1. It’s more fun than it sounds

2.  There are 11 main methods of literary criticism.

3.  Focuses on when the text was created and the situation in which it is being read.  In addition to the text’s language, critics try to discover outside influences (political, social, and economic) that may affect the meaning of the text.

4.  Focuses on a close reading of a text, examining elements such as structure, setting, symbols, and irony.  (THIS IS WHAT WE MOST OFTEN DO)

5.  Focuses on the struggle for power and its effect on social class.  Uses characters, plotlines, and themes to illustrate struggles for power.

6.  Focuses on the role of women.

7.  Refers to the motivations an author had in a test.  There is much debate over whether or not this should matter to interpreting a text.

8.  Maintains the existence preceded essence, and everyone is responsible for his or her own actions.

9.  Form of criticism focusing on patterns that exist across cultures and time periods.

10.  Analyzes literature in terms of mental processes.

11.  Focuses on the transaction that takes place between the reader and the text; meaning is negotiated, thus texts are open to multiple interpretations  (ALSO DONE FREQUENTLY IN THIS CLASS)

12.  Analyzes texts from the perspective that all texts are the result of an elaborate system of signs.

13.  Basing interpretations on either the expressed or implied intentions of a writer. Many critics find this method inappropriate.  (Some say the text is a living, breathing entity)

14.  Ambition in a range of characters from Georgiana Reed to Blanche Ingram  Class, especially in the way that Blanche and her friends treat Jane  The education and individual opportunities offered to women relevant to all the women characters in the book  The social role of money in offering liberty to women such as Jane and the Rivers sisters from taking uncongenial jobs.

15.  You try this one!

16.  Emphasizing the corruption, even despotism of the upper classes, Jane's narrative makes her audience aware that the middle classes were becoming the repositories of both moral and intellectual superiority.

17.  You Try this one!!

18.  Why did Bronte write the book?  Comment on the Church structure.  Comment on Victorian marriage.  ________________________________

19.  Isolation in a hostile world  Jane is the existential heroine as she grows up isolated from her cousins and aunt, who are all hostile toward her, belittling her constantly.  Freedom of choice and responsibility for one's actions  After learning that Mr. Rochester is not free to marry her, Jane chooses to leave Thornfield despite being penniless.

20.  The byronic hero  The mysterious element of the supernatural  _________________________

21.  What was Jane Eyre thinking/feeling and how does effect the outcome/meaning of the text?

22.  You give this one a try! (Everyone will have a different answer!)

23.  Foreshadowing

24.  What did Emily Bronte mean with this metaphor of the tree that was struck by lightening?