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| Skip Willman, brilliant literary lenses professor at USD |
1. Google "literary theory, literary lenses, literary criticism, critical approaches to literature, literary theory..."
2. Scroll down a bit to find a qualified, unique site.
3. Find a section that compels/interests you. Read it carefully.
4. Summarize and react in writing here, including the URL you enjoyed and understood.
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5. Then, apply literary theory to something else—something you have studied in school. Write about To Kill a Mockingbird, for example.
113 comments:
https://lib.pstcc.edu/c.php?g=106685&p=7483931
A literary lens helps you see different types of works in different ways. This is said to be done in a way of putting on a special pair of glasses that change your surroundings. This lens helps you focus on the work from different viewpoints. Four common lenses include a Marxist lens, Feminist/Gender lens, historical lens, psychoanalytic lens. Out of all the lenses, you can ask different questions for each to break down the work you are studying. Literary lenses help us understand the work in more detail.
The section I read related to literary theory focused specifically on critical racial theory. This passage focused mainly on the use of race and culture throughout literary works to draw attention to the problem of racism. It said that critical race theory was used mostly in the fields of philosophy, history, and law. There are many writers that are extremely prominent with their use of critical racial theory. They have many works of literature with the intent to bring light to the past or to change the future.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/critical_race_theory.html
https://lib.pstcc.edu/c.php?g=106685&p=7483931
A literary lens helps you see different types of works in different ways. This is said to be done in a way of putting on a special pair of glasses that change your surroundings. This lens helps you focus on the work from different viewpoints. Four common lenses include a Marxist lens, Feminist/Gender lens, historical lens, psychoanalytic lens. Out of all the lenses, you can ask different questions for each to break down the work you are studying. Literary lenses help us understand the work in more detail.
Psychological and psychoanalytic criticism explores psychoanalysis to shed light on the connection with the conflicting psychological states. For example, Freud's suggestions about Prince Hamlet. Hamlet is unable to kill his uncle because Claudius's crimes match his own. This is called the Oedipus complex. Subtler forms of psychoanalytic criticism allow for contradictory significance, rather than discovering hidden symbolism in literary works.
https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100352643
https://quillette.com/2018/04/15/stifling-uniformity-literary-theory/
The author is a professor at the University of Surrey. He says that whenever he teaches literary theory to his students he always makes sure to stress to them that "what they are studying is not Gospel, but rather highly opinionated men and women making very contentious statements about the world". The author then goes on to say that critical thinking cannot flourish in conditions where students are not able to question the material that is taught.
https://libguides.uta.edu/literarycriticism/theories
This article began with a short and basic explanation of what literary theory is. It also explains a little about how literary theory can help people view art and literature through the different lenses of literary theory. What I enjoyed about this article was that it had some of the lenses – feminism, marxism, and gender studies – as well as questions to ask to help you see in these different lenses. When reading with a feminist lens a question you could ask yourself is "Is the author male or female?" Depending on the gender of the author women and men might be portrayed differently. Another question is "What are the attitudes toward women held by the male characters?" An author may be hiding behind the acts of characters they are writing. In this article, there are also short descriptions of each lens. I personally believe the short description is more useful with the questions instead of long winding definitions.
The website I found,
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introliterature/chapter/introduction-to-critical-theory/
Lumenlearning stated that literary theory "became a profession in the 20th century". However, modern literary theory did not start to appear until the 1950s. Most people credit Ferdinand de Saussure as the person that started, or "influenced" this way of thinking into the English language. The article went on to state that literary theory was at its peak in the 1960s through the 1980s. Literary theory is based on two questions that readers ask themselves when analyzing a book, movie, or story. What is literature, and Why? The "Why" question can be interpreted in many different ways–including questions such as, Why did the author align the text in this specific order, or why did the author use this specific type of symbolism to compare characters? Does that character stand for something greater, or a bigger picture than what the character portrays in the book, story, or movie? The article then concluded by summarizing schools that are famous for using Literary Theory.
https://www.vonsteuben.org/ourpages/auto/2016/12/12/57998001/Eight%20Critical%20Lenses.pdf
This article discussed eight different lenses through which readers can view literature. The first lense is known as the reader response lense. Using this lens, the reader looks for personal meaning in the text. They observe how the text is both similar and different to their lives, and how it affects them. The next lens is the socio-economic lens. Through this lens, the reader observes socio-economic issues in the text, different demographics represented in the text, and what the text says about different social issues. The next lens is a historical lens. Using this lens can mean learning about the author's life and relating it to the text or researching and understanding the time period during which the text was written. Oftentimes, through using this lens, one's opinion and/or view of historical events can change. Next, is the gender lens. Using the gender lens allows the reader to notice gender-related issues and the significance of them in the text. Observing how gender stereotypes are either reinforced or undermined plays a huge role in using the gender lens. The race lens is another lens through which the reader can study literature. Using this lens, the reader searches for issues of race, heritage, and ethnicity and asks what the text is trying to say about these issues. Next is the new criticism lens. This lens focuses on the text itself. When using this lens the reader asks questions such as what types of symbolism and themes are in the text, and how does the story fit an archetype such as romance, tragedy, comedy, etc. The 7th lens is the psychological lens. Here, the reader looks for human behavior. The reader questions why certain characters act the way they do, and what the author is trying to say through their actions. The last lens mentioned is the spiritual lens. The reader observes what the text has to say about things such as faith, grace, love, forgiveness, and hope. When looking at literature through the spiritual lens, one will observe the character's belief in a higher power and how that belief drives them.
Literary theories were developed to understand the different ways that people read texts. We do this by using lenses to see the different elements of a certain piece of writing. No one idea is "better" than another one, it is just how the piece is interpreted by the reader. The most common theories are Archetypal, feminist, Marxist, and Psychoanalytic Criticism. These lenses are a way of opening up a reader's mind and showing them what the author is trying to portray when they say certain things. Though not all will see it the same way, these are basic guidelines for reading text.
http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf
https://libguides.rutgers.edu/c.php?g=336752&p=2267168
Mary Klages, author of Literary Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed, states that Literary Theory is a set, or multiple sets, of ideas that have greatly influenced how literature is taught in colleges and universities over the past thirty to forty years. She also declares that Literary Theory is a big umbrella covering a multitude of different ways to approach texts, "all of them examine factors that shape how a text is written and how we are able to read it."
I looked into literary critism or the analysis of text through various lenses that highlight authorial stance, purpose, and perspective (Lumen). This website was very interesting to read about because it explained how ever since people have been writing literature, people have been criticing it. The number of critics and ideas have grown significanly throughout the years due to more people becoming educated. This particular website highlighs 6 out of the 12 "schools" of literary cristicism. It shows how there are different lenses critics can look through in order to break down the text and to really analyis the text to form their own ideas about what they are absorbing. The different "schools" create different ideas to form and different meanings of the text. Overall I enjoyed reading about this and understanding that the perspective you look at the text has a huge effect of what the reader extracts.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp2kscopex92x2/chapter/what-is-literary-criticism/
Literary Criticism is almost like being a food critic but for books. In the section I looked at, I read a short criticism of a passage in a book. Writing literary criticism is not meant to summarize what the reader read but instead to explain what they believe is flawed in the exerpt. The criticism I read talked about how in the story Huck is describing a beautiful scene but uses words that conflict with the picture he is trying to paint. Literary Criticism is meant for diving deeper into the writing style and seeing the flawed portions of it.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/literary-criticism/
Masculine gender theory has focused on the social, literary, and historical accounts of the construction of male gender identities. The so-called “Men’s Movement,” inspired by Robert Bly's work, was more practical than it was theoretical and had a minimal impact on gender discourse. The energy for the "Men's Movement" came as a response to the critique of the male domination and masculinity that ran through the feminist movement.
https://iep.utm.edu/literary/#H6
The article I read was from the website "NewRepublic.com". The article went into a brief history of the complications and battles that literary theory and theorists have undergone since literature was starting to get analyzed. The article entails that over the past 60 years many changes have occurred to the ideas that were being developed from literature, as well as the types of people and groups that were analyzing the pieces. The article states that from the 1940s to the 1960s there was the understanding that developing a literary theory from a piece could be analyzed as being separate from politics. It then goes on to say that following the 1960s, a new generation of progressive and political theorist was starting to develop after many new movements during the decade (Feminist Movement, Gay Rights, anti-government, anti-racist, etc.). Now the discussion has turned to whether we should continue to look at literature through these lenses, or whether we should revert back to looking through our literary lenses from a non-political agenda. It makes sense that the analysis of looking at literature through a political agenda after all the important and vital movements of the 1960s and 1970s occurred. It makes sense because most literature is a direct reflection of the world we live in. Now it may try to avoid being directly associated with it by changing the time period, characters, setting, etc., but most of the time it can be identified as being relevant to the time period. I enjoyed this article because it made me think of the changes in literary theory that have gone on in the past, allowing me to look at both sides of how people studied literature in the past, both from a political and non-political lens.
https://newrepublic.com/article/145265/paradoxical-politics-literary-criticism
Most of the literary lenses that we see today did not become very prevalent until the 20th century. Marxist theory obviously didn't exist until the 1930s because Karl Marx was not a well-known name. The same thing can be said for the psychoanalytical lens with Sigmund Freud. The feminist lens is described in three waves. The first wave came during the whole 18th century, as women were trying to get rights. Then in the 1960s women were trying to be equal in the workplace. Finally, in the 1990s they started to object to the power of white males.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/index.html
Literary criticism has been used for centuries across the globe, even in places like ancient Greece and Rome. Literature used to be accessible only to the wealthy and educated, who would examine books through a historical-bibliographical lens, moral-philosophical lens, or with formalistic criticism. However, as people began to become more educated, reading became more accessible—which brought a wave of new ideas and approaches to literature. The three newer, more common ways to examine literature are psychological, feminist/gender, and sociological/Marxism.
Literary criticism has been used for centuries across the globe, even in places like ancient Greece and Rome. Literature used to be accessible only to the wealthy and educated, who would examine books through a historical-bibliographical lens, moral-philosophical lens, or with formalistic criticism. However, as people began to become more educated, reading became more accessible—which brought a wave of new ideas and approaches to literature. The three newer, more common ways to examine literature are psychological, feminist/gender, and sociological/Marxism.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp2kscopex92x2/chapter/what-is-literary-criticism/
Literary lenses are used to analyze different works from different viewpoints and it affects how you view your surroundings. The major types of lens are Marxist, Feminist, Historical, and Psychoanalytic. The Marxist Lens is used to analyze the class systems and social system issues used in the work. The Feminist, or Gender, the lens is used to anaylze gender issues and sexism used in the text. The Historical lens is used to analyze the work that you are studying as long as you have an understanding of the time period and basic background info. The Psychoanalytic lens is used to analyze the subconscious thoughts throughout the work, using Sigmund Freud's techniques.
https://libguides.uta.edu/literarycriticism/theories
This website first lists what the definition of literary theory is, followed by different types of literary theory. On this site, it has sections for feminism, marxism, new historicism, and gender studies. Within each of these sections, they define them and give examples for each. Looking through the feminist lens, you can tell the author's opinion based on how they portray women in the story. If the women in the book have basic roles or insignificant roles in society, the author is most likely not a feminist. Likewise, if the male characters have a negative outlook on women, it may reflect the opinion of the author, obviously, depending on the gender of the author. If the false stereotypes about women are portrayed in the writing, it could very easily be assumed that the author included this for a reason and I can notice this because of my ability to see this through a literary lens.
http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf
I read a section about Psychoanalytic Criticism specifically. It talks about how the personality of an author can dictate what something might actually mean in a work of literature. Fiction or nonfiction, a literary work can easily interpret the author's personality and conscience by the way the story flows and the way the characters act. Characters and even the story plot overall can show a reader a lot about the author's life in the past and maybe even the present. Reference to the author's personality can be used as a literary lens to what the author meant by putting a certain character or even to happen in the story.
I read a website that explained Cinderella through literary lenses. The first large point they brought up was that movie has lots of feminism problems because Cinderella relied on men for her happiness. She is only happy after she marries the prince, but the prince only knows her by her glass slipper and her beauty. The idea of marxism is also evident in Cinderella. People were divided into two classes, the bourgeoisie, and the proletariats. Even between the animals, there were different classes. The dog (Bruno) told Cinderella how he had a bad dream about the cat(Lucifer), but Cinderella just told him that he had to suck it up and forget about the dream if he didn't want to lose his place to sleep. Lucifer was the step-mother's cat, and she got to sleep on a very luxurious bed.
There are many different literary lenses. I focused on the feminist lens. This document states that our society is pervasively patriarchal. The feminist lens sees many disabilities in their society that prevents women from their rightful social acknowledgment. Whether this is through sexist phrases and words, books that only apply to men, or even certain tasks that people perceive as "manly" tasks.
http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introliterature/chapter/introduction-to-critical-theory/
The article focused primarily on the many different literary lenses you can use to analyze literature and get more meaning out of it. The article also had a section on the history of literary theory. The practice of literary theory became a profession only recently. But, literary theory has been around for a long time. They trace literary theory all the way back to Ancient Greece, Ancient India, Ancient Rome, and Medieval Iraq. People have been analyzing literature for a really long time now. Over time, many different literary lenses have been used. Among the many schools of literary theory are Aestheticism, Cultural Studies, Darwinian literary studies, Gender Studies, Marxism, Postmodernism, Psychoanalysis, and Eco-Criticism. I thought that it was very interesting to see the large number of different ways people read and analyze literature. There are many more lenses than I even listed which is really intriguing. To really get the most out of literature it is necessary to look at the literature through many different lenses so that you can see many different perspectives on the meaning of the literature. I also learned that literary theory has been used for a very long time. Overall, I learned that there are many different lenses used to read literature and that reading them with different lenses may cause you to take different ideas away from the literature.
When reading any piece of literature, everyone has a different interpretation of what the meaning behind the story is. Literary criticism highlights this and shows us that all work is up for interpretation and everyone can find something new to criticize. Criticism comes in many different ways: Development, formalism, feminist criticism, media and so much more lenses to criticize literature through. It brings up criticism about characters which really intrigued me. It also brought up that what the author intended isn't what we should take out of it. Authors are people too and they make mistakes, big and small.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/literary-criticism/
https://www.coonwriting.com/marxism.html
Marxism is often reflected in the society in the literature. With marxism, there will be a power struggle in the literature that can be explained in many different ways. Divisions between the haves and the have-nots, societies that have evident societal classes, upholding or transferring powers, characters being put into a competition, or being alienated are all ways that marxism can be used in literature. An example of marxism in literature would be The Hunger Games(I can't italicize). There are evident social classes shown by districts and the lower classes seek power from the higher classes.
Although literary criticism has been around for a long time, it has become much more common in the 20th century due to the sudden increase in educated people. One of the side effects of this increase in literary criticism is that there is greater variety in the approaches and reactions to literature. There are several different ways to look at a piece of literature, and these viewpoints are often called literary lenses. The first type is historical-biographical, and this viewpoint looks at the writing as a reflection of the writer's life events. When critics use this lens they try to figure out how the writing relates to the writer's real life. Moral-philosophical is the second literary lens used by critics. This viewpoint focuses on the idea that the function of the writing is to explore philosophical issues like ethics, religion, and the nature of man. The third type of literary criticism is formalistic criticism, and it operates under the idea that all ideas and material needed to criticize a work are already present in the work itself. When using this thought process critics get rid of all possible outside influences and focus on patterns, imagery, motifs, and figurative language to try and find the true meaning of the work. Psychological criticism is the fourth lens. It is similar to historical-biographical, but it focuses on the writer's mindset, feelings, and desires instead of real-life events. Psychological criticism requires the user to dive into the psychology, motives, and thoughts of the characters. From this, we can determine the true reasons why things happen and the lessons that the story can teach us. A more recent form of literary criticism, feminist/gender criticism looks and the roles, powers, and fairness bestowed on characters of different genders. This is relatively new because most older works were written from a male-dominant perspective. The last form of literary criticism is social/marxist criticism. This lens focuses on the political contest of the writing. Critics look at how the work relates to race, sex, social class, and oppression/liberation. Oftentimes bias by the writer, reader, and critic is explored as well.
Literary theories are the various ways people interpret and comprehend literature. Most of us interpret texts differently. Why? We all have different opinions and views. A good way to describe literary criticism is the analysis of literature through different lenses. In each lens, we can clearly see the certain criticism of a text. It is not always easy to interpret text a certain way, especially when you have to find indirect clues, but it just takes practice to get the hang of it. It is extremely important to have an imagination if you want to successfully critic literature. Brilliant minds are full of imagination! It is not very beneficial for the mind to always have the same literary theory while reading text. Reading text from a completely different perspective than you usually read can change the way you think, and can be quite intriguing. It is always important to see multiple different views of literature in order to really understand the text. That is why it is extremely important to critic literature in multiple literary lenses in order to get the most out of the text. Overall, interpreting literature can sharpen our critical capability, allowing us to assess works so our minds can be enlightened in unimaginable ways.
Literary theory acts as various different lenses that can be used to view literature. These different lenses allow critics to consider works based on certain assumptions within that particular lense, and closely focus on certain aspects of a work. Purdue University, in an online article, points out philosophers, critics, educators, and authors have all been using literary theory for centuries. An early example of literary theory can be found as far back as 360 BC when moral criticism and dramatic construction lenses were first used. In its article, Purdue mentions several works regarding literary theory. One being author Peter Barry’s book Beginning Theory. Barry’s book introduces readers to a wide range of different literary lenses. His book includes distinct parts where each included lens is dissected and utilized. In a particular section, Part 2 Structuralism, Barry writes “...structuralist chickens and liberal-humanist eggs signs of the fathers - Saussure the scope of structuralism what structuralist critics do structuralist criticism...”. His combined definition and example made understanding the lens easy. Structuralist theory originates from theories of both language and linguistics. The lens focuses on underlying elements in culture and literature which can be combined to draw a larger, more complete conclusion of works. A structuralist lens facilitates the idea of language extending beyond written and oral communication.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/index.html
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Beginning-Theory%3A-An-Introduction-to-Literary-and-Barry/52cccdc564f2983c9b8c7c31026f07a403ea0b52
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/structuralism_and_semiotics.html
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/index.html
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp2kscopex92x2/chapter/what-is-literary-criticism/
Literary lenses are used to analyze different works from different viewpoints and it affects how you view your surroundings. The major types of lens are Marxist, Feminist, Historical, and Psychoanalytic. The Marxist Lens is used to analyze the class systems and social system issues used in the work. The Feminist, or Gender, the lens is used to analyze gender issues and sexism used in the text. The Historical lens is used to analyze the work that you are studying as long as you have an understanding of the time period and basic background info. The Psychoanalytic lens is used to analyze the subconscious thoughts throughout the work, using Sigmund Freud's techniques.
https://lib.pstcc.edu/c.php?g=106685&p=7483931
I read an article on why we should write with literary criticism. The article talks about how simply by using literary criticism we expand our imagination, our sense of what is possible, and our ability to empathize with others. Reading and writing more literary criticism can also better develop our ability to write in general. Literary criticism helps enhance our comprehension and helps us to understand why literature can have such a powerful effect on our lives.
During my freshman year of high school, I studied a book called, "Of Mice and Men". It was a very good novel. I vividly remember reading and watching the end where poor Lennie gets taken out of his misery and shot in the back of the head by George. Throughout the novel, John Steinbeck (author) uses many different literary lenses. One that I can recall is how George is constantly taunted by Curley (his boss's son) and treated as some small helpless child. Curley continuously talks down on George and tells George how he could beat him up. This is an example of a Marxist lens.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/literary-criticism/
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/index.html
This website introduced literary theory as ideas that act as lenses that people can look through to interpret books, movies, art, etc... It gives us access to a hidden meaning for a deeper understanding. In the book Red Rising, the main character was young, kind, and poor. He was transformed into a being that was strong and powerful. The deeper meaning to this is that nice people don't always win. The strong, powerful, more attractive people will typically hold dominance over the weak, less attractive people.
The article explains what literary criticism is and how it affects the work of literature. Literary criticism is described as an opinion of a reader that is supported by textual evidence that relates to the theme, setting, or multiple other contexts. When reading, one can use literary criticism to understand the text in a more proficient way along with determining other possible viewpoints. At the tail end of the article, it describes multiple examples of literary criticism. Theoretical, pragmatic, feminist, mimetic, ethical are all examples of literary criticism, but even more exist.
https://libguides.dickinson.edu/criticism#:~:text=Literary%20criticism%20is%20the%20comparison,or%20historical%20or%20political%20context.
https://www.vonsteuben.org/ourpages/auto/2016/12/12/57998001/Eight%20Critical%20Lenses.pdf
Literary lenses let us look at literature and further comprehend it in different ways. Understanding the way the author tries to get you to look at something from a historical or socio-economical way allows us to better understand why the author wrote a book and what they are trying to make us see. In "To Kill a Mockingbird" I believe the author wants us to look at this from a socio-economical view. In the book, we are supposed to understand how differently you were treated by your income level but also majorly by your race. In the book, African Americans are at the bottom of the socio-economic food chain and are therefore treated differently.
Literary Theory is described as different ways that a critic views the literature. There are many different types of ways to analyze literature. One example is Marxist Criticism. This way reveals the way the economic system works and can relate it to the writing. It shows different connections from different classes in society. Another example is Feminist Criticism. This looks at how our society is generally male-dominated. A lot of the time it looks at female oppression. The Psychoanalytic Criticism comes from the Freudian theories and looks at the psychology behind the people in the literature. This includes the Id, ego, and superego; also the Oedipus Complex. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, you can definitely see the Marxist Criticism as there are many separations in class and therefore power.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/psychoanalytic_criticism.html
Literary criticism can enhance somebody's abilities to read, expand one's imagination, and allow people to empathize with others. By analyzing literature, it allows us to fully grasp why literary works can be so powerful. The best reads will invoke different perspectives on the same set of words. This allows for many literary theories to be brought into life. Literary criticism mainly refers to a genre of writing in which the author a literary text. Feminist, media, new-historian, and reader-response criticism happen to be only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to criticisms. Each criticism uniquely analyzes characters, storylines, and how they make you feel. For example, feminist criticisms analyze the roles of women and men in a setting. Are the women subjected to being passive while the man is more prone to action? This is just one question a person would use to critique a literary work. In the end, literary criticism involves paying close attention to the reading to argue your particular theory.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/literary-criticism/
I chose to analyze a chart that reflected "Critical Approaches to Literature." The approach's main focus was criticism in literature—deconstructive, feminist, reader-oriented, and historical. All of these shared the common connotation of interpreting the text. Historical criticism lists that text should be interpreted "based on an understanding of its context" while reader-oriented criticism says "we can't know for sure what an author intended" and we must "focus on how particular details shape readers' expectations.." This goes to show that understanding literature includes many factors and everyone interprets things differently.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-jefferson-english102/chapter/critical-approaches-to-literature-chart/
I first recall using literary theory a few years ago when reading Animal Farm. Then it wasn't considered a literary theory, but rather an allegory. I view these alike in that they both integrate larger meaning through a new story.
Literary theories were developed as a way to understand the many different ways that people read and interpret texts. There are many different literary theories such as archetypal criticism. This is when a certain narrative design, character type, or image can be recognized through other works. Examples would be themes like death-rebirth, the ascent to heaven, the search for the father, etc. Feminist criticism focuses on the relationships between genders by examining behavior, values, and power in relation to the genders. There is Marxist criticism that focuses on power and money in literary works. Typically it is a matter of who has money/power and who does not. This lens could easily be applied to "The Tale of Two Cities" where there is a very evident split of money and power between the classes of people. Psychological criticism investigates the psychology of certain characters or even the text's author to try to figure out the meaning of a text. Historical criticism takes what you already know about the text, and provides specific historical information about the time during which the text was written. There is also the literary theory of deconstruction that states that all literature means nothing because language means nothing in that we can't say we know the meaning of a story because there is no true way of knowing.
http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf
I read about how specifically Marxist Criticism can be seen throughout different literature and ways to look for it myself. Literary Theory is just a phrase for what deeper meaning you are looking for in that story. While many just read through it without thinking about it, using literary theory is used to try and understand how the people are feeling, why they are acting that way, and why the author would specifically include something. Marxist Criticism is specifically focused on looking at why the different characters act based on their economic status.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/marxist_criticism.html
Tale of Two Cities is a book that is loaded with Marxist Criticism. The nobles had been oppressing the pheasants and middle-class people, and so the pheasants have an extreme hatred towards the upper class. A revolution starts and the pheasants storm the castle and fortress of the noble. They act this way because they have been extremely oppressed and have been poverty-stricken because of it.
https://www.uscupstate.edu/globalassets/academics/college-of-arts-humanities-and-social-sciences/languages-literature-and-composition/english-and-writing/a-guide-to-basic-literary-theory.pdf
English scholars (and even sometimes, subconsciously, the average person) use literary theory to make underlying assumptions about the meanings of text and speech. The paragraph I read talks about how in an argument, speech can between discerned in many different ways by many different people. If you were to say something (ill-intended or not), someone might think that you were insulting them. One literary lens is the Marxist lens. We can particularly see this lens in the series the Hunger Games. The many different districts are classed in different ways while the Capitol keeps almost all of the resources to itself. Literary theory has many different forms and can be used in many different ways. Some of the other lenses include feminist, capitalist, and psychoanalytic lenses. The feminist lens helps the reader to try and see the prejudice against women in books and movies. The psychoanalytic lens, which is one of the most popular, is used to analyze the Id, Ego, and Superego in the characters of a story or movie.
Criticism Vs. Reviews:
Literary criticism differs from literary reviews because it is more about the content of the book that is not specifically stated within the words. A review is usually published near the same time as the book is published and talks more about the plot and general reader reception. Criticism can take place anytime after the book is published and focuses on the hidden meaning and themes within the book.
https://researchguides.uvm.edu/c.php?g=949959&p=6850855
A book I read not in school but earlier in my childhood that had a profound impact on me was “My Side of the Mountain”. It is about a child who runs away from his parents in New York and goes to live in the Catskill mountains. When the child rejects society and runs away that is a good example of Marxist Theory. He openly rejects the system that he lives in and makes his own. He lives in a “new” old world where concepts of money and time no longer apply to him. In an example of Freudian Theory, the child runs away from his parents and possibly indicating that he didn’t believe he was getting as much attention he deserved and went away to become a “man” in the woods. In a final example of Feminist Theory, the only character that is a female that we really meet is an old woman out in the woods that likes to pick the wild strawberries that live there. While talking with her the child learns a lot about what the mountains are like.
https://www.newhartfordschools.org/cms/lib07/NY01913833/Centricity/Domain/514/Reading%20With%20Critical%20Theories.pdf
This website starts off by explaining the difference between a passive and active reader. It goes on to say that anyone can be an active reader. You have to really listen to what the author is trying to say and not just understand the plot of the book. When you choose to be an active reader you put on the critical lens and try to find ideas and theories. This can be done by asking yourself questions about certain spots in the book. This website already has critical theory questions that you can ask yourself if you are struggling to find some. Some of the topics are Moral/Philosophical, Historical, Marxist, Feminist, and Freudian criticisms. Reading this website's feminist criticism question got me thinking about To Kill a Mockingbird. It reminded me about how Scout, just because she was a girl, had gotten gossiped about and was always questioned because she wasn’t a girl and didn’t act the way a traditional little girl would during the time period. To me, it seemed like this book was trying to push the boundaries of gender roles by using Scout as the narrator.
I read an article titled "Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism". The article explained what literary theory is. To put it simply, literary theory is the different viewpoints that people can look at the same story with. The article used the example that a Marxist may look at a story and focus on the economic standings of the characters. On the flip side, a feminist person may look at the same story and focus on how the women are treated and what qualities are displayed by the characters. This article helped a lot. I believed that I knew what Literary Theory was, but I was not entirely sure. This article helped me to know what Literary Theory is. The story of Romeo and Juliet is about two lovers on opposite sides of a conflict. They know each other for a very short time and they plan to marry. However, their families get in the way and they both end up dead in a tragic ending. However, I am not convinced the story is actually about two people who lust for one another. As previously mentioned, the two "lovers" knew each other for a short time. Along with that, they caught each other's attention based on looks alone and did not care about anything else. This leads me to believe that it is lust and not love.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/index.html
https://www.britannica.com/art/literary-criticism
Literary criticism is the consideration of literary works and issues in any argumentation about said literary works and issues and if they are analyzed or not. This type of criticism not only entails the philosophy of the works, but also any biographical questions, sources and influences, historical knowledge, and bibliography. It will cover all types of literary understanding. The main functions of literary criticism vary widely. The most common being the reviewing of books. These reviews can skew the public view, but they are not always the most effective. Take Moby Dick, for example, the book garnered a negative review at first but superseded its review and is now considered a classic of its time. That is the most interesting part of the criticism at hand. It may not always be considered valid and may become invalidated down the line. This part of the criticism is the most crucial function to me. The ability to change and become something completely new down the line.
The practice of literary theory became a unique profession in the 20th century; however, it has roots all the way back to ancient Greece. There are many types of literary theory, which take quite different approaches towards texts. There are plenty of literary theories, a few of those being: Darwinian studies, Gender, Marxism, Modernism, and Psychoanalysis. Darwinian studies focus on evolution and natural selection, whereas Marxism focuses more on themes of class conflict. Modernist literature is typically marked by themes of loss and exile. Psychoanalysis really explores the role of the consciousnesses and the unconscious in literature. This article was quite interesting to me. Mostly because of the fact it pointed out many other types of lenses I had previously never heard about. I was able to read about new unique lenses and what each one is really focusing on.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introliterature/chapter/introduction-to-critical-theory/
I applied literary theory to Of Mice and Men. The "Marxism" lens focuses on relationships between characters and how their socioeconomic statuses influence certain relationships. Curley and his wife are most definitely a representation of the higher class where just about everyone else is not. Throughout the entire novel, Curley speaks to everyone as if they are below him especially Lenny. The quote "I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny" is a very strong indicator that Curley views everyone else as a nobody.
http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf
Literary theories allow people to analyze the text given in new lights that they might not have seen before. Archetypal criticism, feminist criticism, Marxist criticism, and psychological and psychoanalytic criticism are just a few ways to interpret a text. My favorite section within the document was the reader-response criticism. This theory is about what the reader sees in their mind while reading their text. I think that this is interesting because many people interpret what they read differently. Readers might also relate their life situation to what is occurring in the book which allows them to relate to what the character is feeling at that moment. I think this lens opens the mind of what is considered analytical or seeing as I might understand the point that the character might make due to my life but the person sitting next to me might not. Another lens that interested me was the Marxist criticism, this was due to the fact that it shows the relationship between classes and the struggles between them. The perfect example I can think of is when Walter Cunningham poured molasses over his dinner. Scout did not understand why he would do that because it was too much so, she began to yell at him. Scout, at the time, did not realize that Walter and his family did not have much so molasses was a big deal to him. This subtle moment allows the reader to see the insight on how poor families can be and how other families might be ignorant to the struggles of others. Atticus knew of the Cunninghams situation and tried to settle Scout down but when she would not, Calpurnia came and tried to explain to her the reality of the situation.
I read two different papers (one an article about the difference between literary theory and literary criticism and one the first part of a book about literary criticism itself) and first learned the major difference between literary theory and literary criticism. Literary theory is the tools by which we analyze literature, like the “lenses” that we have learned to use in class. Marxist (or economic), feminist (or gender), religious, and countless other examples are different “lenses” that we read with. If we read a story with a Marxist lens, we would be looking for economic factors and allusions to communism, fascism, or capitalism. On the other hand, literary criticism is the act of actually analyzing the text and interpreting what it means. Through literary theory, we put on the Marxist lens and read, but through literary criticism, we are able to interpret what the author actually means or is alluding to. Through literary theory, I would use a feminist lens to analyze Charles Dickens’ "Tale of Two Cities". One of the coolest and scariest villains of the story is French revolutionary Madame DeFarge. Although she has the support of her husband, it is well-known throughout the entire story that the women are much more dangerous than their male counterparts. Through her secret knitting code, her ruthlessness (with the protagonists and everyone else), and her dedication to the revolution, Madame DeFarge is easily one of the most powerful characters in the book and symbolizes the rise of women in a patriarchal society. In the book, Madame DeFarge was fighting for the low class of France against the rich upper class, but I see it as a group of powerful women rising up and showing the world that they are just as terrifying, even more so, as men. You could even go as far as to say that her death symbolizes her failure to succeed in overturning the patriarchy, but long after her death her cause—both for France and for women—would eventually prevail.
http://93febstudio.net/writersdeskconsultancy.com/2019/02/03/what-is-the-difference-between-literary-theory-literary-criticism-and-literary-history/#:~:text=Literary%20theory%20is%20the%20body,reveal%20what%20literature%20can%20mean.&text=Literary%20criticism%20is%20the%20study,evaluation%20and%20interpretation%20of%20literature.
https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/63579231/Literary_Criticism_An_Introduction_to_Theory_and_Practice_by_Charles_E._Bressler_z-lib.org20200609-4699-tzga8b.pdf?1591746427=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DLITERARY_CRITICISM_l_i_itfHtifuL_Oft_f_o.pdf&Expires=1611245107&Signature=avZNHuNHMntdz2TRQvOZKRuXp99CEeR6Q~3UhKKWQ-eDtKkG7VOzjHqTXeSpcTSCwR0JLXNHaaUNURSkG1T6uRBR8uhgziMSd23e~6zVg4s-zcc1T0nKzwRQKBBvL8sCZW8a93moQRDcRYh1BG3X3p9ojL9KnsWazxeBSsm3P9d3bhwxSGVz5O6WPdO3WNWNo3XiCryRnAt6ADmVLOdFsPFLVfJllI~q3n3OEiwQ19cwuFBxpDY5aC-5WXxrWyq3xSiM~R-9R7k-LMfmdmaEquKWUAZ6RGMqG-j1IZPbEnazeNwMVN-4ZIs2MNQNB2gb09CBLfvwrGbJknTLJ0QUeg__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
https://libguides.uta.edu/literarycriticism/theories
When we think of Literary Lenses we think about unique ways we can analyze a book, a movie, an art piece, etc. There are many lenses we can use to interpret text or art, when we use different lenses the whole meaning of the text or art piece changes. Feminist lenses, Gender lenses, Marxism lenses, and many more. If we can deeply analyze the text, movie, or art piece we can see the meaning in many different ways and ultimately understand it better. When we use different lenses many questions can come to mind. For example; is the text, movie, or art piece more masculine? Is the text, movie, or art piece created by a male or female? Is the text, movie, or art piece showing different social levels in the same way or different? (The three hyenas in the lion king) When we use different lenses we are now open to different ideas and therefore able to comprehend ideas that we never had to before.
In The Great Gatsby, we can use the Feminist Lenses to see that all the men get to have the parties and the men are the rich ones and females have to marry into a family like that. In the book, we can also use Gender lenses to see that the men cheat on women and we stereotype the genders to play a specific role of females and males.
The link that I choose to look into begins by reminding us that lenses can provide numerous ways for us to interpret text, and therefore, extract more out of it. Lenses are tools that allow readers to see things from different perspectives. The author of this page suggests that we, as readers, take into consideration each of the lenses and switch them around a bit. The reader response lens gives a reader the opportunity to compare the text to their own life. How is the text the same/different as your life? The socio-economic lens looks into how demographics are represented in the text, and what social effects the text has. The historical lens looks at context, timing, and what is happening at that particular point in time. The gender lens often relates (or differentiates) the genders and makes readers think about the different attitudes that people have towards gender. The race lens focuses on how the race, heritage, and ethnicity of one may impact others. The Psychological lens analyzes the characters themselves and sees if they make sense. Is it realistic for the characters to be acting the way that they are? The new criticism lens explores the symbolism, themes, and structure of the text. The spiritual lens analyzes text based on different religions or beliefs. Each of these lenses can be applied to extract the most out of a text.
https://www.vonsteuben.org/ourpages/auto/2016/12/12/57998001/Eight%20Critical%20Lenses.pdf
Applied literary theory to The Kite Runner:
Although any one of these lenses could be applied to look at The Kite Runner, the gender lens is a significant one. In Afgan culture, women are considered inferior to men. From a feminist lens, this is a major "no-no" when it comes to gender equality. This particular point is even realized by Amir himself. He realizes how blessed he is to be a male in his country, and is able to contrast that to life in America.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp2kscopex92x2/chapter/what-is-literary-criticism/
I studied an article that briefly summarizes six different schools of thought when it comes to critically approaching literature. The two I found most interesting were formalistic criticism and psychological criticism. Formalistic criticism is based on a movement in the late 1800s called "Art for Art's Sake." Essentially, the reader analyzes the work based only on the work and not on the author. Obviously, this approach does not fully represent some pieces of literature, but it is easy to focus on the book and things in the book instead of looking for a deeper meaning within the author's life. This is especially useful when you have little background knowledge of the book, since only what is written is analyzed.
Psychological criticism is based on Sigmund Freud's work and takes a very different approach to literature. The author and their time period are analyzed thoroughly, and readers search for projections of these things in the book. Some famous examples of Freudian interpretations: id versus superego, death-wish forces, sexual repression. In The Lord of the Flies, id and superego are clearly being represented in the actions of Jack and Piggy respectively. Jack represents the primal side, id, who caves to his desires, which can be seen in the sexualized murder of the sow in the clearing. Piggy is the rational side, superego, since he is always focused on rules and decision making, which can be seen when he desperately tries to use the laws of the conch to convey his thoughts to the other boys.
Literary lenses provide a way to learn and analyze from works. They teach you perspective and to think in new ways. One particular literary lens is the historical lens. It is about analyzing the life, background, and time period of the author. To look through this lens, it can be helpful to query whether any significant historical events happened that the author may have experienced in their life. Such as in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein." During the year in which she started writing the book, Mount Tambora (or rather volcano) erupted in Indonesia, all of the ash caused a cold, foggy, and dismal summer over most of Europe and ultimately inspired the book. Another question you can ask is: Are the characters a product of their time? In Frankenstein, Shelly leaves the monster's creation a mystery as well as his ultimate fate, so I would argue that it is not a book of the past as it could full well be possible and human behavior will likely never cease. You can also ask "Are the characters a voice for change?" I would say that they are, the monster was treated as a monster, which only made him become one; the overall message is that you should treat everyone kindly. Applying various lenses can help you to see the world in new ways and even go so far as to change the way you behave.
https://lib.pstcc.edu/c.php?g=106685&p=7483931
An expansion of imagination and interpretation occur when using literary criticism. By exercising our brains to read and think deeper, we begin to appreciate differing works of literature. Literary criticism can be used to understand a variety of different texts, however, it is most commonly used when studying persuasive writing. Other literary texts such as fiction, poetry, and plays are most definitely included in literary criticism. Examining literature this way can be done in regards to one specific literary theory or it can debate another person's interpretations of the text. Because of how long literature has been around, there have been many arguments as to what the best way of interpreting literature is. This exactly why literary theories exist in the first place.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/literary-criticism/
There are so many literary lenses that can be applied when reading. A few less referred to criticisms include Psychoanalytic, Postcolonialism, and Existentialism. Psychoanalytic criticism focuses primarily on the writer's psyche, studying the creative process that took place in order to write the work of literature. Postcolonialism criticism refers to "a collection of theoretical and critical strategies used to examine culture". This mainly includes the period after colonialism. Last, Existentialism criticism takes a perspective of each person being isolated. Ultimately, it defines an existence that is anguished and absurd, a human measured by a conscious choice with no proof or assurance. Those are the particular ideas used when analyzing the text.
http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm
http://hhh.gavilan.edu/kwarren/LitCrit.html
Literary criticism is the practice of judging and commenting on the qualities and character of literary works. The purpose of looking into pieces of literature critically is to enrich the reader's understanding of the literary work. Reader-response criticism, a common type of literary criticism, attempts to describe what happens in the reader's mind while reading a text. A reader-response critic may also attempt to explore the impact of a literary work on their own ideas or values. Another example of literary theory is the Marxist approach. The Marxist approach is clearly evident in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." Using the Marxist lens, one can see how this novel may be concerned with the representations of social class, and the ways in which power and wealth are attained by the characters. In the novel, a major difference can be seen between the characteristics of the wealthy members of society; Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby; as opposed to that of the less wealthy characters; Nick and Myrtle.
Formalist criticism, biographical criticism, historical criticism, gender criticism, psychological criticism, sociological criticism, and reader-response criticism—these are the seven common critical approaches to literature. First, Formal Criticism includes analyzing the style, structure, imagery, and tone. The elements of this type of criticism are found within the text. Next, Biographical Criticism is focusing on the author's life and how what the author wrote is similar and different. The purpose of the text and overall theme can be revealed through this type of criticism. Additionally, historical criticism's purpose is to understand the effect of a literary work upon its first readers in history. Furthermore, gender criticism examines how sexuality influences literary work. This type of criticism can be seen through a feminist lens or a masculinist lens. Moreover, the psychological criticism reflects on how modern psychology has shaped lieterature. One of the ways to use psychological criticism is to look at the author's motives, which is very similar to biographical criticism. Sociological criticism looks at the cultural, economic, and political context of the literary work as it explores the relationship between society and the text. One type of sociological criticism is Marxist criticism. Reader-response criticism recognizes the fact that all readers interpret works differently. In fact, you may see the book differently after reading it a second time! Reader-response criticism analyzes the different takeaways that readers have on literature.
http://home.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/spring97/litcrit.html
Some of these types of literary criticisms were used in Dear Martin. For example, Dear Martin's author, Nic Stone, wants to fight racism. Therefore, through historical criticism, readers can infer that she wrote about racism to raise awareness through her book Dear Martin. Also, using sociological criticism, we can see that African Americans are still not accepted in our society and are towards the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid.
I read an article on feminist criticism. It stated that a feminist critic sees cultural and economic disabilities in a "patriarchal" society that has hindered or prevented women from realizing their creative possibilities. They also can be identified as a negative object or an "other", when men are defined as the dominating "subject". This all revolves back to our society is very biased. This heavily correlates with the feminism lens we use or see being used in books and/or movies. This can show how a character is only able to achieve certain things or to be certain things, based on their gender.
Feminism lens can be seen in the Great Gatsby, a ton. With men having the money and the name, they can do whatever they want. Women are to find a man who can take care of them because they can not take care of themselves. Daisy is compliant with her husband and does whatever he asks. She makes comments on how she is quite useless and doesn't think for herself. The "woman" is the object and can not make choices for her own life.
http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf
http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf
This website told about many different types of lenses such as Marxist, feminist, and archetypal. The Marxist lens is to be used as a way of looking at literature through economic ideas. Like looking for the upper, middle, and lower-class people. The feminist lens is used to look for gender differences whether it be difference put forth by other characters or if it were put in by the author. Archetypal is looking for common themes and patterns that commonly happen through books. This common pattern could be the scapegoat archetype. This archetype is even used for some religions. A well-known use of this archetype would Jesus dying for the sins of humanity.
Literary criticism can enhance somebody's abilities to read, expand one's imagination, and allow people to empathize with others. By analyzing literature, it allows us to fully grasp why literary works can be so powerful. The best reads will invoke different perspectives on the same set of words. This allows for many literary theories to be brought into life. Literary criticism mainly refers to a genre of writing in which the author a literary text. Feminist, media, new-historian, and reader-response criticism happen to be only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to criticisms. Each criticism uniquely analyzes characters, storylines, and how they make you feel. For example, feminist criticisms analyze the roles of women and men in a setting. Are the women subjected to being passive while the man is more prone to action? This is just one question a person would use to critique a literary work. In the end, literary criticism involves paying close attention to the reading to argue your particular theory. A feminists criticism analysis from To Kill a Mockingbird could be with Scout. Scout breaks gender norms for that time period by being adventurous and brave instead of being a subordinate girl. She also breaks the mold by wearing typical boy clothing which she is often criticized by her aunt for.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/literary-criticism/
https://www.britannica.com/art/literary-criticism
Why do we have literary criticism? Literary criticism helps us make better sense of the work we put out. It always helps to have different viewpoints from others to improve our work. The article I read about Literary criticism gives out multiple points as to how to distribute literary criticism and how to take it. The literary critic is usually someone who has cast the role of being a scholarly detective and uses their scholarly skills to help the other person to be able to bring literary works for the other person to actually put out for the public's attention. Sometimes when it comes to criticism in the daily press, they rarely display a helpful analysis and could possibly do more harm to the publisher's claims. Overall, what makes a person the best writer they can be, is by being able to take that criticism and use it to their advantage. This will then help them to become the skillful literary critic for others
https://lib.pstcc.edu/c.php?g=106685&p=7483931
A literary lens is a way to analyze a text through different points of view. This is similar to "putting on a pair of glasses" that affect how you see your surroundings. So when you analyze a text through one of the four literary lenses, you are putting on the "glasses" of that specific lens. The four different types of literary lenses listed on this website are the ones we discussed in class: Marxist, Feminist, Historical, and Psychoanalytic. This website also gives very helpful questions to ask yourself when analyzing literature through these lenses, which I thought was very convenient.
One time I remember definitely analyzing a novel through a literary lens was when we read animal farm in sophomore year. To someone just reading the novel and taking it literally, it seemed like a normal story written about some farm animals. But in class, we examined it through a Marxist lens and discovered it was actually an allegory to communism. Each character represented something or someone from the communist revolution.
Literary Theory is a way to change your perspective on what your either reading, writing, or watching. Many different lenses are used to decipher each separate piece of literature. Some use multiple whilst there are others that use only one lens. Each lens is a different perspective on how you are watching/reading something. It allows you to see many different meanings besides the one on the surface. It's like using a microscope to what is beyond just some skin and to find the cells. These lenses now influence how others write and decipher other pieces of text. Using Psychological criticism in the book Of Mice and Men we can tell that it seems George is just telling a dreamy story about the bunnies to Lenny, he believes that someday they won't have to work anymore and can relax in their home. Using Psychological criticism we can dig deeper into the character of George and how although he seems rough and tough there is more to be known.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/index.html
Gender Theory is a type of Literary Theory that refers to the assumption that men or women are supposed to act a certain way. Some of these elements involve a masculine character being active and powerful while a feminine character would act more passive. Gender Theory can be found in the Great Gatsby with Tom and Daisy Buchannan who act according to this theory. Many writings in Gender Theory involve criticism by feminist writers and point out female marginalization. Basically, the assumption that people apply to certain gender roles is in many cases incorrect.
https://www.uh.edu/honors/Programs-Minors/honors-and-the-schools/houston-teachers-institute/curriculum-units/pdfs/2003/twentieth-century-novels/georgandis-03-kid-lit.pdf
There are four especially useful types of literary lenses: Feminism, Marxism, postcolonial criticism, and reader-centered criticism. Feminism looks at both of the genders in literature. It examines out women are treated differently than men. Things like attitude towards women, women as minor characters, and overall treatment of women are all looked at when using this lens. Marxism is the examination of the different class dynamics in literature. Postcolonial criticism is a look at the cultural changes of places across the world that have been colonized by Europeans. This lens is especially useful because it can be used to view different cultures that you see every day. Reader-centered criticism is the focus on what the reader thinks. This can be different than the general meaning of the text. This is common in high schoolers because many teachers dismiss personal thoughts on topics and only teach what the direct meaning of the text is.
Tale of Two Cities can be easily looked at through Marxist Criticism. The class dynamics in this novel are very clear. The nobles oppress peasants and middle-class people. The peasants hate the upper class. A revolution is sparked and the peasants storm the castle that holds the nobles. They do this because they are oppressed and have a low-quality life because of the upper class.
Literary theory is the idea of looking at works of literature through different points of view. There are many different literary lenses that show different sides of a story through perspective. Some of these lenses include feminist, Marxist, historical, physiological, Deconstruction, etc... Using these different lenses to look at something and begin to get background and a better understanding of what the story is conveying. Once beginning to fully encapsulate what you are reading, looking, or watching; as you can apply literary criticism to anything including people. You can also learn a lot about yourself by learning about literary theory because you can relate to characters better and understand where they are coming from. Using a series of books I used to like called the Percy Jackson series. Using a Mythological lens we can better understand the story being told. The books use lots of Greek and Roman mythology in them so we can find the lessons being learned. This also lets us understand how the stories came about.
https://www.everettsd.org ›
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/index.html
Literary lenses help one to look at a movie or book more thoroughly. This helps you to view a work completely different from someone else who views the book or movie. It is like wearing different kinds of glasses, you might take the glasses to which you see a book in a Marxist view while someone else views the book through a feminist lens. This helps many stories become so much better than others because of what is dug done deep inside the work not only just what is on the top of the work.
https://lib.pstcc.edu/c.php?g=106685&p=7483931
One story which we read last year was To Kill a Mockingbird. A Marxist criticism analysis would say that the white men that were around the town would be at the top of the class and enjoy things while the Black men around the town would be at the bottom of the class list and get the worst of the worst. We also see that Atticus Finch does not like this change so he fights against it to help Tom Robinson even though most people see him at fault for what he did even with evidence backing him up because of where he sits on the social ladder.
https://lithub.com/james-wood-what-is-at-stake-when-we-write-literary-criticism/
I am focusing on literary criticism and how deconstructive it can and can't be. At times deconstruction assumes literary texts have an unconscious which sometimes contradicts them. Each reader or critic can unwind and depict a text to a point where they might notice it might unconsciously defend or betray themselves. Each meaning a writer inserts in the text has to be earned; every novel, book, and poem needs to create an environment in which it manifests its importance. In conclusion, each text may have a lucid meaning but hides its deepest contradictory stimulation.
While reading Lord of the Flies, I have come across many symbols in which I think are extremely important in understanding what is entirely going on. According to the book, there is a war going on in their homeland and as of right now they are on an island. Piggy spots a conch in which is used to grab the attention of many other boys. This conch represents authority and a civilized society. There were plenty of uses of the word "scar" which caught my attention as it was used in place of the setting. The "scar" represents the brush of trees and grassland that was destroyed when they came flying down from the plane. By giving it the name "scar" it shows the trauma that the boys went through. The platform; the boys gather here when they are having an important meeting. Since they are the only ones there they need to come up with great ideas on how to stay alive, the use of the word platform represents a civilized order in which the boys discuss matters.
https://www.vonsteuben.org/ourpages/auto/2016/12/12/57998001/Eight%20Critical%20Lenses.pdf
Literary lenses are a tool that a reader can use to deepen their understanding and possibly shift their thinking on what a text is trying to portray. There are a variety of ways that one can look at a text but by simply analyzing the text through one lens at a time, a reader can better understand and get insight into what the writer could have possibly intended the literary work to portray. A few of the literary lenses that one can look through include a reader-response lens, socio-economic lens, and spiritual lens. There are many more lenses that can be looked through but I will only highlight three. A reader-response lens focuses on putting the reader in the shoes of the characters and setting in a literary work. Comparing and contrasting different scenarios in the book with one's own life can sometimes help readers to better understand what the author was trying to portray in the emotion of the characters. A socio-economic lens looks at how different demographics are represented or portrayed in the text. A socio-economic view lets readers determine how different classes are looked at in the book and often in comparison with culture today. Offering a world view perspective for the reader. A spiritual lens is when a reader dissects and inspects the text for allusions that connect with some form of religion. When a reader looks at a spiritual lens it helps to acknowledge both the beliefs of the religion and how the text resembles those beliefs. It is very common for books to have some religious allusions that are possibly unintended as Bible stories and Greek myths are so prominent in today's storytelling simply because of adventure and excitement. Overall, literary lenses are designed to help readers better understand and interpret a text. It is easier to understand a text when you can somehow relate to what the author has written.
https://www.athenscsd.org/userfiles/37/Classes/970/feminist_criticism.pdf?id=2194#:~:text=Feminist%20literary%20theory%20also%20suggests,our%20response%20to%20a%20text.&text=Feminist%20literary%20critics%20remind%20us,been%20historically%20shaped%20by%20men
The linked website depicts gender and feminist lenses and how they function in literature. While reading through a feminist lens, the writing can identify different symbols and language that is gendered and more meaningful than plain text. Rather than reading to understand the plot, you can read to expand your beliefs and knowledge of other cultures and ideas. You can also glean information about how the author thinks and what they believe based on their literature.
In The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Lucie embodies the perfect woman. She's absolutely gorgeous, compassionate, and dull. Therefore, Dickens ultimately writes a pretty story for her. She acts the way a woman should act and received a husband and children, a happy ending. In contrast, Madame Defarge is a clever, vengeful woman who is neither longed for by men nor compassionate. Knitting is one of the only womanly acts she does, but it is for the sake of the rebellion. Defarge does not act the way a woman should, so she dies at the hand of her own gun. Using a feminist lens like this allows you to be more critical of the author and their work.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/literary-criticism/
This article starts off by explaining the benefits of studying and discussing literature. Some of the benefits are an expanded imagination, the ability to empathize, improving one's ability to read and interpret texts, and gaining an appreciation for different genres. When we discuss literature, it can enhance our own writing skills and it can help provide a better understanding of different texts. Students may interpret different texts with different literary lenses. They could use a feminist, historical, Marxist, psychoanalytical lens, and much more. By using different lenses, multiple students can read the same text but have different interpretations of the meaning of the story. The article is concluded by providing further information on different lenses and giving examples of different texts that are viewed with different lenses.
This article focused a lot on the different types of literary lenses including, socio-cultural, criticism, psychoanalytic, etc. It also went on to explain how in the victorian era there were great characteristics of change and upheaval. With people moving to the city to work in factories and the gap between rich and poor widening with more homeless people hitting the streets; authors chose to capture the changes in writing. Also at this time, women were fighting for changes they wanted to see in their lives and began writing and campaigning for women's empowerment and emancipation. They used tools of realism in their literature to show the conditions and real-life examples of what they were going through. It goes on to explain more examples of literary lenses as we progressed through the years. As our nation began to change more internally authors turned to their writing to record what was happening around them.
https://penandthepad.com/types-critical-theories-8636695.html
One example of literary lenses we read about in school can be seen in the great gatsby. The feminist appeal that all the rich people of the time were men and that the women didn't work because they just married rich was very obvious. Also, it showed how the men were the ones getting to choose the girls and them not having much say of their own. women were really objectified in the movie as seen by daisy comments a lot on how useless she is and how she needs a good man in her life for she can not take care of herself.
https://newburyport.libguides.com/c.php?g=612257&p=4251186
Literary criticism can help you gain a better understanding of a written work. It can show you a background to why a story was written the way it was based on historical and societal influences. This could range from different forms of symbolism, characters, and even the order of the chapters. The most important thing to remember when analyzing something with literary theory is to be open-minded to all lenses and opinions. You might disagree with some perceptions of different stories but instead of dismissing them, use them to better understand your own ideas of the story.
When looking at "A Tale of Two Cities" under a feminist lens you see the contrasting views on many of the female characters. Lucie Manette represents the "ideal woman". She is shown having a calming, motherly effect on many of the male characters around her. This vision of the ideal woman was prevalent in society around that time. On the other side of the spectrum, you see Madame Defarge as a strong and independent woman leading a revolution. This view of the less than ideal woman is very obvious at the end of the novel when you see how the characters end up. You see the ideal woman married to the man she loves. You see the less than ideal woman dead, giving the message that if women do what they should they will be happy, and if they step out of line they won't be.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/marxist_criticism.html
Marxist criticism focuses on the class structure and dynamics of the story. This analysis can be social, economic, physical, or any other boundary that separates one group from another. Conflicts between these groups will often be the focus of the study and can provide both substantial and immaterial friction between characters or classes.
In the book "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls, there is a distinct class divide. The protagonist belongs to the rural, while his competitors belong to the upper class. They face each other in a hunting competition to test whether a hand-raised dog or a perfectly bred and trained one would be superior. In the end, the upper class wins the conflict but is forced to admit that the protagonist's hound is more capable than they thought it could be. This example still holds a class division, but it also alleviates it without physical conflict.
Part 2: A time when I have looked through a literary lens was when we were reading the novel, Ordinary Grace. I am very familiar with the Bible and so it was easy for me to look through a spiritual lens and acknowledge the allusions in the text. This was helpful for me because I was able to go outside of the words that were written in the novel and give a side by side comparison of what the author was trying to portray and how it related to the Bible. Overall, literary lenses can help us pick apart texts that can be seen as daunting and allows a reader to focus on what they know and how that relates to the main idea of a novel.
When someone thinks about literary theory, they often ask the question "what is literature?", they try to think of what it is exactly. Many people say the literary theory cannot be defined because it is so broad in what it means. Theories are defined by their methods and conclusions, to make them even more specific they can even be defined by a text. The literary theory was known in the 20th century but it didn't become a modern sense until the 1950s. Ferdinand de Saussure was a strong influence on the English language literary criticism. The literary theory wasn't thought of as a unified domain until structuralism began to influence the English-speaking academic world. The literary theory would soon become a focus in almost all literature and the study of it. It would also soon decline in the popularity of it but it still stays strong in being incorporated in all literature. Literary theory is seen in a lot of different books, one, in particular, would be in the book Cinder. The main character struggles to be seen in her home because she has a prosthetic foot. Her adoptive family treats her bad and doesn't like her except the little sister. The little sister is friends with her and will sneak around to hang out with her. The mold of disowning her is broken by the little sister that likes to hang around her.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introliterature/chapter/introduction-to-critical-theory/
I read an article about feminist criticism. This is where the author focuses on how women and their oppression have been expressed in writing. Misogyny examples can be shown starting from the beginning of time with Adam and Eve. Eve oftentimes represents "sin and death". I believe that this point of view is very dividing because the Bible story tends to separate man and woman. When there is separation, a clear dominance of one group comes along with it, no matter what classification is taking place. The article said how women are often compared to men. We are defined by our differences from men, rather than as people.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/feminist_criticism.html
Sophomore year I read Animal Farm. This book uses a Marxist lens because the whole book is an allegory to the marxism period. Each character represents a real person. Each chapter or event in the book represents an event in real life. Animal Farm exposes communism and truly is a masterpiece based on how well it portrays Russia during that time perioid.
https://libguides.dickinson.edu/criticism
Literary Criticism is the comparison, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of literature. This criticism is an opinion, yes, but also supported by details or evidence throughout works of literature. This criticism is projected through a common lens and theme to show what certain parts of the book would mean to certain perspectives of different people, as not all people think alike. This criticism can either be positive or negative but it is not just a simple plot summary, or just trying to disprove the book. Literary Criticism is deeper and requires more thinking to make conclusions about certain things throughout the novel. Certain lenses that can be used to read such literature are, Ethical, Feminist, Marxist, Historical, etc.. There are so many different perspectives to observe from which means that everyone who reads or analyzes literature may come up with different conclusions and different ideas based on how they see the novel. Like in Kite Runner someone looking through an ethical lens would question what the Taliban was doing, they were killing people just because of what they looked like or their ancestry. But looking through a different lens such as psychologically you might say that the Taliban consciously thought that they were better but subconsciously knew what they were doing was wrong but didn't have the strength or the power to speak up for fear of dying themselves. Literary criticism all depends on the reader and the type of mindset they might be in or the mindset they are trying to read through.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/literary-criticism/
I looked at an article about literary criticism. The article talks about why we write it. In doing so we expand our imagination, our ability to empathize with others, and our sense of what is possible. All of this comes from reading and discussing literature. When we analyze books we enhance our own individual writing abilities. we also get to share our own opinions and interpretations of literary works. Since we now have the internet we can more easily share these differing interpretations for the same pieces and show others a completely different view they never considered before. The article then goes into a list explaining different popular literary theories. The ones I found the most interesting were Feminism, which focuses on understanding how gender roles are reflected and/or contradicted in texts; Postcolonial, which focuses on how western cultures representation of third-world countries is inaccurate in their stories, myths, and encourage repression and domination; Reader-Response, which focuses on each reader's personal reactions to an individual text and this assumes no correct or universal meaning because the meaning resides in the mind of each individual reader; Marxist, which focuses on class, power relations, and social roles and then reflects, reinforce, or challenge the effects of these topics. I am going to be analyzing A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. If we view this with feminist Criticism we can clearly see that there is a male hierarchy due to the time period but even so Madame DeFarge is the one truly in charge of the group who storms the Bastille and take control of France. We know this because she holds power over her own husband while he wants to help Dr. Manette and his son in law he listens to his wife. Along with her husband listening to her, she is in charge of who lives and dies with her scarf. She holds the ultimate power over the rebellion which is completely flipping gender roles for that time in which the men were in charge and the women stayed home and did what they were told to do by the men. If you look at it with Marxist Criticism we can see the roles we have class violence with someone must be in power, aristocrats (king, queen, etc...), and the powerless, peasants, must suffer. There is a clear hierarchy of the aristocrats versus the peasants. But, then this power is overturned and the poor are on top and the wealthy are now on the bottom. Now everyone suffers not just the poor.
There are many reasons why literary criticism is important. When used, it helps us stretch our imagination, creativity, and interpretation skills. Furthermore, it betters our writing skills and even can help us empathize with others. Every person will interpret a work in a different way, and when people communicate their criticisms and theories, everyone involved gains a higher understanding of both the work and the people around them.
There are many ways to interpret and criticize literature. The first of these ways is through a rhetorical lens. Using this type of criticism, a reader identifies the context of the work, how the work relates to the audience, and the purpose of the work. Formalism comes next, which is an analysis of plot devices and how their properties affect the work. Feminist criticism is a very widespread form of criticism, which picks apart the use of gender roles in a work. Class criticism is similar to feminist criticism but instead juxtaposes upper and lower classes in a work. Readers can also look to the media and to other critics to further understand a work. Finally, a reader can look inside oneself and identify how the work makes him or her feel.
We can easily use a feminist lens to criticize Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. First of all, the novel was written by a woman in the early 1800s, when women were not regarded highly. This already shows how Mary Shelley was ahead of her time and making advances for women. Even though there are no primary female characters in the novel, there is one spot in which the power of a woman is implied. Victor Frankenstein refuses to create a female monster for fear that it will have a mind of its own. This shows the reader that Shelley is taking a small jab at men of that time period, saying that men are afraid of competent women.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/literary-criticism/
Pondering the question, “Is criticism a sham?”, this site tells about why people are compelled to dig into literary works. The first thing every writer needs to be successful is to create a lasting impression. “No impact and there is nothing to analyze”. Authors write with their audience in mind. Their intentions are to create thought-provoking content specifically for them. However, that does not mean that they are the only ones who can get something out of it. The example used here is the simple word “faith” which would resonate much stronger with small-town America than it might elsewhere. Readers are able to pull out specific things that resonated with them but only after they stop to analyze why they felt the way they did after that lasting impression. (http://www.textetc.com/criticism.html)
In “Peace Like a River” by Leif Enger, we find many biblical allusions and reoccurring miracles. Even the title references a Christian hymn. Throughout the novel, these show the internal struggle of Reuben as he fights with himself and his beliefs. The novel makes readers question their own beliefs and wonder how similar things can happen in real life.
I read an article that stated that there are four main literary lenses through which literature can be viewed. At least in high school. These four lenses are Feminism, Marxism, post-colonial, and reader-centered criticism. They talked about each lense and what insights and hints they can provide at the deeper meanings of literary texts. I believe that there are many lenses through which literature should be viewed and that different lenses should be used thoroughly by themselves and then again with multiple lenses at the same time. This is surely the most effective way to analyze and fully comprehend literature.
https://uh.edu/honors/Programs-Minors/honors-and-the-schools/houston-teachers-institute/curriculum-units/pdfs/2003/twentieth-century-novels/georgandis-03-kid-lit.pdf
In terms of literary texts we have studied in school that can be analyzed through literary lenses, Animal Farm is a great example of this. This is a great example of Marxism considering communism is one of the baselines for the story.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/index.html
According to Purdue University, literary theory is a way to look at writing, art, or really anything through many different lenses. The lenses help us analyze different things through many perspectives. When using literary theory there are infinite different answers when looking at the exact same thing. None of these different answers are wrong and that is why literary theory is truly great because it allows us to view and interpret things differently.
Sophomore year we read Animal Farm in English. The obvious way to look at Animal Farm is through a Marxist lens but with the literary theory, we can look at it a different way. Using a Freudian lens we can look at Napoleon and infer that his ID is way more prominent than his Superego. On the other hand, Snowball realizes what is happening which we can see as his Superego firing and knowing he needs to put a stop to Napoleon's Communistic ideas.
The section I read related to literary theory focused on the different types of literary lenses. The different types of literary lenses influence how you look at different types of writing or work. You can “put on” a certain type of lens while analyzing someone’s work. There are four common lenses: Socio-Economic, Feminist/Gender, Historical, and Psychoanalytic. Out of the four most common lenses I decided to focus on the Feminist/Gender lens. This type of lens focuses on the gender roles and/or sexuality characterized in the work. This type of lens also is not limited to issues involving women. When analyzing different work using this lens you can ask yourself a couple of questions. For example, is the author male or female? How does the author define gender roles? Do the characters follow a specific type of role? In to Kill a Mockingbird I believe the author was trying to focus on the Socio-Economic lens. This book focuses on how different races getting treated differently.
https://lib.pstcc.edu/c.php?g=106685&p=7483931
I googled “critical approaches to literature” and found a document that seemed to be full of information. I read a passage about reader-response criticism. Essentially, reader-response criticism is not about the characters and their interactions or intentions, but it is instead about how the reader reacts to the characters and plot. It is an insight into the various thoughts and processes that may be going on in the reader's mind as they read the text. This form of criticism is about the reader creating their own interpretation of the text instead of finding the critical approach to it. Reader-response criticism is beneficial to see the emotions and reactions that the text withdraws from the reader, as well as if we see a part of ourselves in any of the characters. I find this critical approach very interesting, as we are normally taught to try and extract the deeper meaning that is meant to be found by the reader. This approach is guiding us to discover the meaning ourselves, creating something that is more meaningful to each individual and will resonate with them personally.
https://www.unm.edu/~hookster/Critical%20Approaches%20to%20Literature.pdf
I am going to apply literary theory to The Great Gatsby. From a feminine lens, the character of Daisy Buchanan is not the most feminine character, Gatsby is. Gatsby is described as wearing a pink suit at one point in the novel, which is normally identified as being a feminine color. Gatsby's personal characteristics, such as his deep, insatiable love for Daisy also tend to be rather feminine characteristics in most novels. This makes Gatsby a direct contrast to the main antagonist, Tom Buchanan, as Tom is identified as being an extremely masculine character, as he plays sports and is the head of his household. This helps to draw a greater divide between the two men in Daisy’s life.
https://www.writingaboutliterature.com/psychoanalytic-analysis.html#:~:text=The%20Psychoanalytic%20Lens,author's%20internal%20desires%20and%20thoughts.
The site that I read from focused mainly on the psychoanalytic lens. I love using this lens because the brain fascinates me and I like to see through another person's viewpoint. The use of this lens grants understanding as to why a person does or says the things that they do. Some literary analysts also believe that you can see the author’s subconscious thoughts, emotions, and desires through their writing. This lens focuses mainly on the psyche and psychological processes of the character and helps highlight family dynamics and their effect on the characters and plotlines. You can often see the Id and Superego at work throughout the novel, an example of Freudian theory. I find myself often subconsciously using the psychoanalytic lens whenever I read, just analyzing the characters and forming connections with them. I am able to relate more to the novel when I understand why a certain character will make a decision or action and can find myself agreeing with what they have done. I loved using this lens the most during The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The reasoning of the main character’s friend, Jay Gatsby, was flawed and I couldn’t understand why. He was trying so desperately to be with this woman that he loved but who didn’t love him enough to be with him. But as Gatsby slowly explained himself to the main character, Nick Carraway, I began to have an understanding of what was going on inside of Gatsby’s head. This allowed me to empathize with him because I have also been in a place where I just wanted to be wanted by someone. This connection allowed me to read more in-depth and thoroughly enjoy the book. My experience in using the psychoanalytic lens while reading The Great Gatsby is just one example of how literary theory and reading with a literary lens can improve the reading experience.
https://lib.pstcc.edu/c.php?g=106685&p=7483931
In the section, I read I uncovered what literary lenses really do and how they work. I found that literary lenses can be best described as putting on a pair of glasses. With these new glasses, the reader can now change their viewpoint on their surroundings, but in this case, their surroundings are some form of literature. These glasses allow the reader to analyze specific works with a new focus. The four most common lenses being Marxist criticism, feminist/gender, historical, & psychoanalytic.
Applying a feminist lens to “The Yellow Wallpaper” would be a great example of literary lenses. This is because by applying a feminist lens to this story the reader can uncover that Jane’s thoughts and feelings of post-Partum depression are simply pushed aside because they are not seen are real or valid to the male characters. Jane’s male doctor and husband believe that she is just crazy when in all reality they are the ones driving her into insanity. This is not something that would be discovered without applying a lens to see things from Jane’s point of view.
https://libguides.uta.edu/literarycriticism/steps
According to the University of Texas at Arlington, there are 5 steps to writing literary criticism. The first step is to read and ask questions as you read. They suggest picking a question that intrigues you, or one you want to learn more about. When writing a critical paper, this question will be the basis for your thoughts. The second step is writing a thesis. This will tell people what ideas this paper will cover. The third step is doing research. Learning about the topic more will help you form a bigger understanding of the author and context that you are writing about. It can be helpful to look at the sentiments of other critics, the historical background of the work, and other discussions about the work. The fourth step is supporting. Use the information you gained from your research to help support your claim in the thesis. The fifth and final step is to review the paper and edit it. UTA advises making sure you have something that attracts attention so people will want to read it.
I will use these 5 steps to analyze Dear Martin by Nic Stone.
1). Questions.
One of the questions I had while reading the book was about her use of blatantly obvious racism. I knew that the book was supposed to be an enlightening story, showing people what people of color go through, but I thought that it seemed unrealistic at times.
2). Thesis
I think that she chose to make this book without subtlety because she wanted to push the book for younger audiences and make it a learning experience.
3). Research
After doing some research, I found that Nic Stone was motivated by real-life events to write this book and that she did want it to be an educational experience. Many schools started teaching this book.
4). Support
The book was pulled from many schools and banned for "excessive language." Despite this, many teachers still advocated for teaching it and making it an educational experience. Nic Stone herself then said that she also didn't think it deserved to be pulled.
Analysis of a piece of literature, literary criticism is essential in creating a deeper understanding of literature as a whole. Literary criticism not only teaches you how to interpret aspects of the book from different viewpoints but also teaches you to think critically and form your own opinions about topics discussed in literature. Literary criticism is supposed to make you question and analyze topics that are generally disputed and do not have a definitive answer. Types of literary criticism include ethical, social, and historical. These topics are quite broad and opinion based causing you to formulate your own opinion. In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickinson, there is the issue of social and economic division. Using literary criticism, I can analyze this to create my own opinion about the controversial topic of division amongst society. Thus, I came to the conclusion that the division in the novel is used to highlight flaws in society and how the novel's society is an example of what not to do.
https://www.britannica.com/art/literary-criticism
The article I decided to read about was on the topic of literary lenses. Different lenses allow readers to view a story from a different perspective. Some of the different lenses discussed in the article include the Marxist lens (money/wealth), the Feminist lens (examines gender roles), and the Psychoanalytic lens (the mind/thoughts). The article suggests that the different lenses correspond to certain points in history. For example, the article states that during the Victorian era, women were fighting for changes they wished to see in their lives, which then lead to the implication of a feminist lens in a number of stories/works of literature during that time. Before the various lenses, students were required to find the “one true meaning” of a literary work. Now, students can find many meanings of a story, not just one. One student could view a story completely different from another student simply because they used a different lens.
One novel I have read in my high school career that required us to look through different lenses would be The Great Gatsby. If you read the novel from a Marxist lens, you would be focussing on the money and the future; whereas, if you were reading the novel from a feminist standpoint you would be focussing on the women rather than the men. You would focus on Daisy’s life and actions rather than Gatsby’s wealth. Depending on what lens you used, the story could have many different meanings, rather than just one.
https://penandthepad.com/importance-literary-communication-10005097.html
Literary criticism is important to look at when studying a topic. This helps us think outside of the box and look at the overall meaning of what the story is telling. You can also compare your criticism to other people's findings to see how they were looking at the story. When using Marxist criticism you are looking at the economic and political end of the story.
http://home.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/spring97/litcrit.html
When you look at a book like "The Great Gatsby", you will see that the different groups of people are split up in different ways. The people that have "old money" live on one side of the lake and the people with "new money" live on the other side. Then you look at the overall setting of the story where the rich live on the lake and the poor people are living in the city covered in garbage. This is showing who has power over the other through Marxist criticism.
Rather than finding a website, I discovered a pdf from the Unversity of New Mexico summarizing numerous different types of literary approaches, or lenses. The most fascinating lens that caught my attention was an approach called a reader-response criticism. The reader-response approach shifts the focus of analysis onto the reader rather than the composition itself. Instead of a lens evaluating the composition, the focus is on how the reader responds to the text, and what the reader’s response says about the reader. This is based on the concept that each reader will react and interpret the text according to their personal experiences, beliefs, and fears. Some of the other critical approaches mentioned in the article include deconstruction (the idea that words are interpreted differently by each individual, thus changing the meaning of the text), new historicism (a concept evaluating how a modern individual’s understanding of history affects their interpretation of a text), and queer theory/gender studies (the concept of society creating restricting shapes that literature pushes each character into, and how characters can develop outside the misleading concept of “normal” or “deviant”). All the mentioned lenses can be applied to any source of literature.
https://www.unm.edu/~hookster/Critical%20Approaches%20to%20Literature.pdf
An application of a reader-response lens can be seen in the reader’s response to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; the reader’s response to Frankenstein’s actions and the plotline drives the idea of the Creature being monstrous. The reader’s individual journey through the novel affects how the plot plays out. Although the Creature is not actually monstrous in nature, the socially portrayed image of the Creature gives readers a biased view before even reading the story. A reader that has suffered from heartbreak through being abandoned may find a more sincere connection to the Creature than someone who has only experienced loving support. Another example is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Although some people loved the dramatic, imagery filled story and lavish characters, others found the novel to be “plotless” and dull with infuriated characters. What interested each individual reader affected the reader’s response to the novel. The analysis of readers’ responses is using a reader-response critical approach.
Purdue University, through its online writing lab, gives insight into what literary theory is. Literary theory lets the audience act as critics as they view art and literature. The way the lenses work is so that the audience can focus on certain aspects of the piece. Each one can make us create different assumptions on the art. Critics have used these tools to understand writing since ancient times and contemporary schools have been influenced throughout the ages on these topics.
Books and movies can be evaluated through literary theories. A book we read my sophomore year, Frankenstein, is among them. Throughout the novel, you can see that Victor has a God Complex. While the monster is made to be portrayed as the devil. The doctor is also portrayed in a more feminine tone as he becomes mentally ill easily because of the monster.
Purdue University, through its online writing lab, gives insight into what literary theory is. Literary theory lets the audience act as critics as they view art and literature. The way the lenses work is so that the audience can focus on certain aspects of the piece. Each one can make us create different assumptions on the art. Critics have used these tools to understand writing since ancient times and contemporary schools have been influenced throughout the ages on these topics.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/index.html
Books and movies can be evaluated through literary theories. A book we read my sophomore year, Frankenstein, is among them. Throughout the novel, you can see that Victor has a God Complex. While the monster is made to be portrayed as the devil. The doctor is also portrayed in a more feminine tone as he becomes mentally ill easily because of the monster.
This article starts off by saying that "different readers read the same text differently." This is why the ability to put on different lenses is crucial. The author goes on and tells the reader about all the different "lenses," or ways to break down any kind of literature. The first one talked about it the societal mirrors, which is defined as "the criticism that reflects society." Today there are said to be six societal mirrors: Marxism, postcolonialism, feminism, queer theory, ecocriticism, and affliction theory. Throughout the article, the reader gets to dive deeper into these six societal mirrors and explains what they are and the belief. Next, the personal mirrors are talked about, these are "criticisms that reflect an individual mind and personality." This kind of mirror includes psychoanalysis, archetypal, and the reader's response. Cultural poetics is mentioned and how it is "a discipline that seeks to discover how historical, political, cultural, anthropological, and economic context influences art and those who view art." Lastly, the offer talks about formalism, which the author states "is the only category where the lenses are not reflective mirrors of another discipline or perspective-- rather, formalism focuses on the text alone in isolation from any other text or social context and dismisses any outside influences." The author did a tremendous job of explaining all the literary lenses and categorizing them in a way that is easy to read and understand. Literary theory can be applied to so many different things. For example, in my 11th-grade English class, we read the Crucible and applied so much literary theory. The book was a bit different to understand at times and we as a class were able to dissect the text to better understand what lessons the author was teaching us.
https://www.coonwriting.com/critical-lenses.html
I looked up literary criticism because who doesn't love to learn about criticism. As I was reading about literary criticism I found out how much science is improving literary criticism. Social sciences like sociology have helped improved literary criticism because of how we look at the attention to detail nowadays. Sigmund Freud's psychological models have worked themselves into criticism. Helping us understand the hidden meaning behind the text.
https://www.britannica.com/art/literary-criticism/The-20th-century#ref51232
In my junior year in Mrs. Kohen's English class, we read the Yellow Wallpaper. I remember reading it and being very creeped out because of all the attention to detail the author gave. Back in the day, they didn't know much about mental health. They treated people with mental health issues as if it was their fault which in fact it is not. In the Yellow Wallpaper, they portray the main character as if she is crazy but she actually has neurasthenia which is a form of depression. Causing her to stare at the wallpaper in her room that she was locked in by her husband.
Like fashion trends, literary lenses come and go, and some are used more than others. Yet, there are four main categories of literary lenses that remain constant throughout the years of studying literature: socio-cultural, new criticism, psychoanalytic lens, and post-structuralist lens. The main literary lens that will be focused on today will be the socio-cultural lens. If one is examining a book or short story and relates things to more of a historical, political, or gender-based view, they are looking through a socio-cultural lens. Within this literary theory, Marxist criticism may apply. Marxist is a lens that people relate to with social class or people of high power.
https://penandthepad.com/literary-elements-victorian-literature-12113986.html
One of the books that I still remember to this day is: Of Mice and Men. I believe that this book is a great example of socio-cultural through a Marxist lens. Constantly throughout the book, Lennie is always listening to George. Not only is George Lennie's best friend, but he acts as if George is his parent and only motive to survive. In this case, George would be the person with high power and Lennie is a follower, further relating to the Marxist lens.
Literary criticism is the act of making your own opinion on a text and backing it up with evidence to support your claim. By critically analyzing literature, we are able to connect to the text in a more empathetic approach—making deeper connections to characters than what is written in black and white. Literary criticism is important because it lets us see how others interpret literature and may help us organize our own thoughts and opinions. Many literary critics often observe character-development, setting, plot, and the perspective of who is telling the story. Critics write about how specific things in the story made them feel and write about them in critiques. These critiques can offer debate with people who felt differently about the text. Many times, people write their own critiques on the critiques.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-britlit1/chapter/literary-criticism/
You can apply the feminist lens to John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" when analyzing Curley's wife. For starters, Curley's wife is never named in the entire story, despite her being the only female character and playing a bigger role in the plot. This could have been to turn her more into an object rather than a person. When we first meet Curley's wife, she has a sort of sex appeal to her and the men call her names like "Jailbait" or "Tart" because of her "whorish" appearance. None of the men speak about Curley's wife other than when discussing how much of a flirt she was. We later learn her back story and how she was an aspiring actress—causing readers to finally view her as a person with thoughts and feelings. Even then, Lennie still kills Curley's wife as if she was nothing.
http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf
I read through the section called "Feminist Criticism". This section talks about observing the various disadvantages present in a male-dominated society that stop women from advancing in society or have them viewed as simply objects. Some assumptions that are common among feminist critics are that our society is a patriarchy, the concepts of gender are affected by the patriarchy set up, and that patriarchal ideas are prevalent in literature. The PDF mentions that this form of literary criticism is related to Marxist criticism, but focuses more on the relationships between genders rather than the classes. This section then ends with an example of Feminist Criticism in the story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been".
I am now going to apply some Feminist Criticism to "To Kill a Mockingbird" which is set in the 1930s in the Southern part of the United States. Anyone with a basic knowledge of viewpoints of that time period would know that there were "roles" that were established for men and women, which are shown in the book. The women in this book generally stay at home; they clean the house, cook food, and take care of the children if there are any. This is because of how women were viewed as the homemaker and this is what they were expected to do. Those who do have jobs are limited with their options, having to choose either nanny, teacher, phone operator, or any other "simple" job that was perceived as "feminine". The men in the book had a wider variety in their job choice but were mainly jobs requiring manual labor (farm workers), skilled labor (craftsmen), or those that required intelligence (they have jobs such as lawyers, police, judges). This shows the patriarchy because it has men and women working different kinds of jobs that were expected of them and pushed onto them based on how society perceives their strength and their intelligence with women perceived as being weaker and less intelligent than men.
Madeleine Pearce
Looking at the different literary lenses the section I focused on was the Marxist lens. The Marxist lens focused on the separation of classes from if their job status gives them perks or is that person’s individuality connected to what their job is. By having different classes people are often pinned against each other due to the lack of resources in one class when a different class has plenty to go around. In the book Tale of Two Cities, you can view it from a Marxist lens since in Paris almost everyone you read about is poor and living off the street but the marquise has a nice home and plenty of food. You also see the struggle of the working class how there is not enough money to go around so there are a lot of people living on the streets leading to people stealing what little resources there are left.
https://www.coonwriting.com/marxism.html
The website I researched talked about Critical Approaches to Literature. They gave examples for each type of criticism, each explaining how we interpret different things in our readings. they are all the same in the fact that they uncover the hidden message the reader is trying to put out. For example, Historical criticism focuses on investigating the social and cultural context behind the piece. Biographical criticism focuses on the knowledge of someones life. Each digging to find a deeper meaning behind the pages.
http://home.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/spring97/litcrit.html
Frankenstein gives off a great example of Formalist Criticism. The author created irony between life and death in her writing. "As I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hues of death..." (Shelley 56) This is one of her many examples where she combines life with death, creating a deeper meaning than what she portrays on the pages.
Literary criticism is a social activity of interpreting. An author writes a story in his/her viewpoint and allows others to read it and make their own literary interpretation of the work. The purpose of critics is to help the author gain experience in understanding literary work. People ask "Why should we interpret literature?" There are many benefits. One being it nourishes the reader with a sense of deep mysteries—love, hate, death. It helps gain insight into problems in society or what our society could become, a good example of this is Animal Farm. As students, literary theory helps find your own interpretation. It will help write essays because you can find criticism that is helpful for your supporting points.
https://www.uv.es/~fores/programa/hale_literarycritic.html#:~:text=The%20critic's%20specific%20purpose%20may,understanding%20of%20the%20literary%20work.
In the book Tuck Everlasting, if you look through a feminist lens you can see that the main character, Winefred, has everything in her life chosen from her. Her father hints get the main say in who she marries, her mother is constantly on her back, and she has to be proper all the time. Now in the time, the book takes place, the 1880s, all these things were normal. However, Winefred did not want this life because she knew she was worth more than this. So she runs away from home trying to get rid of her life and start her own life. As the book goes on she meets Jesse who is immortal. He shows her the spring water to make her immortal to so they can live together forever. The spring is teh final strand to really start her life over, but she hesitates because she doesn't know if it is really want she wants. She was so use to having decisions made for her that when she finally has to make one she goes blank.
Literary theory can be found in almost everything we read—even the simplest of fairy tales from our childhood. In fact, fairytales can tell many stories—the story that the words simply present, and the stories that lie beneath the superficial meaning. The children's story Little Red Riding Hood is a story about a little girl and a big, bad wolf that most people are familiar with; however, the story can also be told from different lenses. Formalist, mythological, physiological, feminist, Marxist, and historical—these are some of the many lenses that can be applied to Little Red Riding Hood to enhance the story and discover a deeper meaning. While I was reading the story, I decided to view the story through a Marxist lens. At the beginning of the story, Little Red Riding Hood is instructed by her mother to take supplies to her granny's house. Little Red's quest is one that was given to her by her mother, a mother who is teaching her child how to behave within society. Little Red must deliver the supplies without wandering off the path—or without venturing outside of society. While on her journey, Little Red meets the wolf within the forest, a place where there are no social classes, meaning that she and the wolf are equals. Little Red soon ventures deeper into the forest to look at flowers. However, as she gets deeper into the forest, the wolf, who claimed to be her equal, betrayed her to eat Little Red's granny. Little Red then went to her granny's house to find a hairy creature in her grandmother's bed. Little Red believes that the wolf is her granny, but is skeptical. However, a hunter comes and shoots the wolf, thus saving Little Red Riding Hood. In Little Red Riding Hood, Little Red pushes the bounds of society symbolized by her journey beyond the traveled path in the forest. However, it is at this time that a wolf uses her ignorance as a way to obtain power, or in this case, eat Little Red's granny. In the end, a hunter saves Little Red, which tells the reader to stand up for the oppressed and fight against evil.
https://www.sjsu.edu/people/julie.sparks/courses/100Wfall2016/rrh_literary_criticism_fairy_talered%20riding%20hood.pdf
Just like how simple fairy tales that seem to have (somewhat) happy endings contain literary theory, happy stories from long ago are filled with the potential to be analyzed beyond the simple plot. For example, A Midsummer Night's Dream can be analyzed through a Marxist lens, even though Karl Marx was born nearly 200 years after the creation of this tale. A Midsummer Night's Dream is filled with examples of a functioning society, a large aspect of analyzing literature through a Marxist lens. For example, Hermia is unable to marry Demetrius because her father wants her to marry Lysander. In addition, the fairies that answer to Oberon and Titania and the control of the Greek gods display a functioning society that can be related to types of government.
Most people interpret texts through multiple lenses at a time, doing so can enhance their reading abilities and expand their imagination; literary theories were developed as a means to understand the various lenses that people read texts through, and there are many to read through today. One theory would be feminist criticism; this lens focuses on the relationships between geneders by analyzing power in relation to the genders, behavior, and values. This lens could easily be applied to "To Kill a Mockingbird" where we see a female character like Scout Finch breaking the gender norm of that time period by being adventurous and outlandish throughout the story. of The Marxist criticism lens examines power and money in literary works, determining the classes of people. Historical criticism takes your prior knowledge of the text and provides specific historical information about the time during which the text was written. Another lens, deconstruction states that all literature means nothing because we can't say we know the meaning of a story since there is no true way of knowing. Pyschological criticism investigates the psychology of certain characters or the texts of the author to figure out the deeper meaning of the text.
http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf
The article I read briefly discussed the most common types of literary theory. Marxist criticism, one of the common types of literary theory, derives from the cultural and economic theories Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels had. There were a few main points that defined what these theories were: the evolving history of humanity depends upon products/technology made in the economy, changes in the way things are produced effects social classes, and human consciousness is an ideology based upon morals, beliefs, feelings, etc. on how humans perceive things. I can relate Marxist criticism to Animal Farm. All of the animals start off with the idea that all animals should be equal which leads to them starting their own farm. The animals had created their own economy in a way. The animals would work for everyone while the pigs didn't do much. The animal's way of thinking was determined by how their economy ran. The animals didn't see a problem with Napolean killing animals on the farm because they had thought that that is how things run to make sure things go smoothly and a certain way to keep the economy going. The way their economy ran determined how the animals thought about things.
http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf
Literary criticism opens the eyes and minds of readers who are willing to dwell on books with a little extra thought. Through criticism, we can evaluate the author's stances, feelings, and emotions through how they feel through the different ways a story is written. Feminism, Marxism, Historicism, and gender studies—all different ways a reader can observe literature. All critiques can be met with questions for analysis, such as what are the politics of the story? How are women portrayed within this text? Is there criticism of capitalism or even a positive display of communism written within the text? In honors English 11, we had a mini-unit over the book Dear Martin by Nic Stone. The story centers around Justyce, his love interest, his best friend, and the private school he attends. While Justice is a wealthier teenager and goes to a predominantly white high school, he is not immune to the injustice, and brutal conversation of police brutality. His parents are separated, one living in the wealthier neighborhood near Justyce's high school, and the other living in an urban part of the town. As a feminist/Marxist theorist, you can observe the book's discussion revolving around sociopolitical and class dynamics. When Justyce is pulled over by the police for having his music too loud, his friend is shot to death. When people, mainly white people, try to give reasoning on the police officer's unjust actions, they use the fact that his friend's cousin was a part of a lower-class part of town—invalidating his feelings and his death. You can see that the modern, unrestrained, version of American Free-market capitalism has failed Justyce's friend's cousin, leading him to poverty and to make poor decisions to keep himself afloat. We as feminists can also view the political and race aspect of the book and observe that police need more diversity and emotional training before they decide they are going to protect their citizens. The book was a topical read as to the following events that summer. A reader can observe that all lives will matter when black ones start to. From a historical lens, justice calls upon MLK Jr. who is used as a reflection on what to do in events where someone is being discriminated against.
https://libguides.uta.edu/literarycriticism/theories
1. A panopticon is a prison in which there is a tower in the middle of a circular dome so that the guards could watch the prisoners at all times without the prisoners knowing they are being watched. It creates a sense of feeling that they are being watched at all times from the tower. Foucault believes that this is related to society. He said that this is how a society should function; the people should always feel as if they are being watched. With people feeling as if they are watched 24/7 they will begin to police themselves to not get themselves into trouble.
Joseph Campbell stated, "that all mythological narratives share the same basic structure." He called this structure monomyth or hero's journey. He also said that there are 17 total stages to this structure and some stories only use some or use them all in a different order. The main point is that a hero will leave his town and go on an adventure into the supernatural. There the hero encounters many forces that he will outwit and beat. When the hero comes back he has new power to help his town out. This fits into the story of Lion King because when Simba runs from home he is starting off as weak and afraid. While gone he meets new friends along the way. The force that he encounters in his path which he beats with the help of Rafiki. With his newfound strength, he returns to Pride Rock to reclaim the throne in which he does.
Literary criticism expands the minds of readers from simply reading the text to applying what is written to the external world and the internal world of the reader. Readers who actively use different lenses ask questions from all sorts of perspectives throughout the reading of the book; asking different types of questions applies to many types of criticism, including feminist, philosophical, Freudian, and many others in any category imaginable. I have a big attachment to the book Animal Farm by George Orwell, which can be seen through many lenses. The most obvious lenses are Marxist and historical due to the blatant analogies to WWI, WWII, The Russian Revolution, and Communism. Orwell uses his characters to represent historical figures such as Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, and various groups with influence in the rise of communism and world conflicts during the period of the 1910s and 1940s. The overall plot points and events inside the book also cover these topics through battles such as The Battle of Cowshed, in which the animals take over the farm to represent the Russian Civil War between the white and red army. You may also view Animal Farm through a feminist lens where the main roles are male with very few female roles. The only female roles are seen as very minor or with the role of reproduction as their only trait.
https://www.newhartfordschools.org/cms/lib07/NY01913833/Centricity/Domain/514/Reading%20With%20Critical%20Theories.pdf
The section of my reading that interested me discussed Literary Criticism and the relationship between the critic and the writer. The critic and the writer are in a "constant interaction." Whether meaning to or not, the writer's text is influenced by his environment and can be dissected by a critic to find what the author said: either "explicitly or implicitly." Many times an author will edit the book after receiving critics' feedback and rerelease the book. Critics help the author improve upon his work and shape his skill so he can prepare future books better and avoid past mistakes. Critics also share their work with the world, not just the authors. After dissecting the book, the critic will share their lenses with the public and help others interpret texts in new ways.
https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/61028991/Akem_Henry._Import_of_Criticism20191026-19034-al43du.pdf?1572137104=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DLITERARY_THEORY_AND_CRITICISM_LITERARY_C.pdf&Expires=1611245130&Signature=LxX~xQyHdTPLF~SCvV37UA9e~oIkZwhjPttafWHap8CrYHd2icGPwkncGNoGf-vTlp6sxoNRgwizJZ0Vk-G5N9etgVZ~Qs3bZcDGNHOV2lJM18~iIoqvqFK9JgoWitLLDlTY~AnOfzlyjvGZd~8kB12FsINLQ7hSvH3XdsBkH6UxRkO22VmdQ17cysGN8Cu1QIkZGliVg90hvhnss4PuLQyVK-hR8kvs6So4Vse0vqm2zvhHymsxL~gsxUQDI2~DuAevmdeG7Rq7O2Pb81dBhbW5qPHW1elli8UmuJHl-WNb-0nGxl3Zzuf-xdCVnJHhHwOLKFsPU~rScHVnjRYVjA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
One book that I vividly remember is the book Dear Martin which we read during our Junior year. Dear Martin was a book pertaining to racial injustice; however, I would also like to apply the feminist lens to it. In the first chapter, the reader can observe the main character, Justyce, trying to help out a drunken female friend. A cop sees Justyce trying to help this girl into or out of a car and he is confronted by a cop who tells Justyce to step away from the female and to show his hands. The cop assumes Justyce has bad intentions due to him being a male. The miscommunication and assumptions lead down a path of anger, fear, and frustration which the reader can watch evolve throughout the rest of the book.
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