Happy Monday! No, really. Happy Monday! If I *have* to get out of bed and come to work, I’d rather be here with y’all rather than any place else. 🙂

We are spending the next few days preparing to write a literary analysis with your table group.

In the group analysis chart for The Metamorphosis, Philip Niemeyer is an art director who interpreted American life through this chart. On the left side, Niemeyer lists elements that he interprets (e.g. fears, fads, couples), and across the top, he lists the years in which these elements gained prominence. What makes this a great chart is that Niemeyer interprets our society metaphorically. For instance, in listing Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher as the couple of the year in 2004, he represents them with a picture of a cougar. This chart also has the three essential elements of analyzing and interpreting embedded in it: (1) it helps the reader gain a better understanding of a person, place, phenomenon, or thing – in this case, American society; (2) it takes a subject apart and closely examines how it trends; and (3) it considers the societal context involved.

	Chapter 1	Chapter 2	Chapter 3
Transformation
Isolation
Identity
Family
Existence
Noun
Most important quote or phrase

Here is an example of a completed chart over Romeo and Juliet created by a 9th grader: