Lesson 1: Critique Writing

Critique - a paper that gives a critical assessment of a book or article.

-systematic analysis of a piece of literature that discusses its validity and evaluates its
worth.

-analytic and persuasive.

In analyzing the content and context within which the book (or article) was written, the
writer of a critique argues whether it is worth reading or not.

Critical Analysis Template

1. Introduction - states the title of the work, the author's name and the date of publication.

-outlines main ideas of the book and identify the author's thesis.

-states your own thesis statement and your main idea about the work.

2. Body - briefly outlines the main ideas of the book, article, or film.

-should involve who, what, where, when, why and how.

-you may also choose to discuss the structure, style or point of view.

3. Analysis - critically states what you like and do not like about the book, article or film.

-explains your ideas with specific examples from the book, article or film.

-assesses whether the author has achieved their intended goal.

4. Conclusion - restates your thesis in new words.

-summarizes your main ideas, if possible, with new and stronger words.

-call to action for your reader.

Lesson 2 & 3: Literary Approaches/Structuralism

& Formalism
Structuralism - challenged the belief that a work of literature reflected a given reality;
instead, a text was constituted of linguistic conventions and situated among other texts.
Structuralist Critics - analyzed material by examining underlying structures, such as
characterization or plot, and attempted to show how these patterns were universal and
could thus be used to develop general conclusions about both individual works and the
systems from which they emerged.

Three Dimensions to the Structuralist Approach

1. Naturalization of Text - text as particular system or structure in itself.

2. Binary Oppositions - text is related to the culture.

3. Intertextuality - texts are unavoidably influenced by other texts, in terms of their formal
and conceptual structures.

Formalism - critical approaches that analyze, interpret, or evaluate the inherent features of
a text.

-include not only grammar and syntax but also literary devices such as meter and tropes.

Formalistic Approach - reduces on modes, genres, discourse, and forms.

-what gives a literary work status as art, or as a great work of art, is how all of its elements
work together to create the reader's total experience.

Literature - form of knowledge with intrinsic elements - style, structure, imagery, tone,
genre.

The appreciation of literature as an art requires close reading - a careful, step-by-step

analysis and explication of the text.

Analysis - may follow from questions like, how do various elements work together to
shape the effect on the reader?

Style and theme influence each other and can't be separated if meaning is to be retained,
it's the interdependence in form and content that makes a text "literary".

"Extracting" elements in isolation (theme, character, plot, setting, etc.) may destroy a
reader's aesthetic experience of the whole.

Major Literary Terms of Structuralist and Formalist Criticism

1. Plot - sequence of events in a story or play.

-short stories usually has one plot so it can be read in one sitting. There are five essential
parts of a plot:

a. Exposition - beginning of the story; characters; background, and setting revealed.

b. Rising Action - events in the story become complicated; the conflict is revealed.

c. Climax - turning point of the story.

-readers wonder what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?

d. Falling Action - resolution begins; events and complication start to fall into place.

-the events between climax and denouement.

e. Resolution (Conclusion) - final outcome of events in the story.

2. Setting - time and location a story takes place.

a. Place - geographical location; where is the action of the story taking place?

b. Time - historical period, time of day, year, etc.; when is the story taking place?

c. Weather Conditions - is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc.?

d. Social Conditions - what is the daily life of the characters like?

e. Mood or Atmosphere - what feeling is created at the beginning of the story? Cheerful or
eerie?

3. Character - there are two meanings for "character": 1) a person in a fictional story; or
2) qualities of a person.

-People in a work of fiction can be a:

a. Protagonist - principal character of a story

b. Antagonist - opposition or "enemy" of the main character

-Characteristics of a character can be revealed through:

a. Their physical appearance

b. What they say, thinks, feels, dreams, and what they do or does not do

c. What others say about them and how others react to them

-Characters can be:

a. Round - fully developed personalities that are affected by the story's events; they can
learn, grow, or deteriorate by the end of the story.

b. Flat - one-dimensional character

c. Dynamic - character who go through change and "grows" during a story.

d. Static - character does not go through change.

4. Point of View - angle from which the story is told.

a. First Person - story is told by the protagonist or a character who interacts closely with
the protagonist or other characters.

-speaker uses the pronouns "I", "me", and "we".

b. Second Person - story told by a narrator who addresses the reader or some other
assumed "you".

-speaker uses pronouns "you", "your", and "yours".

c. Third Person - story told by a narrator who sees all of the action.

-speaker uses the pronouns "he", "she", "it", "they", "his", "hers", "its", and "theirs".

-person may be a character in the story.

5. Theme - central message, "moral of the story", and the underlying meaning of a fictional
piece.

-may be the author's thoughts on the topic or view of human nature.

Lesson 4: Marxist Approach

Marxist Criticism - you're not just reading a story, but you're getting a glimpse into a
different culture and society.

-reviews a work of literature in terms of the society it presents.

-a careful reader or viewer who keeps in mind issues of power and money.

-similar to historical analysis, claims that literature is not art, independent of its time and
culture.

-examines literature in its cultural, economic, and political contexts.

-concerned with the social content of literary works.

What is that society like? Is it like yours? Do the rich and powerful have all the control? And
what event inspired the author to create this society in the first place? These are all sorts of
questions asked in Marxist Criticism.

Marxist - name from Karl Marx.

-looks for oppression of a lower class by an upper class.

-examines how people are made into commodities to make money off of.

-examines what social classes are.

Why do this?

1. To show money

2. To show how social class affects a story

3. To give the poor, invisible, or disenfranchised a voice in literature

4. To evaluate whether class and inequality is a driving force in our society

Marxist Approach - as the name suggests, Karl Marx in collaboration with Friedrich Engels
was the inspiration for the ideology behind this literary criticism.

Common Questions for Marxist Approach

a. What is the relationship between the characters and their society?

b. Does the story address any societal issues, such as race, gender, and class?

c. How does the story reflect the Great American Dream?

d. How does the story reflect urban, rural, or suburban values?

e. 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?

f. What does the work say about economic or social power? Who has it and who doesn't?

g. Any Marxist learnings evident?

h. Does the story address issues of economic exploitation? What role does money play?
i. How do economic conditions determine the direction of the characters' lives?

j. Does the work challenge or affirm the social order it depicts?

k. Can the protagonist's struggle be seen as symbolic of a larger class struggle?

l. How does the microcosm (small world) of the story reflect that macrocosm (large
world) of the society in which it was composed?

m. Do any of the characters correspond to types of government, such as dictatorship,

democracy, communism, socialism, fascism, etc.? What attitudes toward these political
structures/systems are expressed in the work?

Karl Marx - primarily an ideologist who believed that the main reason behind conflicts in
history was the attempts by the lower class to obtain power, and the effort by the upper
class to retain what they already had.

-German philosopher who wrote The Communist Manifesto. In it, Marx and co-author
Friedrich Engels argue that all of history is about the struggle between the haves and have-
nots. They predicted that one day, the proletariat, will throw off the oppression of the
bourgeoisie or those with means and power.

-found that economy was the driving force behind society.

Marxism - analyzes history specifically in terms of the conflict between socioeconomic

classes.

Marxist Perspective - to analyze all forms of art, literature, music, visual arts, etc.

-the focus is to analyze how the competition between different classes inspired or
influenced a given work.

-study of the struggle between the upper, lower, and middle class. The basis of this
perspective is economics.

Marxist Critics - assumes that all part is political.

-judges a work's "ideology" - giving rise to such terms as "political correctness".

Lesson 5: Moralist Approach

Moralist Criticism - type of literary critique that judges the value of the literature based on
its moral lessons.
-determines the worth of literature by seeing if it encourages good out of the reader.

-evaluates the maturity, sincerity, honesty, sensitivity, and courage of literature.

Moralist/Philosophical Critics - believes that the larger purpose of literature is to teach

morality and to probe philosophical issues.

Advantages

a. Useful for such works which does present an obvious moral philosophy.

b. Useful when considering the themes of works.

c. Does not view literature merely as "art" isolated from all moral complications.

d. Recognizes that literature can affect readers, and that the message of a work is
important.

Disadvantages

a. Detractors argue that such an approach can be too "judgmental".

b. Some believe that literature should be judged primarily on its artistic merits, not its
moral or philosophical content.

Questions/Points to Consider

a. If the author seeks corruption or negative influence.

b. The moral and ethical teachings the author presents.

c. How does the text play out ethical principles?

d. Is a practical, moral, or philosophical idea being presented?

e. What view of life does the story present? Which character best articulates this
viewpoint?

f. What is man/woman's relationship to God/god/s? to the universe?

g. What moral statement, if any, does this story make? Is it explicit or implicit?

h. What is the author's attitude toward his world? Toward fate? Toward free will? Toward
God/god/s?

i. What is the author's conception of good and evil?

j. What does the work say about the nature of good and evil?

k. Does good exist? If so, does it prevail?

l. Does evil exist? If so, is it punished?

m. What does the work say about human nature?