• Who are the main characters? Do they change in any way? How are they related to one another?
• In what way are the events of the story structured?
• Is there a surprise twist in the plot?
• Are the events foreshadowed?
• Does the story contain flashbacks?
• Is there a central conflict?
• Is the story ironic in any way?
• Is it comic? Tragic? A mixture of the two?
• What is the setting (the time and place) of the story?
• Is the atmosphere of the story important?
• Is the narrator realistic? Impressionistic? Magical? Fantastic? Surreal?
• What kind of narrator tells the story?
• Does the title relate to the meaning of the story?
• What is the theme of the story?
• How does style shape the meaning of the story?

"All manner of thing shall be well/ When the tongues of flame are in-folded/ Into the crowned knot of fire/ And the fire and the rose are one." -- T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding