If you're new to analyzing literature or film, it can be difficult to find a good space to begin. All jokes aside about the decline of media literacy, a lot of people haven't been taught the very basics of story analysis. If this describes you, please give yourself some grace. Access to an adequate education is not as easy as it used to be, and the capitalistic and consumerist culture many of us live within discourages intellectual thought and identity.
Here is a very basic template for literary (or any media) analysis. I'm sure someone else has done this with more depth, so feel free to point in positive directions if the spirit moves you. You can expand on anything I've missed if you'd like as well.
Plot: Just the facts, no interpretations (yet).
What happened in the story?
Why did it happen that way?
What are the primary motivations of the society portrayed in the work?
Who are the primary, secondary, and tertiary characters?
Who is the protagonist?
Who are the antagonists? (This can be multiple people or it can include the work's society and world).
Characters: Here we use plot facts to understand what the work is stating or implying about human behavior.
What does the character you're focusing on value? Why? How do you know (facts go here)?
What puts the characters in conflict with one another? Are they internal (personality traits, for example) or external (circumstances)? Why? How do you know (facts go here)?
How does this character interact with the world? Are they pragmatic or idealistic? Do they have a moral compass? Are they rational or reactionary? What are their priorities? Why? How do you know (facts go here)?
Interpretation: This is where we identify the messages the story is trying to send. Themes go here.
Was the story a tragedy, a comedy, a parable, a fable, a cautionary tale?
How did the story end? Did the protagonist succeed? Was that a good thing? Why? How do you know (facts again)? What do you think?
Was there an obvious moral? Or was there a seeming moral that the plot (and/or narrative) undermined? What was the message? How do you know (facts)? What do you think?
How does the story reflect life or the world we live in? What is the author pointing out to the audience?
Do you see any aspects of the story that fit social stereotypes? Why? What is the author saying or implying about that group? Why? How do you know?
What were you asked to think about? Why? How do you know?
What cultural conditions were present? Why? What is the author saying or implying about that? How do you know?
You can ask lots of different kinds of questions here, as long as you have a why and how (the facts) that corresponds with your idea.
