252 / Types of Writing
SAMPLE LITERARY ANALYSIS of A NoVEL
A literary analysis of a novel probably offers more options than any other kind of anal-
ysis. Some writers react to a novel based on their own involvement with it, particularly
if it has had some personal impact on them. Other writers remain more objective and
deal with literary elements and techniques, especially as they develop a theme or mes-
sage. Still other writers focus on the full meaning of the novel—the overt message as
well as the underlying themes, symbols, and implications. They react to the author’s
broad comments about the world, its people, its societies, its cultures. Any of these
approaches fit the general characteristics of a literary analysis of a novel. Be cautious,
however, that you do not lapse into a literary review [see Chapter 36, Review] if the
assignment is to prepare a literary analysis.
The following sample and analysis permits you to compare a book report, a book
review, and a literary analysis of a book. Because the same novel is the subject in all
three sections [see also Chapter 19, Book Report, and Chapter 36, Review], you can
see how writers approached the novel to meet the characteristics of each of the three
kinds of writing. Studying the differences and similarities will further your under-
standing of a literary analysis.
Ancient Science Fiction
Transporting readers across 25,000 years to an alien civilization sounds like the topic of a good
science-fiction novel. Tradition usually requires that science fiction move its readers ahead, not
back; yet in Jean Auel’s The Valley of the Horses, prehistory becomes a sub-genre of science
fiction. Set in the convergence of Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon civilizations, Valley illustrates
a nontraditional approach to science fiction. Auel’s extensive scientific research for the series,
referred to as the Earth Children series, generates the science-fiction quality. Readers learn
about prehistoric biology, geology, and human anatomy, all based on hard scientific data. Com-
bined with Auel’s fictionalized speculation of the society, its people, its culture, its spiritual beliefs,
the novel allows readers to glimpse an alien world. Combined, the backward-time leap to an alien
society, the scientifically accurate environment, and the speculative, even hypothetical but still
fictionalized aspects generate a solid argument to categorize Valley as science fiction.
Alien societies characterize many works of science fiction. Valley throws the reader back 25
millennia to a civilization as strange as any developed by Isaac Asimov. The Neanderthals are
aliens, described as subhuman, animal-like creatures, dark, hairy, and chinless, with ridged
eyebrows and flat heads. In spite of their subhuman characteristics, however, the clan mem-
bers follow a highly ritualistic spiritual tradition, far more complicated and symbolic than that
of the Cro-Magnon people. Auel also endows the Neanderthals with Memories, an expanded
brain capacity that enables them to know everything their ancestors knew but that renders
them incapable of learning anything new. As a result, to modern readers the alien society takes
on an additional aura of mystery.
In spite of its hypothetical, speculative society, the novel, like others in the series, shows rich
scientific detail. Auel traveled all over the world to study archeological sites, to talk with experts