The analysis of a specific author’s theory can apply to absolutely any movement ever created. It is a way to create subcategories within terms such as feminism, psychoanalysis, Transcendentalism etc., which may have a founding or primary author, but each has more than one theory developed within them. Psychoanalysis, for example, can study a case from a Freudian point of view or a Lacanian, always having the option to compare the two.

To successfully complete an analysis that bases itself on a specific author’s theory, you must have a good grasp on the events and language in the literary work, and access to a full set of the theory you wish to apply. Usually an author will have published an essay regarding their views, sometimes their theory is so extensive it fills an entire book. You may be able to use your notes from your teacher if you feel confident that you posses enough pointers to analyse and capture the whole theory, and that you need no more specification as you understand them all in the correct context. However, it is often a good idea to read the original writing specifying the different ideas within the theory, as you can make sure you understand how they all come together.

Either way, you need to read the theory in detail and pin point each attribute you can apply to the literary work. You must then defend your claim with specific examples from the literary work using examples or quotations to connect the theory and the evidence.

The idea of using a specific author’s theory is usually to stick to just one, as that will almost always give you a complete essay, regardless of its length. However, as stated above, you may wish to include more than one author’s theory, when still pertaining to the same category (psychoanalysis, feminism etc.) and clearly state where they differ, especially if the different authors interpret the same behaviour in different ways.

There are many interesting points of view you can take, the sky’s the limit, but remember that the literary work must clearly match the analysis theory, don’t try to force anything.