Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Novel Outline (Grades 11 12) Tips: Write about literature in present tense. Do not use first or second person pronouns (I, me, we, us, you). Do not just write plot summaries when analyzing conflict, theme, etc. Novel Analysis Outline This form will be completed as you read each work to ensure that you are focusing on literary aspects of the novel as you read. The organizer is intended to guide your reading and focus your thoughts so that you are prepared for discussing and writing about the novel. Unless otherwise instructed, be sure to answer with complete sentences. SECTION ONE: Plot: In ten sentences, chronologically summarize the novel s basic plot. Be sure to represent the beginning, middle, and end of the plot in your summary. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
SECTION TWO: Setting: Describe the details of the novel s setting and time period in three to five sentences. SECTION THREE: Memorable Quotations: Select two short passages from the text (three sentences maximum for each) that are memorable or significant to you, either for their imagery, language, or ideas. In two to three sentences explain why each passage is memorable or significant. Quotation # 1 (with page number): Commentary: Quotation # 2 (with page number): Commentary:
SECTION FOUR: Key Characters: Identify the three most important characters in your novel. Describe each character using three adjectives (none of which describes a physical trait), and provide two quotations and page numbers to support your choices. Character s Name Adjectives Quotation with Page Number SECTION FIVE: Theme: Theme is the central idea or ideas of a work of literature. A theme is not the same as a subject which can usually be expressed in a word or two, i.e. love, childhood, death. The theme is the idea the writer wishes to reveal about that subject and can be expressed in at least one complete sentence. For example, the subject of a novel might be love, but the theme would be stated as Love is more powerful than family loyalty. Theme is not usually stated directly in a work of literature. Most often, the reader has to think about all the elements of the work and use them to make an inference, or educated guess, about the theme.
Identify an important subject in the novel. For that subject, list five quotations with page numbers as evidence of that subject. Then, analyze your detailed notes of plot, setting, character, significant quotes, and the last five quotes to determine the novel s theme (what the writer is revealing about the subject). Finally, write a complete sentence that expresses the theme of the novel. Quotations with Page Numbers: 4. 5. Theme/Message of novel: SECTION SIX: Conflict: Usually, readers care about what happens next in a story because they are hooked by a conflict, or struggle. This struggle might take place between two characters or it might take place between a character and something nonhuman. Conflict can also take place within a character s mind and heart: The desire to be peaceable might conflict with an urge to knock out a bully. A desire to win someone s friendship might conflict with a fear of rejection. Often, an external conflict results in an internal problem: Facing a typhoon is going to produce fear and perhaps a desire to run away. When the conflict takes place between a character and another person or between a character and something nonhuman, it is an external conflict.
When the conflict takes place inside a character s mind, it is an internal conflict. List up to three external conflicts and up to three internal conflicts in the novel. External Conflicts: Internal Conflicts: SECTION SEVEN: Characterization: In three to five sentences, explain how one character has changed by the end of the novel as a result of an internal conflict. Provide one concrete detail from the beginning of the novel and one from the end of the novel to support your explanation.