12.1.1.2

Activity 1.2

PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING

START

Index

01. LEarning Targets

09. Viewing Through the Lenses

03. Vocabulary

06. Literary THeory

02. Preview

04. Literary Criticism

10. QUestions and Observations

07. Types of Theories

11. Check Your Understanding

05. Focus on the Sentence

08. OPTIC Strategy

section 01

Learning Targets

1. Understand the fundamentals of literary criticism and six literary theories.2. Apply literary theories to analyze, question, and interpret images. 3. Summarize your observations and understanding of the impact of literary theories.

Preview

In this activity, you will be introduced to six literary theories and their definitions. You will use the key assumptions of a critical perspective to analyze and question illustrations.

Vocabulary

Literary Criticism

Perception

Literary Criticism is the formal practice of interpreting, evaluating, and explaining the meaning and significance of literary works. Scholars often use specific literary theories--systematic, conceptual methods of analyzing texts--when they engage in literary criticism

A perception is one person's interpretation of sensory or conceptual information.

Focus on the Sentence

Write two complete sentences in response to what you have learned so far about literary criticism. The first should be a statement that paraphrases the definition of literary criticism in your own words. The second should be a question you have about literary criticism.

Literary Theory

Scholars use a number of different literary theories, sometimes called critical theories or lenses, to uncover meaning in literary works. Each theory is made up of a set of assumptions or concepts that a reader applies to the text in order to understand it in new ways. Studying literary theories can help a reader to become aware of competing perceptions of truth and to learn that a text can be understood through a filter of ideologies, values, and perspectives. Being able to apply different theories to a text expands a reader's worldview and adds dimensions to understanding a text. The following six literary theories will give you the tools to understand texts in novel and challenging ways over the course of this unit. These are not the only literary theories that exist, but they are among the most commonly used theories for exploring literature. Imagine each theory as a lens, like a pair of tinted glasses, that adds color to the interpretation of a text. No single lens or theory provides the clearest view of the world. Instead, each one allows a reader to make meaning from a piece of literature in a different way.

Literary Theories

Archetypal Criticism

Cultural Criticism

Reader-Response Criticism

Historical Criticism

Feminist Criticism

Marxist Criticism

Reader-Response Criticism

Reader-Response Criticism focuses on a reader's active engagement with the text. The reader's response to any text is shaded by the reader's own experiences, ethics, moral values, and general views of the world. For example, the response to To Kill a Mockingbird may depend on the reader's sense of outrage on behalf of someone unjustly accused of a crime.

Assumptions about Reader-Response Criticism

• When encountering a text, the reader creates meaning from a personal interaction with a text.
• A discussion of a text should take into account the reader as well as the reading situation.
• Different readers formulate different acceptable interpretations because a text allows for a range of acceptable interpretations for which textual support is available.

Cultural Criticism

Cultural criticism asserts that differing religious beliefs, ethnicities, class identifications, political beliefs, and individual viewpoints affect how texts are created and interpreted. What it means to be a part of--or excluded from--a specific cultural group contributes to an understanding of texts in relation to culture.

Assumptions about Cultural Criticism

• Ethnicity, religious beliefs, social class, and other cultural features are crucial components in formulating plausible interpretations of a text.
• It is essential to examine the relationship between dominant cultures and those with less power or authority.

Archetypal Criticism

Archetypes are universal symbols--images, characters, motifs, or patterns that recur in the myths, dreams, oral traditions, songs, literature, and other texts of peoples widely separated by time and space. Archetypal Criticism deals with the similarities of these patterns in the literature of widely diverse cultures. For example, most cultures have stories that present a version of the Hero's Journey.

Assumptions about Archetypal Criticism

• Certain images recur in texts from diverse cultures that share a common interpretation--water, sun, colors, trees, and settings such as gardens and deserts.
• Certain characters recur--the hero, the trickster, the great mother, the wise old man, the prodigal son.
• Certain motifs and patterns recur--creation stories, the quest, voyage to the underworld, journey, and initiation.

Marxist Criticism

Marxist Criticism asserts that economics provides the foundation for all social, political, and ideological reality. Economic inequalities between classes create conflict and a power structure that influences all other aspects of life. For example, status in the community in Their Eyes Were Watching God can be examined from an economic point of view.

Assumptions about Marxist Criticism

• All aspects of humanity are based on the struggles for economic power.
• The basic struggle in human society is between the "haves" and the "have-nots"
• The struggle between social classes is inevitable but also drives social transformation.

Feminist Criticism

Feminist interpretation focuses on relationships between genders. It examines the patterns of thought, behavior, values, enfranchisement, and power in relations between and within the sexes. A feminist reading of Their Eyes Were Watching God, for example, may examine the novel as an example of a heroine's journey.

Assumptions about Feminist Criticism

• Issues of gender and sexuality are central to artistic expression.
• A patriarchal society conveys the notion of male dominance through the images of women in its texts.
• Fictional portrayals of female characters often reflect and create stereotypical social and political attitudes about women.
• Many classic literary texts lack complex female figures and treat the female reader as an outsider.
• Texts authored by women may have different viewpoints than texts authored by men.

Historical Criticism

While acknowledging the importance of the literary text, the Historical approach recognizes the significance of historical information in interpreting literature. This perspective assumes that texts both influence and are influenced by the times in which they are created. For example, an interpretation of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe may be enhanced by an understnading of the effects of colonialism in present-day African life.

Assumptions about Historical Criticism

• A text cannot be separated from its historical context which is a web of social, cultural, economic, personal, and political factors.
• An understanding of a text is enhanced by the study of beliefs and artifacts (such as diaries, films, paintings, and letters) in existence when the text was created.

The Help

Archetypal Criticism

Reader-Response

Cultural Criticism

Who are the "heroes" in The Help? Who are the "villains" or "tricksters"?

How does your background affect the way you understand the film The Help?

How do the relationships between characters of different cultural backgrounds shape the plot of The Help?

The Help

Historical Criticism

Marxist Criticism

Feminist Criticism

Who are the "heroes" in The Help? Who are the "villains" or "tricksters"?

How do the economic situations of the characters in The Help drive the plot?

How do the interactions between different genders in The Help inform us of the social context of the film?

Viewing Through the Lens

Use the OPTIC strategy to closely examine each of the following images. Then, examine them through the lens of literary theories.

Viewing Through the Lens

• Overview: Write notes on what the image appears to be about.
• Parts: Zoom in on the different parts of the image. Describe any details that seem important.
• Title: Highlight the words of the title if there is one.
• Interrelationships: How are the elements of the image related?
• Conclusion: Draw a conclusion about the image as a whole. What does the visual mean?

Viewing Through the Lens

• Overview: Write notes on what the image appears to be about.
• Parts: Zoom in on the different parts of the image. Describe any details that seem important.
• Title: Highlight the words of the title if there is one.
• Interrelationships: How are the elements of the image related?
• Conclusion: Draw a conclusion about the image as a whole. What does the visual mean?

Viewing Through the Lens

• Overview: Write notes on what the image appears to be about.
• Parts: Zoom in on the different parts of the image. Describe any details that seem important.
• Title: Highlight the words of the title if there is one.
• Interrelationships: How are the elements of the image related?
• Conclusion: Draw a conclusion about the image as a whole. What does the visual mean?

Viewing Through the Lens

• Overview: Write notes on what the image appears to be about.
• Parts: Zoom in on the different parts of the image. Describe any details that seem important.
• Title: Highlight the words of the title if there is one.
• Interrelationships: How are the elements of the image related?
• Conclusion: Draw a conclusion about the image as a whole. What does the visual mean?

Criticisms

Evaluate each of the posters from each literary criticism perspective. Based on that information, did your understanding of each image change after applying literary theories? How does a viewer's perspective create meaning in a given text?

20XX

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