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Literature through a theoretical lens
Research Paper Literature through a theoretical lens
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Formalist Critique How do various elements of the work—plot, character, point of view, setting, tone, diction, images, symbol, and so on—reinforce the meanings present in the text? How are these elements related to the whole text? What is the work’s major organizing principle? How is its structure unified? What issues does the work raise? How does the work’s structure resolve those issues?
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Psychological critique
How does the work reflect the author’s personal psychology? What do the characters' emotions and behavior reveal about their psychological states? What types of personalities are they? Are psychological matters such as repression, dreams, and desire presented consciously or unconsciously by the author?
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Historical Critique How does the work reflect the period in which it is written? What literary or historical influences helped shape the form and content of the work? How important is the historical context to interpreting the work? WATCH THAT THESIS ISN’T TOO OBVIOUS!
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Marxist Critique How are class differences presented in the work? Are characters aware or unaware of the economic and social forces that affect their lives? How do economic conditions determine the characters’ lives? What ideological values are explicit or implicit? Does the work challenge or affirm the social order it describes?
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New historicist critique
What kinds of documents outside the work seem especially relevant for shedding light on the work? How are social values contemporary to the work reflected or refuted in the work? How does your own historical moment affect your reading of the work and its historical reconstruction?
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Cultural Studies Critique
What does the work reveal about the cultural behavior contemporary to it? How does popular culture contemporary to the work reflect or challenge the values implicit or explicit in the work? What kinds of cultural documents contemporary to the work add to your reading of it? How do your own cultural assumptions affect your reading of the work and the culture contemporary to it?
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Gender studies critique
How are the lives of men and women portrayed in the work? Do the men and women in the work reject or accept these roles? Is the form and content of the work influenced by the author’s gender? What attitudes are explicit or implicit concerning heterosexual, homosexual, or lesbian relationships? Are these relationships sources of conflict? Do they provide resolutions to conflicts? Does the work challenge or affirm traditional ideas about men and women and same-sex relationships?
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Mythological Critique
How does the story resemble other stories in plot, character, setting, or use of symbols? Are archetypes presented, such as quests, initiations, scapegoats, or withdrawals and returns? Does the protagonist undergo any kind of transformation such as a movement from innocence to experience that seems archetypal? Do any specific allusions to myths shed light on the text?
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Deconstructionist Critique
How are contradictory and opposing meanings expressed in the work? How does meaning break down or deconstruct itself in the language of the work? Would you say that ultimate definitive meanings are impossible to determine and establish in the text? Why? How does that affect your interpretation? How are implicit ideological values revealed in the work?
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General tips Instead of just using Google, try Google Scholar.
Look for URLs that end in .edu and .org. However, if you cannot find an author or date, the website may not be scholarly. (Undergraduate papers are not scholarly sources!) Check out Purdue OWL for some general information on different theories. Voice of the Shuttle is a good source but more
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