain elements of the work mean in relation to your central idea (thesis). When you make references to the text of the short story, poem, or play, you are doing so to remind your audience of something they already know. The principle emphasis of your essay is to draw conclusions and develop arguments. Be sure to avoid plot summary.

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The skillful use of textual evidence -- summary, paraphrase, specific detail, and direct quotations -- can illustrate and support the ideas you are developing in your essay. However, textual evidence should be used judiciously and only when it directly relates to your topic. The correct and effective use of textual evidence is vital to the successful literary analysis essay.

If a key event or series of events in the literary work support a point you are trying to make, you may want to include a brief summary, making sure that you show the relevance of the event or events by explicitly connecting your summary to your point. Below is an effective summary (with its relevance clearly pointed out) from the essay already quoted above on "The Secret Lion" (B):

The boys find the grinding ball, but later attempt to bury it (SUMMARY).

Burying it is their futile attempt to make time stand still and to preserve

perfection (RELEVANCE).

You can make use of paraphrase when you need the details of the original, but not necessarily the words of the original: paraphrase to put someone else's words into your own words. Below is an example (also from the paper on "The Secret Lion") of how to "translate" original material into part of your own paper:

Original: "I was twelve and in junior high school and something happened

that we didn't have a name for, but it was nonetheless like a lion,

and roaring, roaring that way the biggest things do."

Paraphrase: Early in the story, the narrator tells us that when he turned twelve

and started junior high school, life changed in a significant way that

he and his friends could not quite name or identify.

Various types of details from the text lend concrete support to the development of the central idea of your literary analysis essay. These details add credibility to the point you are developing. Below is a list of some of the details which could have been used in the developmental paragraph from the paper on John Updike's short story "A & P" (see the paragraph again for which details were used and how they were used).

"usual traffic"

"fluorescent lights"

"checkerboard green-and-cream rubber-tile floor" "electric eye"

shoppers like "sheep," "house slaves," and "pigs" neatly stacked food

dynamite

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Quotations can illuminate and support the ideas you are trying to develop. A judicious use of quoted material will make your points clearer and more convincing. As with all the textual evidence you use, make sure you explain how the evidence is relevant—let the reader know why the quotes you cite are significant to your argument. Below are guidelines and examples that should help you effectively use quotations:

1. Brief quotations (four lines or fewer of prose and three lines or fewer of poetry)

should be carefully introduced and integrated into the text of your paper. Put

quotation marks around all briefly quoted material.

Prose example:

As the "manager" of the A & P, Lengel is both the guardian and enforcer of "policy" (487). When he gives the girls "that sad Sunday-school-superintendent stare," the reader becomes aware of Lengel?s character as the A & P's version of a dreary bureaucrat who "doesn't miss much" (487). Make sure you give page numbers when necessary. Notice that in this example the page numbers are in parenthesis after the quotation marks but before the period.

4 Poetry example:

From the beginning, the Duke in Browning's poem gives the reader a sense of how possessive he really is: "That's my last Duchess on the wall, / Looking as if she were alive" (1-2). The reader cannot help but notice how, even though the Duke is talking about her portrait, his main concern is that she belongs to him. Notice that line # 1 is separated from line # 2 by a slash. Make sure you give the line numbers when necessary.

Lengthy quotations should be separated from the text of your paper. More than four lines of prose should be double spaced and indented ten spaces from the left margin, with the right margin the same as the rest of your paper. More than three lines of poetry should be double spaced and centered on the page. Note: do not use quotation marks to set off these longer passages because the indentation itself indicates that the material is quoted.

Prose example:

The first paragraph of "The Secret Lion" introduces the narrator as someone who has just entered adolescence and is uncertain what to make of it: 2.

I was twelve and in junior high school and something happened that we

didn't have a name for, but it was there nonetheless like a lion, and

roaring, roaring that way the biggest things do. Everything changed. Just

that. Like the rug, the one that gets pulled -- or better, like the tablecloth

those magicians pull where the stuff on the table stays the same but the

gasp! from the audience makes the staying-the-same part not matter. Like

that. (41-42) Make sure you give page numbers when necessary.

Notice in this example that the page numbers are in parenthesis after

the period of the last sentence.

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Poetry example:

The Duke seems to object to the fact that his "last Duchess" is not discriminating enough about bestowing her affection. In the following lines, the Duke lists examples of this "fault":

Sir, 'twas all one! My favor at her breast, The dropping of the daylight in the west, The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule She rode with round the terrace -- all and each Would draw from her alike the approving speech.

(Browning 25-30)

Be sure to provide the line numbers.

3.

If any words are added to a quotation in order to explain who or what the quotation refers to, you must use brackets to distinguish your addition from the original source. Example:

The literary critic John Strauss asserts that "he [Young Goodman Brown] is portrayed as self-righteous and disillusioned" (10). Brackets are used here because there is no way of knowing who "he" is unless you add that information.

Brackets are also used to change the grammatical structure of a quotation so that it fits into your sentence.

Example:

Strauss also argues that Hawthorne "present[s] Young Goodman Brown in an

ambivalent light” (10). Brackets are used here to add the "s" to the verb "present" because otherwise the sentence would not be grammatically correct.

You must use ellipsis if you omit any words from the original source you are quoting. Ellipsis can be used at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the quotation, depending on where the missing words were originally. Ellipsis is formed by either three or four periods with a space between each period. Original: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Example (omission from beginning):

This behavior ". . . makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." Ellipsis formed by three dots after the quotation marks.

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Example (omission from middle):

This maxim claims that "Early to bed . . . makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." Ellipsis formed by three dots used in place of the words "and early to rise."

Example (omission from end):

He said, "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy . . . ." Ellipsis is formed by four dots before the quotation marks -- the fourth dot is really a period which ends the sentence.

5.

Use a single line of spaced periods to indicate the omission of an entire line of poetry.

Example:

The Duke seems to object to the fact that his "last Duchess" is not discriminating enough about bestowing her affection: She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The dropping of the daylight in the west, The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her, while the white mule She rode around the terrace -- like and each Would draw from her alike the approving speech…. (Browning 24-30)

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You will be able to punctuate quoted materials accurately if you observe the following conventions used in writing about literature:

1. When the quoted material is part of your own sentence, place periods and

commas inside the quotation marks.

Example:

According to the narrator of "The Secret Lion,” change was "like a lion," meaning that its onset is sudden and ferocious. The comma is inside the quotation

marks.

2. When the quoted material is part of your own sentence, but you need to include a

parenthetical reference to page or line numbers, place the periods and commas after the reference.

Example:

The narrator of "The Secret Lion" says that the change was "like a lion" (Rios 41). The period is outside the quotation marks, after the parenthetical reference.

3. When the quoted material is part of your own sentence, punctuation marks other

than periods and commas, such as question marks, are placed outside the quotation marks, unless they are part of the quoted material.

Example (not part of original):

Why does the narrator of "The Secret Lion" say that the change was "like a lion"?

The question mark is placed after the quotation marks because it does not appear in the original -- it ends a question being asked about the story.

Example (part of original):

The Duke shows his indignation that the Duchess could like everyone and everything when he says, "Sir, 'twas all one!" (Browning 25). The exclamation point is placed inside the quotation marks because it appears in the original.

4. When the original material you are quoting already has quotations marks (for

instance, dialog from a short story), you must use single quotation marks within the double quotation marks.

Example:

Lengel tries to stop Sammy from quitting by saying, “?Sammy, you don't want to do this to your Mom and Dad?" (Updike 486).

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