Laura Quinn highlights the differences between summary
and analysis by taking a passage from one of the class reading
assignments and then writing two different passages about it.
After providing these models for her class, she has the class
define what features make a piece of writing a summary or an
analysis. She then displays student essays and has the class
identify portions that summarize and others that analyze.
Here Quinn writes about a passage from Alex
Kotlowitz's There Are No Children Here:
Summary
In the section of the book in which Lafeyette is compulsively
cleaning the apartment a week after Craig's funeral, there is
a paragraph that details his cleaning efforts, introducing specific
objects that he cleans. He is cleaning the usual sorts of things
such as linoleum and rugs, arranging chairs and tables, but
he also straightens up a number of objects. These include the
broken clock that Lelia Mae gave as a present to LaJoe, knickknacks
and mementos on the rickety shelf, framed color photos of the
kids in the family, a pair of white hands in prayer, a green
ceramic frog that is missing a leg, and an iron horse statue.
As he is doing this, Lafeyette picks up the statue of the horse
and admires it. Kotlowitz tells us that it seemed as though
Lafie was looking for answers from that horse. This lets us
know that he is having trouble finding answers anywhere else--answers
that he needs to the turmoil of his life.
Analysis
In the section of the book in which Lafeyette is compulsively
cleaning the apartment a week after Craig's funeral, there is
a paragraph that details his cleaning efforts, introducing specific
objects that he cleans. The purpose of this paragraph is to
remind us of the physical conditions under which Lafie lives
and to emphasize that his resources for understanding and improving
his life are limited by these physical conditions. Several objects
that he straightens up are broken or marred in some way: the
clock broke the same day Lelia Mae gave it to LaJoe as a gift,
the metal shelves are "rickety and wobbly to the touch," and
the green frog is missing a leg. We are reminded that the family
has the same sorts of decorative possessions found in most homes,
yet these are fragile and haven't stood up to any wear and tear.
The sentence on the clock reminds us that there is family feeling
and connection here--a pendulum clock is a nice gift for the
grandmother to give to her daughter, LaJoe, and no doubt the
gift and the thought behind it were appreciated. There is love
in this family. But the family is poor and all that Lelia Mae
could afford was a cheap clock that broke the same day. The
fact that time has stopped at 5:25 suggests that time has stopped
for this family in terms of their getting ahead or making progress
toward a better physical place to live. The color photos also
are signs of normal family life, but in this family they have
to stand on a metal shelf that wobbles. Again, normality and
dysfunction are paired. The juxtaposition of the frog with the
missing leg and the iron horse which is still intact is important.
Both are animal figures, representing a natural world that is
far away from the Henry Horner projects. Their presence on the
wobbly metal shelf is an attempt to bring that natural world-which
children are normally attracted to-into this urban nightmare.
The frog, like the clock and shelf, is marred by being broken,
by having a missing leg. But the horse is still in one piece
and can represent wholeness and "grace and beauty" to Lafeyette.
It makes sense, then, that he holds up the horse statue and
seems to be turning to it for answers. This is an uplifting
image. But it is still sad that this is, after all, only a statue
of a horse and it will not be able to supply any answers to
the difficult questions that Lafeyette has about his life and
that of his family and community.
