Critical Strategies for Reading

Notes and Finer Points

Formalist

● Popular from WWII to the 1970s, then replaced by approaches that had more political tendencies.

● The best formalist readers are those who examine HOW the text is constructed.

Formalist: Examples

● A formalist critique of Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham may examine the limited vocabulary and rhyme scheme as didactic tools used to teach about food choice and nutrition.

● A formalist critique of Sandra Cisneros’s novel The House on Mango Street may examine the author’s use of metaphor and simile to convey the desperation of poverty.

Biographical

● Considering aspects of the author’s life.

Biographical: Examples

● A biographical critique of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird may examine her childhood friendship with Truman Capote and how their relationship is reflected in the friendship of Scout and Dill.

Psychological

● Sigmund Freud is the author of the structural model of personality. In this theory, Freud explains that each person’s personality is formed of three parts: the Ego, the Superego and the Id.

● Psychoanalysis is the process of using what we know about these three parts of someone’s personality to analyze the ways that person behaves.

Psychological

● Oedipus Complex – male’s instinctual desire to possess the mother, leading to inevitable conflict with the father, derived from Oedipus Rex.

● Repression – suppression from consciousness of painful or uncomfortable ideas, memories, impulses

Psychological: Applications

● Applied to author by examining the text to reveal his/her hidden urges or motivations.

● Applied to the character by examining his/her behaviors to reveal motives and desires.

● Applied to the reader by examining his/her interpretation of the book and how that reveals hidden impulses, desires, or urges.

● Critics using this strategy may examine images to reveal latent content.

Psychological: Examples

● Example: A psychological critique of Hamlet may examine Shakespeare’s sexualization of Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, and the Oedipal tension between Hamlet and Gertrude.

● Example: A psychological critique of Emily Dickinson’s poetry may examine the author’s spinsterhood and the latent sexual imagery in her works.

Historical●Encompasses the examination of past

events, influences, movements, etc.

●Considers the influence of the past on author, characters and reader.

Historical: Examples

● Example: A historical critique of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried may examine the counterculture of the 1960s and how it is reflected in the novel.

Historical: Examples

● Example: A historical critique of Elie Weisel’s Night may examine the novel in the context of modern-day genocide that occurred in Rwanda.

Marxist

● Emphasizes the “false consciousness” of the dominant group; because one is part of the majority, one tends to ignore or deny the marginalization of the minority.

● Employs the concept of “objectification,” wherein people are turned into commodities. For example, a Marxist critique of the media might examine how tragedies (ie. the deaths of JFK and Princess Diana) are exploited for financial gain.

Marxist

● Ideology – the shared beliefs and values held unquestioningly by a culture.

● Examines the concept of “base vs. superstructure.” The “base” is the economic foundation of a culture, and the “superstructure” is the law, politics, philosophy and religion that are derived from the “base.” In other words, ideology is determined by economics.

Marxist: Examples

● Example: A Marxist critique of Native Son by Richard Wright might examine the objectification of Bigger Thomas as he is used by his lawyer as a symbol for black struggle and strife.

Gender/Feminist

● Became popular in the post-WWII feminist boom and continues today.

● Patriarchy – ideology that privileges masculine behaviors and ways of thinking.

● Often includes the argument that language itself is patriarchal and examines the ways in which the author’s use of language either stifles or supports the feminist ideal.

Gender/Feminist: Examples

● Example: A gender/feminist critique of Frankenstein may examine Shelley’s portrayal of women as weak characters showing little substance used simply to reflect the male characters.

● Example: A gender/feminist critique of the Star Wars series may examine how George Lucas attempts to subvert patriarchal values by creating female characters (like Princess Leia) who wield political and social power.

Mythological

● Emphasizes deep, instinctual symbolism (archetypes).

● Archetype- Literary critics believe that archetypes, which have common and recurring representation in a particular human culture/entire human race, shape the structure and function of a literary work.

Mythological

● According to psychologist Carl Jung the root of an archetype is in the “collective unconscious” of mankind.

● Collective Unconscious – that part of a human’s unconscious self that is common to all human beings.

Mythological

●Common Archetypes – water, darkness/light, sun/moon, heat/cold, seasons, “the path,” death/resurrection, initiations, quests, mentors, shapes, colors, geographical elements.

Archetypes

● Archetypes in 70 Seconds!● The Hero’s Quest!

Mythological: Examples

● Example: A mythological critique of Cinderella may examine the archetypes of the hero’s quest and the guide/mentor, and their function in the tale.

Reader Response

● Assumes that the text acts upon or influences the mind of the reader.

● Meaning = Text + Reader● May examine how rhetorical choices affect

the reader, ie. building tension through plot devices.

Reader Response

● May examine how codes or paradigms that are used to acquire meaning change, thus changing interpretations of the text.

● May examine how the mind processes a text.

● May examine the personal, emotional effect of a text on a reader. (This is the most subjective, least useful tactic.)

Reader Response: Examples

● Example: A reader’s response critique of The Hunger Games may examine the strength and intelligence of Katniss as a character who continues to work through challenges and difficulties- characteristics applicable to individual readers.