The SIFT Method of Liteary Analysis with "Eveline"
Using the SIFT method of literary analysis, you can “sift” through the parts in order to comprehend the whole.
S Symbol: examine the title and text of story for symbolism
I Images: identify images and sensory details
F Figures of Speech: analyze figurative language and other devices
T Tone and Theme: discuss how all devices reveal tone and theme
Make sure that you respond to each prompt in complete sentences.
SYMBOL: A symbol can be an object, a setting, an event, an animal, or even a person that functions in the story the way you’d expect it to, but it also stands for something more than itself, usually for something abstract and has a great deal of emphasis. Symbols are often visual and reappear throughout the story.
SYMBOL: Find one in the story & list it below.
Describe HOW the author uses the symbol. WHY did the author use the symbol? Tell me what the author wants you to LEARN from the symbol. What’s the deeper MEANING?
Tell me WHERE it appears in the story and what ROLE it plays in the story.
EXAMPLE: Water/Sea
EXAMPLE: At the end of the story, Eveline can’t make a decision. The sea represents freedom, which is the same as the unknown to Eveline. She is afraid of both freedom and the unknown.
EXAMPLE: Eveline is not ready for the unknown, and she feels like Frank is pressuring her. She says, “all the seas of the world tumble[d] about her heart” (Joyce 128).
IMAGERY: Writers use language to create sensory impressions and to evoke specific responses to characters, objects, events, or situations in their works. The writer “shows” rather than “tells” in order to allow the reader to participate in the experience of what they are reading. Therefore, imagery helps to produce mood and tone.
IMAGERY: Find one in the story & list it below.
What imagery does the author use to help you see, hear, taste, smell, or FEEL what is happening?
What EFFECT is the author trying to convey with these images?
EXAMPLE: Eveline sitting and watching the sunset on the avenue
EXAMPLE: As Eveline looks around her home, she is “reviewing all its familiar objects which she had dusted once a week for so many years, wondering where on earth all the dust came from” (Joyce 124). She continues the description of her home focusing on the “yellowing photograph hung on the wall above the broken harmonium:” (Joyce 124).
EXAMPLE: Eveline’s description of her home makes it seem more real. If she leaves with Frank, she may never see her home again. She focuses on each detail as if she wants to remember it forever.
FIGURES OF SPEECH: Writers form images by using figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, hyperbole, personification, etc.
FIGURES OF SPEECH: Find one in the story & list it below.
What is an example in the story?
How do it help to convey effect and meaning in the story?
EXAMPLE: Eveline repeats several times that Frank will save her.
It seems that Eveline has made a decision and plans to join Frank, “Escape! She must escape! Frank would save her” (Joyce 127).
It appears she is trying to convince herself that leaving with Frank is the right decision. If she leaves with Frank, then she will be happy and safe. She will have the chance for happiness.
TONE: Tone is the author’s attitude, stated or implied, toward a subject. A close examination of word choice, imagery, and detail reveals the narrator’s attitude or tone and contributes to the reader’s understanding
TONE: Come up with a tone word on your own & list it below.
WHAT is the tone of the story?
HOW did you know this was the tone?
EXAMPLE: Melancholy
EXAMPLE: Eveline has this melancholy feeling because she’s wondering if she’s betraying her town for leaving home. The people who leave aren’t liked anymore by the ones who stayed. She’s realizing that if she leaves she would be one of those people.
EXAMPLE: On her mother’s death bed Eveline made a “promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could” (Joyce 22). Now she’s starting to feel guilty for wanting to leave and not keeping the home together.
THEME: Ask yourself what ideas emerge from the reading--- injustice, social protest, corruption, tradition, individuality, etc. What are two thematic words that come to mine? Explain in one or two sentences what the author says about each of these subjects.
Subject #1 (use a thematic word): _____________________________________________________
What does the author have to say about the subject?
Subject #2 (use a thematic word): _______________________________________________________
What does the author have to say about the subject?