Literary Criticism Approaches

• A critique is a careful judgement shaping an opinion about the strengths and weaknesses of a piece of writing or work of art.
• A critique is a critical evaluation to further understand validity, worth, effect, use of material that interests readers, and/or the recommendation or appeal for further appreciation, rather than a summary of the piece

Literary Criticism

• Literary criticism is a disciplined activity that attempts to study, analyze, interpret, and evaluate work of art using a particular lens, focus and standpoint

Critical Approaches in Writing a Critique

• Writing a critique requires a systematic and critical analysis to serve the purpose in writing.
• It is necessary to use a lens or a mixture of approaches depending on the length and depth of a critique.

Formalism/New Criticism

• All that are important in analyzing and understanding text is in the piece of writing.
• Outside information regarding the author, society of the time, politics or any other external context are no longer needed.
• The text is independent, has a fixed meaning, is timeless and universal.
• It requires a close and intent reading of the text concentrating on the relationships within the text that showcases its distinct characteristics or form.

Formalism Guide Questions

• What is the title, setting, and other elements, and to what extent is it symbolic?
• What kind of language is used?
• How is the work's structure unified?
• How do various elements of the work reinforce its meaning?
• What recurring patterns can be found, and what is the effect of these patterns or motifs?
• How does repetition reinforce the theme(s)?
• How does the writer's diction reveal or reflect the work's meaning?
• What is the effect of the plot, and what parts specifically produce that effect?
• What figures of speech are used (metaphors, similes)?
• Note the use of paradox, irony, symbol, plot, characterization, and style of narration.
• What effects are produced and do any of these relate to one another or to the theme?
• Is there a relationship between the beginning and the end of the story?
• What tone and mood are created at various parts of the work and is there a relationship between tone and mood and the effect of the story?
• How do the various elements interact to create a unified whole?
• What is the argument or thesis?
• Who is telling the story in the piece?

Feminism

• Focus on the importance or relevance of women as subjects and how gender is perceived.
• Images of women and the underlying concepts of femininity including economic, societal, psychological and archetypal nature of women, are examined.
• Feminism stresses equality for a male dominated society.

Feminism Guide Questions

• How are women's lives portrayed in the work?
• Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer's gender?
• How do male and female characters relate to one another?
• Are these relationships sources of conflict and are these conflicts resolved?
• Does the work challenge or affirm traditional views of women?
• How do the images of women in the story reflect patriarchal social forces that have impeded women's efforts to achieve full equality with men?
• What marital and behavioral expectations are imposed on the characters while contemplating what effect do these expectations have?
• If a female character were male, how would the story be different (and vice versa)?
• How does the marital status of a character affect her decisions or happiness?
• How does culture view women vs. men and what is the relationship between men and women portrayed?
• What are the power relationships between men and women (or characters assuming male/female roles)?
• Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How so?
• How does this change others' reactions to them?
• What does the work reveal about the operations (economically, politically, socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy?
• What does the work imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as a mode of resisting patriarchy?
• What role does the work play in terms of women's literary history and literary tradition?

Marxism

• Unfold how socioeconomic status affects hierarchy or conflicts involving social classes in the masterpiece.
• Shows the relationship between literature and the socioeconomic conditions under which it was produced.
• Marxism is concerned with differences between economic classes & implications of capitalist system, such as the continuing conflicts between the working class and the elite

Marxism Guide Questions

• What are the differences between economic classes?
• What conflict has arisen between the working class and the elite?
• What implication may the socioeconomic system bring?
• What social class has been emphasized and how was this portrayed?

Biographical Approach

• Focuses on the connection of work to author's personal experiences.

Biographical Approach Guide Questions

• What aspects of the author's personal life are relevant to the story?
• Which of the author's stated beliefs are reflected in the work?
• Does the writer challenge or support the values of her contemporaries?
• What seem to be the author's major concerns?
• Do they reflect any of the writer's personal experiences?
• Do any of the events in the story correspond to events experienced by the author?
• Do any of the characters in the story correspond to real people?

Historical Approach

• Focuses on the connection of work to the historical period in which it was written.
• Literary historians attempt to connect the historical background of the work to specific aspects of it.

Historical Approach Guide Questions

• How does the work reflect the time in which it was written and how accurately does it depict the time in which it is set?
• What literary or historical influences helped to shape the form and content of the work?
• How does the story reflect the attitudes and beliefs of the time in which it was written or set? (beliefs and attitudes related to race, religion, politics, gender, society, philosophy, etc.)
• What other literary works may have influenced the writer?
• What historical events or movements might have influenced this writer?
• How would characters and events in this story have been viewed by the writer's contemporaries?
• Does the story reveal or contradict the prevailing values of the time in which it was written?
• Does it provide an opposing view of the period's prevailing values?
• How important is the historical context (the work's and the reader's) to interpreting the work?

Psychological Approach

• Focuses on the psychology of characters

Psychological Approach Guide Questions

• What forces are motivating the characters and which behaviors of the characters are conscious ones?
• What behaviors are unconscious and what conscious or unconscious conflicts exist between the characters?
• Given their backgrounds, how plausible is the characters' behavior?
• Are the theories of Freud or other psychologists applicable to this work and to what degree?
• Do any of the characters correspond to the parts of the tripartite self? (Id, ego, superego)
• What roles do psychological disorders and dreams play in this story?
• Are the characters recognizable psychological types?
• How might a psychological approach account for different responses in female and male readers?
• How does the work reflect the writer's personal psychology?
• What do the characters' emotions and behaviors reveal about their psychological states?
• How does the work reflect the unconscious dimension of the writer's mind, and how does the own reader's psychology affect his response to the work?

Sociological Approach

• Focuses on man's relationship to others in society, politics, religion, and business.

Sociological Approach Guide Questions

• What is the relationship between the characters and their society?
• Does the story address societal issues, such as race, gender, and class?
• How do social forces shape the power relationships between groups or classes of people in the story?
• Who has the power, and who doesn't? Why?
• How does the story reflect urban, rural, or suburban values?
• What does the work say about economic or social power?
• Who has it and who doesn't? Any Marxist leanings evident?
• Does the story address issues of economic exploitation? What role does money play?
• How do economic conditions determine the direction of the characters' lives?
• Does the work challenge or affirm the social order it depicts?
• Can the protagonist's struggle be seen as symbolic of a larger class struggle?
• How does the microcosm (small world) of the story reflect the macrocosm (large world) of the society in which it was composed?
• Do any of the characters correspond to types of government, such as a dictatorship, democracy, communism, socialism, fascism, etc.? What attitudes toward these political structures/systems are expressed in the work?

Structuralism

• Focuses on finding binary oppositions such as good vs. evil

Understand literary criticism with Formalism and Sociological approaches. This lesson explores textual analysis, fixed meaning, and societal representation in literature.