Textual Analysis Chart

5- Example provides significant insight 4- Example is powerful and 3- Example is meaningful, but I 2- Example is weak or 1- I just grabbed any example
into the character, author, or other parts contributes to the reader’s could have found a better irrelevant. from the text. I need to read the
of the text. The meaning or the plot would understanding of the text. example. text more closely.
be altered without this example.

RATE Textual Example Effects of Writing Style Historical, Social, Political, and Cultural Context
Provide the text and page # Literary Devices, Rhetorical Devices, Diction, Syntax, Structure Author’s Background
How does the example relate to history? How does the example
highlight issues of racism, classism, sexism, and other systemic issues?
How does the example connect to the author’s background and/or
philosophies?

“I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like
5 those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one
of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man
of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids --
and I might even be said to possess a mind.”
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Prologue
Digital Copy PDF page 3
Syntax- The prologue starts with a simple sentence that forces the
reader to inquire about the nature of the narrator’s invisibility; in
turn, the narrator is forced to expound further through the use of
complex sentences.
Syntax- Through the use of varied punctuation and academic
language, the narrator not only reinforces the idea that he is
physically human, but that he is also an intellectual being.
Allusion- The narrator suggests that despite societal stereotypes,
he is an intellectual being that is familiar with literature.
Diction- Words such as “spook” and “ectoplasm” suggest that the
narrator may be viewed as menacing by other characters.
The narrator’s invisibility is rooted in his identity as an oppressed
African American man.
Institutional racism not only marginalizes people physically, but
also socially.
By presenting the narrator as an intellectual being, Ellison
challenges dominant ideologies of African American men.
Ellison was considered a scholar who viewed “culture and
intellectualism as a source of identity.” –From Biography.com
RATE Textual Example Effects of Writing Style Historical, Social, Political, and Cultural Context
Provide the page # Literary Devices, Rhetorical Devices, Diction, Syntax, Structure What events from history are How does this example highlight issues of
racism, classism, sexism, and other systemic issues?