Using Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools in Literary Analysis

Liza Long

2 Using Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools in Literary Analysis

Android sheep grazing an a computerized meadow — *This image of android sheep grazing in a digital meadow was created in a chat with Microsoft Copilot, which uses the DALL-E3 image generator.*

Generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini can be useful as you learn new ways to engage with literary texts. Some of the critical theories we will study are difficult, and having a personalized tutor will help you to better understand these concepts.

This chapter is an example of hybrid writing, which means I have written some of the text with assistance from ChatGPT, but I take overall responsibility for the tone and content of the chapter. Hybrid writing like this will likely play a role in most workplaces within the next few years, so I think it’s important to practice and reflect on the skills that are most important to us as writers in the age of generative artificial intelligence.

I want to cover a few important skills that you’ll learn and practice in this course, exploring ways that generative AI tools can help you to become a better reader and writer in preparation for future college coursework and your career.

Practicing Transferable Skills through Literary Analysis

First, let’s think about the skills we are building in this course. I like to highlight transferable skills. These are skills that are important for our subject matter–literary analysis–but also have applications in other contexts including your future career, whether or not you end up studying literature as a professional.

These skills are not only crucial for academic success but are also highly sought after in the workplace. Here are some transferable skills that ChatGPT and I agree are important for you to practice in this course:

Critical Thinking: Analyzing literature requires students to assess arguments, identify underlying themes, and evaluate the credibility of sources. This skill is essential in any field that involves problem-solving or decision-making.
Analytical Reasoning/Problem Solving: Literary analysis involves breaking down complex texts, identifying patterns, and understanding relationships between different elements of a story. This sharpens analytical reasoning, which is crucial in data analysis, scientific research, and strategic planning. It also helps students to practice problem solving by considering different approaches and strategies to use with texts.
Communication Skills: By writing essays and discussing literary works, students learn to articulate their thoughts clearly and persuasively. Strong written and verbal communication skills are critical in almost every profession.
Empathy and Emotional Intelligence: Literature often explores diverse human experiences and emotions. Engaging with these texts helps students develop empathy and emotional intelligence, which are important for teamwork, leadership, and customer relations.
Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity: Analyzing literature from different cultures and historical periods can increase students’ understanding of diverse perspectives, fostering cultural awareness and sensitivity, an essential mindset in a global workforce.
Attention to Detail: Close reading of texts enhances students’ ability to notice small details that contribute to a larger understanding. This skill is vital in professions requiring precision, such as law, finance, and engineering.
Creativity and Innovation: Engaging with literary texts encourages imaginative thinking and the ability to see things from multiple perspectives. Creativity is a valuable asset in fields such as marketing, product development, and the arts. Creative writing students in this course should definitely focus on the texts we read and take note of how they work.
Research Skills: Literary analysis may involve researching historical context, author backgrounds, and critical perspectives. These research skills are applicable in any profession that requires gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing information. Students will also learn to apply different research skills depending on the critical method they choose.

Which of these skills are most important to you personally? Where do you already have strengths? Where do you hope to improve during this course?

Using Generative AI to Augment, Not Replace, Human Intelligence

Next, let’s consider how we might use generative AI tools to assist with the development of these skills. I introduce generative AI in this course because I believe based on my own experience that using these tools can significantly enhance students’ understanding of literature by providing them with new ways to explore, analyze, and engage with texts.

The one thing you should not use a chatbot for is to replace you, the human in this class. If you don’t understand why you shouldn’t just have a chatbot write your whole discussion response or essay for you, then we need to talk–and we probably will. In my experience teaching with generative AI tools since early 2023, I’ve found that one thing AI is not particularly good at is writing a meaningful literary analysis. Maybe that’s because literature was written by humans, for humans. If you’re taking this class, the whole point is to read and write about what you read. If you don’t want to do this, then literary analysis is not the right course for you.

I’ve provided model AI-written essays throughout the book so that you can see for yourself why you should not just have generative AI write your essays for you. These essays are superficially pretty. They “sound” nice, But they are boring. They don’t make any interesting points about the work, and they are sometimes factually incorrect.

In short, you should do this work because this is work you love. That’s why I read and write.

But chatbots can also be pretty great at improving our understanding of literature and providing us with scaffolding as we climb to new heights with some difficult critical theories. That’s why I don’t want you to use generative AI tools to replace your own work, but I do want you to use them to augment your work and your understanding of these texts.

Here are some specific ways literature students can use generative AI tools to improve their work in this course:

Basic Textual Analysis and Interpretation

Students can chat with a generative AI tool to better understand challenging excerpts from a text or critical theory. They can ask for explanations or summaries, helping them better understand difficult language or concepts. I have created custom GPTs using the ChatGPT 4o model to help you understand the critical theories we will learn in this course. By discussing a passage with a chatbot, students can explore multiple interpretations, gaining insights into various ways the text can be understood.

Literary Themes and Motifs

Students can ask a chatbot to help them identify recurring themes or motifs in a text. I recommend that you try this on your own first, then compare your findings with the chatbot’s output to see patterns and connections they might have missed. Don’t be afraid to challenge the chatbot or disagree with an interpretation!

Character Analysis

Students can ask chatbots to help create detailed character profiles, including motivations, relationships, and development throughout the text. Creative writing students should note that chatbots can also work as developmental editors to help them flesh out characters in creative works. Students can also ask chatbots to help them track complex relationships in narratives.

Historical and Cultural Context Research

Students can use chatbots to quickly gather information on the historical or cultural background of a text, deepening their understanding of the work’s context. These tools can also provide summaries of an author’s life and other works (when appropriate–not all the critical lenses we study care about the author). Be very careful with how you use chatbots here. Make sure you verify any information with a trusted source–either your own reading of the text, or a scholarly, peer-reviewed source. Even Wikipedia has a better track record of factual accuracy than generative AI.

Literary Criticism

Students can explore different critical approaches we’ll learn in this book (e.g., feminist, Marxist, psychoanalytic, deconstruction, ecocriticism, etc.) by asking a chatbot to explain how these theories can be applied to a text. Students can also use these tools to brainstorm possible thesis statements or essay topics (see the prompt example in the inset box).

Essay Writing Assistance

Generative AI tools can help students outline their essays by organizing their thoughts and providing structure for their arguments. Students can also ask AI to write rough drafts of introductions and conclusions that they can later refine and make their own. Chatbots are also pretty good at providing feedback on essay organization and helping with academic tone.

I personally use a custom GPT I created called “TLDR” (Too Long Didn’t Read) to provide three-five key takeaways from essays I write. This helps me to ensure that the points I wanted to make come across clearly to the reader (or at least to the chatbot). You can see examples of this on my Substack, Artisanal Intelligence.

But How Do I Actually Use Generative AI?

I’m so glad you asked! We are all learning together, but for me, writing this textbook was an excellent primer to how to use generative AI tools. You can read through my prompts in the appendix to the book. You’ll notice that when I started out, I was not very good at it, and I struggled to get the results I wanted. I was fortunate to be working with a subject that I know well, and I verified any facts the chatbot gave me with factual sources.

But ultimately, working with ChatGPT to produce this textbook was a fun experience. I felt like I had a personal “writing buddy” to keep me on track, to help me focus my ideas, and to generate ideas for discussion questions about literature. I could have done this work all by myself, but I liked having the support. And writer’s block does not exist as long as you can think of questions to ask.

One useful application of generative AI tools in this course is to have a chatbot help you generate ideas. Below I have drafted (with ChatGPT’s help) an example prompt you could use for an essay, followed by ChatGPT 4o’s response (August 10, 2024). Note that you would not want to write about all of the motifs and themes the chatbot identifies. You would want to choose a single approach that resonates with your own understanding of the book.

When you are working with any generative AI tool, whether you choose ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, or Claude (my personal favorite), giving the chatbot a role helps the chatbot understand the context and the type of response you are looking for. In my example below, I have asked the chatbot to take on the role of a literature professor. This can make the responses more tailored and insightful.

If you’re brand new, here are two short training videos I created to explain how to prompt ChatGPT (you’ll need to create a free account first) and Microsoft Copilot (you already have an account through your student email).

Example Prompt and Response

Prompt: “As a literature professor, can you help me identify and understand the major themes and motifs in Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro? I’m particularly interested in how these themes are developed through the characters and events, and how the motifs contribute to the overall message of the book.”

ChatGPT 4o response:

Certainly! In Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, several major themes and motifs are woven throughout the narrative, offering a deep exploration of human nature, technology, and the complexities of love and connection. Below, I’ll outline some of the key themes and motifs, along with how they are developed in the story.

Major Themes:

Artificial Intelligence and Humanity:
- Exploration: One of the central themes of Klara and the Sun is the exploration of what it means to be human. Through the eyes of Klara, an Artificial Friend (AF), Ishiguro delves into the nature of consciousness, identity, and the ethical implications of AI. The novel raises questions about whether machines can possess human-like qualities such as empathy, understanding, and even a soul.
- Development: Klara’s interactions with the human characters, particularly Josie and her family, highlight the complexities of these relationships. Despite being a machine, Klara exhibits a deep desire to understand and connect with humans, challenging the notion that emotions and consciousness are uniquely human traits.
Loneliness and Connection:
- Exploration: The theme of loneliness and the human need for connection is pervasive in the novel. The characters, including Klara, experience isolation in various forms—Josie’s illness isolates her from her peers, while Klara, despite being surrounded by people, struggles with her non-human nature that distances her from them.
- Development: The novel explores how the characters seek connection in a world where relationships are increasingly mediated by technology. Klara’s relationship with Josie becomes a focal point, as it underscores the tension between genuine human connection and the artificial companionship offered by technology.
Sacrifice and Love:
- Exploration: The theme of sacrifice, particularly in the context of love, is another crucial element of the novel. Klara’s devotion to Josie leads her to make significant sacrifices, demonstrating a form of love that blurs the line between human and machine.
- Development: This theme is developed through Klara’s actions, such as her attempts to bargain with the Sun to save Josie. Klara’s understanding of love and sacrifice is portrayed as deeply altruistic, raising questions about the nature of love and whether it is rooted in human experience or something broader.
Mortality and the Fragility of Life:
- Exploration: Mortality is a recurring theme, particularly through Josie’s illness, which serves as a constant reminder of the fragility of life. The novel juxtaposes human mortality with the potential immortality of artificial beings, prompting readers to reflect on what gives life meaning.
- Development: Klara’s observations of the world around her, particularly her reverence for the Sun, symbolize a kind of spiritual awareness that contrasts with the clinical, technological world the characters inhabit. This tension underscores the theme of mortality and the search for meaning.

Key Motifs:

The Sun:
- Symbolism: The Sun is a significant motif throughout the novel, symbolizing life, hope, and possibly a higher power. For Klara, the Sun is almost a deity-like figure, representing a source of energy and life.
- Contribution to Themes: The Sun’s role in Klara’s worldview adds depth to the theme of faith and belief, suggesting that even an artificial being can possess a sense of spirituality. It also connects to the theme of mortality, as Klara’s reliance on the Sun highlights the dependence all beings—human and artificial—have on external sources of life.
Windows and Reflections:
- Symbolism: Windows and reflections are recurring motifs that symbolize the boundary between different worlds—inside and outside, human and machine, reality and perception.
- Contribution to Themes: These motifs emphasize the theme of isolation and the desire for connection, as characters often view the world through barriers, both physical and metaphorical. Klara’s frequent observations through windows reflect her status as an outsider looking in, underscoring the novel’s exploration of identity and belonging.
Illness and Healing:
- Symbolism: Illness, particularly Josie’s, is a motif that represents vulnerability and the limitations of both human and artificial life. Healing, on the other hand, symbolizes the desire for control over fate and the boundaries of existence.
- Contribution to Themes: The motif of illness ties into the themes of mortality and sacrifice. Klara’s attempts to heal Josie highlight the limitations of technology and the profound human fear of losing loved ones, as well as the lengths to which beings (human or artificial) will go to preserve life.

Overall Message:

The overall message of Klara and the Sun revolves around the exploration of what it means to be human in a world where technology increasingly blurs the lines between artificial and natural life. Through its themes and motifs, the novel invites readers to reflect on the nature of consciousness, the need for connection, and the ethical boundaries of technology. Klara’s journey serves as a poignant reminder that the essence of humanity may lie not just in our biology but in our capacity for love, sacrifice, and belief (“As a Literature Professor,” August 10, 2024).

One thing I like to do after reading a response like this is to pick it apart and ask more questions. Do I really agree that this is the overall message of Klara and the Sun? I don’t, actually. I think the book uses an unreliable narrator to warn readers about the development of technologies like artificial intelligence without clear ethical guidelines. Make sure you don’t let generative AI tools do your thinking for you. I encourage you to pick apart their responses and disagree, just as I have demonstrated in my annotations to the model essays throughout this text.

How Do I Acknowledge and Cite My Use of Generative AI Tools?

Again, I am glad you asked. Since we are all learning together, I allow pretty much any use of generative AI that you can think of, with the understanding that you must cite and acknowledge your use. This includes sharing your prompt and the chatbot’s responses, as I did above. Depending on the tool you use, you may be able to share a link to the chat, or you may need to download your chat and save it as an appendix. You can also take screenshots.

You will not be penalized for any AI use in this class as long as you cite and acknowledge (aka show your work). But I may ask you to meet with me to discuss your AI use if I feel that the way you are using these tools is harming your ability to learn and practice the skills covered at the beginning of the chapter.

The specific information on citing generative AI in MLA style is taken from “Acknowledging and Citing Generative AI in Academic Work” in Write What Matters by Liza Long, CC BY 4.0.

One note: it’s important to remember that not all instructors allow students to use generative AI in their assignments. You should check with your individual instructor for their policies. When in doubt, ask!

Before You Use, Reflect: Why and How Am I Using Generative AI?

As an instructor and a writer, I have found that generative artificial intelligence tools can be helpful to explore ideas, refine research questions, outline arguments, and break down difficult concepts for students. When my students use ChatGPT, I ask them to include a citation to the tool they used and also to provide a brief reflection about how they used ChatGPT and how they checked the information for accuracy. Here is an example of a reflection from Luka Denney’s essay in Beginnings and Endings, a student-created open education resource.

For this essay, I used Chat GPT as a resource to give me a summary of the feminist and queer theory analysis lens, “Feminist queer theory is a critical analysis lens that combines feminist theory and queer theory to examine how gender and sexuality intersect and shape social power dynamics. This approach challenges the dominant cultural norms that promote heteronormativity, gender binary, and patriarchy, which result in marginalizing individuals who do not conform to these norms.” With this, it helped me better understand the material so I could write better essays. This information was accessed on May 6th, 2023.

Reflecting on how and why you are using generative AI can help you to ensure that you are not plagiarizing from this tool. Luka’s reflection is an example of an acknowledgement statement, which is separate from a citation. Increasingly, students should become familiar with AI acknowledgement statements and clarify with their instructors when these statements are needed.

Suggestions for Acknowledging Use of AI

Monash University provides helpful recommendations for how to acknowledge when and how you’ve used generated material as part of an assignment or project. If you decide to use generative artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT for an assignment, it’s a best practice to include a statement that does the following:

Provides a written acknowledgment of the use of generative artificial intelligence.
Specifies which technology was used.
Includes explicit descriptions of how the information was generated.
Identifies the prompts used.
Explains how the output was used in your work.

The format Monash University provides is also helpful. Students may include this information either in a cover letter or in an appendix to the submitted work.

I acknowledge the use of [insert AI system(s) and link] to [specific use of generative artificial intelligence]. The prompts used include [list of prompts]. The output from these prompts was used to [explain use].

Citing AI Chatbots in MLA Style

As noted above, many chatbots will allow you to share links to your specific chats. It’s a best practice to include those links in your Works Cited. When links are not available, download the conversation or take screenshots and attach it as an appendix to your work. Here’s an example of a shared chat link in ChatGPT 3.5. When you click on the link, you’ll be able to see both the author’s prompts and the chatbot’s responses. Including links provides transparency for your writing process.

The Modern Language Association (MLA) uses a template of core elements to create citations for a Works Cited page. MLA asks students to apply this approach when citing any type of generative AI in their work. They provide the following guidelines:

Cite a generative AI tool whenever you paraphrase, quote, or incorporate into your own work any content (whether text, image, data, or other) that was created by it.
Acknowledge all functional uses of the tool (like editing your prose or translating words) in a note, your text, or another suitable location.
Take care to vet the secondary sources it cites. (MLA)

Here are some examples of how to use and cite generative AI with MLA style:

Example One: Paraphrasing Text

Let’s say that I am trying to generate ideas for a paper on Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” I ask ChatGPT to provide me with a summary and identify the story’s main themes. Here’s a link to the chat. I decide that I will explore the problem of identity and self-expression in my paper.

Screenshot of the linked ChatGPT conversation about Charlotte Gilman Perkins short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper."

My Paraphrase of ChatGPT with In-Text Citation

The problem of identity and self expression, especially for nineteenth-century women, is a major theme in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (“Summarize the short story”).

Works Cited Entry

“Summarize the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Include a breakdown of the main themes” prompt. ChatGPT. 24 May Version, OpenAI, 20 Jul. 2023, https://chat.openai.com/share/d1526b95-920c-48fc-a9be-83cd7dfa4be5

Example Two: Quoting Text

In the same chat, I continue to ask ChatGPT about the theme of identity and self expression. Here’s an example of how I could quote the response in the body of my paper:

When I asked ChatGPT to describe the theme of identity and self expression, it noted that the eponymous yellow wallpaper acts as a symbol of the narrator’s self-repression. However, when prompted to share the scholarly sources that formed the basis of this observation, ChatGPT responded, “As an AI language model, I don’t have access to my training data, but I was trained on a mixture of licensed data, data created by human trainers, and publicly available data. OpenAI, the organization behind my development, has not publicly disclosed the specifics of the individual datasets used, including whether scholarly sources were specifically used” (“Summarize the short story”).

It’s worth noting here that ChatGPT can “hallucinate” fake sources. As a Microsoft training manual notes, these chatbots are “built to be persuasive, not truthful” (Weiss &Metz, 2023). The May 24, 2023 version will no longer respond to direct requests for references; however, I was able to get around this restriction fairly easily by asking for “resources” instead.

When I ask for resources to learn more about “The Yellow Wallpaper,” here is one source it recommends: “Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper: A Symptomatic Reading” by Elaine R. Hedges: This scholarly article delves into the psychological and feminist themes of the story, analyzing the narrator’s experience and the implications of the yellow wallpaper on her mental state. It’s available in the journal “Studies in Short Fiction.” (“Summarize the short story”).

Using Google Scholar, I look up this source to see if it’s real. Unsurprisingly, this source is not a real one, but it does lead me to another (real) source:

Kasmer, Lisa. “Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s’ The Yellow Wallpaper’: A Symptomatic Reading.” Literature and Psychology 36.3 (1990): 1.

Note: ALWAYS check any sources that ChatGPT or other generative AI tools recommend.

A Checklist for Acknowledging and Citing Generative AI Tools

In conclusion, it’s important to follow these five steps if you are considering whether or not to use and cite generative artificial intelligence in your academic work:

Check with your instructor to make sure you have permission to use these tools (in this class, you do).
Reflect on how and why you want to use generative artificial intelligence in your work. If the answer is “to save time” or “so I don’t have to do the work myself,” think about why you are in college in the first place. What skills are you supposed to practice through this assignment? Will using generative artificial intelligence really save you time in the long run if you don’t have the opportunity to learn and practice these skills?
If you decide to use generative artificial intelligence, acknowledge your use in an appendix.
Cite your use of generative artificial intelligence both in text and on a Works Cited page.
Always check the information provided by a generative artificial intelligence tool against a trusted source. Be especially careful of any sources that generative artificial intelligence provides.

These tools are rapidly evolving and have the potential to transform the way that we think and write. But just as you should not use a calculator to solve a math equation unless you understand the necessary steps to perform the calculation, you should also be careful about “outsourcing” your thinking and writing to ChatGPT.

Works Cited

Denney, Luka. “Your Body, Your Choice: At Least, That’s How It Should Be.” Beginnings and Endings: A Critical Edition, 2023, https://cwi.pressbooks.pub/beginnings-and-endings-a-critical-edition/chapter/feminist-5/.

Long, Liza. “Acknowledging and Citing Generative AI in Academic Work.” Write What Matters, 2023. https://idaho.pressbooks.pub/write/chapter/citing-generative-ai-in-academic-work/

Modern Language Association. “How Do I Cite Generative AI in MLA Style?” MLA Style Center, Accessed 17 Mar. 2023, https://style.mla.org/citing-generative-ai/.

Monash University. “Acknowledging the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence.” Monash University, Accessed 17 Mar. 2023, https://www.monash.edu/learnhq/build-digital-capabilities/create-online/acknowledging-the-use-of-generative-artificial-intelligence.