1. English 2 CP ** All definitions were copied from Bridging English pg.156

2. Literary Criticism? What’s that?  Literary criticism is a theory of how a work of literature should be critiqued. There are many different theories, but today we will focus on 4:  Feminist Critique  New Historical  Deconstructionist  Moral/Philosophical

3. Feminist  You concern yourself with images of women and the feminine in literature and how women are portrayed and differentiated from men. You intend to raise our consciousness about sexual exploitation and alienation.  If you were thinking about Feminist critique, I may ask you a question such as this:  How would the story be different if told from the perspective of a female narrator? Like Daisy, perhaps?

4. New Historical  You look for connections between literature and the general culture, both the one it was written in and the one it is being read in, and the difference between those lenses.  A possible question: How do you think a modern reader’s experience of this novel differs from that of a reader in 1925? Think about Gatsby, how could you apply this to the novel or some characters?

5. Deconstructionist  You believe reality is a social construction; there is no correct reading of a text. Scrutiny aims to destabilize, to find inconsistencies and challenges within a text to that text’s own assertions.  Sample Question: Is Gatsby the great American hero or an example of what is bad about America?

6. Moral/Philosophical  For you as a critic, literature is a vehicle for discussion of themes and morals—a text should be studied for its important issues and deep meanings.  Sample Question: Who is the most moral character in Gatsby? The least?

7. Facebook Assignment!  For this activity, you must choose a character from Gatsby to make a profile for on Facebook. **Email you may use to sign up is written on the board. After you have picked a character, you will pick one of the schools of literary criticism we have just discussed and adapt that particular point of view. Also, don’t write in the style of Fitzgerald’s language. Write it from your language, as if they were a part of today’s culture.  Some examples: You might do Daisy from a Feminist critic’s perspective, or Nick from a moral/philosophical outlook- express his point of view of the theme and how that would play into his life