A character in a poem may remind you of your father, but the poem itself is NOT about your father. Use knowledge of your father, however, to show how it helped you arrive at your interpretation of the poem. You must settle on ONE interpretation of the story. Your answer will be an interpretation. It will not, however, be the working thesis that shapes your paper.
Interpretation moves beyond our emotional response.
The four elements of interpretation are observing, connecting, inferring, concluding. Before you construct a working thesis for your essay, you must zoom in on one or more of the elements of fiction that you would like to explore. Elements of fiction include character, plot, atmosphere and setting, language, point of view, theme. It is difficult to differentiate plot from character in writing an essay about a short story. In considering plot, look at the conflict that exists in the story.