At a first glance, especially from one with a mindset like mine, there seems to be little difference between what is required in a summary of anything and an analysis of it. Thanks to a little patience, and a long presentation, I can say with certainty that this assignment will be more of a summary of what I have learned than an analysis of anything.
A summary is as simple as a restatement or rehash of what has already been said or done. It is so easy, even children, as young as 5 or 6, can do it! How often do parents, entering the room to find an all out brawl among the siblings, ask any child what happened and get a good enough explanation to pass judgment in the case? Even better, ask a child to tell you their favorite story or about their favorite movie. A summary answers the basic who, what, where, when, how. It is as simple as this: The Lion King is about a lion cub named Simba who runs away from home after his uncle kills his dad and lays the guilt at his feet. Years later an encounter with a childhood friend reveals the deplorable state of his home under his uncle’s rule and compels him to return and reclaim his title and responsibility as king.
An analysis is much more difficult to accomplish, as it requires a questioning and understanding mind. It requires going beyond just looking at the details of what is there, but also why do you think it is there. Asking the why questions, one for which there is not often a clear, stated answer, forms the basis for an analytical argument. The easiest, and possibly some of the best, analyses are born out of questions that naturally arise when you are simply willing to take a closer look and the “weird stuff.” Put better, try to find the things that naturally stick out to you as being a little different than what you would expect; the “moments of cognitive dissonance” as the power point presentation called it. Now, don’t forget that there is a place for summary and facts in an analysis. On the Northern Virginia Community College’s web site, they give some advice for writing analyses of literature. Here you can see how they stress the importance of gathering the who’s, what’s where’s and when’s. After all, these facts will be the data to support your claims. Take those moments and the facts and develop your opinion of them and enjoy it! This will be one of the few times when your opinion is not only allowed, but the whole point! In The Lion King, why does the turning point come when Rafiki the monkey and a storm cloud, bearing the face of Simba’s long dead father shows up and give cryptic advice to the protagonist? I would argue that the story, though bearing an African feel with character names being Swahili words and African style music and lyrics, is quite reminisce of Judeo-Christian theology and story types, with the devil, dire consequences for following his advice, and saving coming in the form of a priest type character and an experience with an all powerful father figure.
Ok, so maybe I was wrong, there is a little more analysis than I thought...
I really liked your description because it used a good analogy to describe your point about summary and it was interesting. I think that we all have a much better understand of these two terms after the lecture video because I certainly didn't before. But reading others ideas about these really helps create a clear picture. Thank you for helping put these ideas into clearer perspective for me. I also liked your use of the Lion King as an example. Very interesting analysis too. Not sure whether I agree or disagree, but it was interesting to think about. Good job! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that a summary and an analysis are really similar and you have to really break it down to distinguish the two. I liked how you represented the different ideas with your examples. Especially the one where the kids had to explain the scenario of what happened. I like how you really emphasized the differences between the summary and the analysis to ensure clarity.
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