1. Critical Approaches Keys to Interpretation

2. Critical Approaches
"It's inevitable that people will ponder, discuss, and analyze the works of art that interest them.“
X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama

3. Why? Goes beyond the reader-response level Increases rigor
Focuses student thinking
Used to write argumentative papers
Allows the reader to make connections to the work

4. Formalistic Approach
All elements necessary for understanding are contained within the work.
Of particular interest:
Form-style
Structure
Tone
Imagery
Figurative language
Literature is a form of knowledge with intrinsic elements--style, structure, imagery, tone, genre.
2. 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 (thought, feeling, gut reactions, etc.)
3. The appreciation of literature as an art requires close reading--a careful, step-by-step analysis and explication of the text (the language of the work). An analysis may follow from questions like, how do various elements work together to shape the effect on the reader?
4. Style and theme influence eachother and can't be separated if meaning is to be retained. It's this interdependence in form and content that makes a text "literary." "Extracting" elements in isolation (theme, character, ploy, setting, etc.) may destroy a reader's aesthetic experience of the whole.
5. Formalist critics don't deny the historical, political situation of a work, they just believe works of art have the power to transcend by being "organic wholes"--akin to a being with a life of its own.
6. Formalist criticism is evaluative in that it differentiates great works of art from poor works of art. Other kinds of criticism don't necessarily concern themselves with this distinction.
7. Formalist criticism is decidedly a "scientific" approach to literary analysis, focusing on "facts amenable to "verification" (evidence in the text).

5. Formalistic Approach How is the work’s structure unified?
How do various elements of the work reinforce its meaning?
What recurring patterns can you find?
How does the writer’s diction reveal or reflect the work’s meaning?
How does the author create tone and mood?

6. Biographical Approach
There is an assumption that understanding an author’s life can help readers more thoroughly comprehend the text. This information should amplify the meaning of the text, but not drown it out with irrelevant material.
Real life experience can help shape (either directly or indirectly) an author's work.
2. Understanding an author's life can help us better understand the work.
3. Facts from the author's life are used to help the reader better understand the work; the focus is always on the literary work under investigation.

7. Biographical Approach
What aspects of the author’s personal life are relevant to this story?
Which of the author’s stated beliefs are reflected in the work?
Do plot details or themes reflect any of the writer’s personal experiences?
Do any of the characters in the story correspond to real people?

8. Historical Approach
Seeks to understand a literary work by investigating the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it. Connects text to historical period. ** This can be when it was written as well as when it is set.
Historical criticism investigates the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it. This investigation includes the author's biography and the social milieu.
2. Historical criticism often seeks to understand the impact of a work in its day, and it may also explore how meanings change over time.
3. Historical criticism explores how time and place of creation affect meaning in the work.

9. Historical Criticism
How does it reflect the time in which it was written?
How accurately does the story depict the time in which it is set?
What other literary works may have influenced the writer?
Does the story reveal or contradict the prevailing values of the time in which it was written?

10. Gender Approach
Examines the role and image of men and women in literature. Sometimes called the “Feminist Approach”

11. Gender Criticism/ Feminist Approach
How are women’s lives portrayed in the work?
Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s gender?
How do male and female characters relate to one another?
What marital expectations are imposed on the characters? What effect do these expectations have?

12. Psychological Approach
Focuses on the psychology of characters.
Human behavior and motivation
Wish-fulfillment
The unconscious
Fears
Repression
These critics hold the belief that great literature truthfully reflects life and is a realistic representation of human motivation and behavior.
2. Psychological critics may choose to focus on the creative process of the artist , the artist's motivation or behavior, or analyze fictional characters' motivations and behaviors.

13. Psychological Approach
What forces are motivating the characters?
Which behaviors of the character are conscious ones?
Given their backgrounds, how plausible is the characters’ behavior?
What conflicts exist between the characters?
Does the character struggle with his/her identity?

14. Sociological Approach
Focuses on man’s relationship to others in society, their culture, politics, religion, and business.
1. These critics examine literature in its cultural, economic, and political context; they explore the relation between the artist and the society--how might the profession of authorship have affected what's been written?
2. It is concerned with the social content of literary works, pursuing such questions as: What cultural, economic or political values does the text implicitly or explicitly promote? What is the role of the audience in shaping what's been written?

15. Sociological Approach
What is the relationship between characters and their society?
Does the story address societal issues, such as race, gender, and class?
How does the story reflect the Great American Dream or that of the dream of success?
How does the story reflect urban, rural, or suburban values?

16. Archetypal Approach
Focuses on connections to other literature, mythological/ biblical allusions, archetypal images, symbols, characters, and themes.
The Hero
The Villain
The Quest
The Temptress
Mythological Criticism or Archetypal Criticism: This approach emphasizes "the recurrent universal patterns underlying most literary works." Combining the insights from anthropology, psychology, history, and comparative religion, mythological criticism "explores the artist's common humanity by tracing how the individual imagination uses myths and symbols common to different cultures and epochs." One key concept in mythlogical criticism is the archetype, "a symbol, character, situation, or image that evokes a deep universal response," which entered literary criticism from Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. According to Jung, all individuals share a "`collective unconscious,' a set of primal memories common to the human race, existing below each person's conscious mind"-often deriving from primordial phenomena such as the sun, moon, fire, night, and blood, archetypes according to Jung "trigger the collective unconscious." Another critic, Northrop Frye, defined archetype in a more limited way as "a symbol, usually an image, which recurs often enough in literature to be recognizable as an element of one's literary experience as a whole."  Regardless of the definition of archetype they use, mythological critics tend to view literary works in the broader context of works sharing a similar pattern. 
Archetypal Criticism: This approach emphasizes "the recurrent universal patterns underlying most literary works." Combining the insights from anthropology, psychology, history, and comparative religion, mythological criticism "explores the artist's common humanity by tracing how the individual imagination uses myths and symbols common to different cultures and epochs." One key concept in mythlogical criticism is the archetype, "a symbol, character, situation, or image that evokes a deep universal response," which entered literary criticism from Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. According to Jung, all individuals share a "`collective unconscious,' a set of primal memories common to the human race, existing below each person's conscious mind"-often deriving from primordial phenomena such as the sun, moon, fire, night, and blood, archetypes according to Jung "trigger the collective unconscious." Another critic, Northrop Frye, defined archetype in a more limited way as "a symbol, usually an image, which recurs often enough in literature to be recognizable as an element of one's literary experience as a whole."  Regardless of the definition of archetype they use, mythological critics tend to view literary works in the broader context of works sharing a similar pattern. 

17. Archetypal Approach
How does this story resemble other stories in plot, character, setting, or symbolism?
What universal experiences are depicted?
Does the writer allude to biblical or mythological literature? For what purpose?
What archetypal settings appear?
What archetypal characters appear in the story?
Archetypal: Relates to Psychoanalytical Criticism in some ways(see below). Developed by Carl Jung, this approach accepts the idea of the unconscious mind. However, unlike Sigmund Freud and other critics, Jungians argue that part of the unconscious is shared by all people. From this perspective the term "collective unconscious" developed, a term representing the memories of human products and activities (found in myths, symbols, rituals, literatures) and reproduced as archetypes. Archetypes are figures or patterns recurring in works of the imagination, and can be divided into three categories. Archetypal characters include (but are not limited to): the hero, the villain, the outcast, the femme fatale, and the star-crossed lovers. Archetypal situations include (but are not limited to): the quest, the journal, death and rebirth, and the task. Archetypal symbols and associations include polarities: light/dark, water/desert, height/depth, spring/winter.
It is important to note two things. First, works may contain multiple archetypes. Second, not everything is an archetype. A balance between these two extremes can be very difficult to achieve. Looking for recurring patterns within a piece or within a collection of related stories can be useful in using this approach

18. Philosophical Approach
Focuses on themes, views of the world, moral statements, author’s philosophy

19. Philosophical Approach
What view of life does the story present? Which character best articulates this viewpoint?
What moral statement does this story make?
What is the author’s attitude toward his world?
What does the work say about human nature?