Critical Theory: A Guide to Literary Analysis

IB English HL 1

Critical Theory: Oftentimes referred to as “literary theory,” and now undergoing a

transformation into “cultural theory,” it denotes the lens by which one examines and
interprets a particular text in order to understand the social and intellectual concepts on
which it is designed.

Moral Theory: This theory of criticism centers on the moral lessons (i.e. themes) that a
work conveys; a moral critic is concerned with what the piece of literature teaches and how
it improves the reader in some way.

Investigative Questions:
● What moral lesson can be found within the text? Are they explicit or implicit?
● What moral attributes are reflected in various characters? And how does the author
present those characters in order to reflect his or her point of view?
● What is the author’s attitude toward his or her world? Toward fate? Toward God?
● What is the author’s conception of good and evil? And what does the work say about
the nature of good or evil? Is good rewarded? Is evil punished?
● What view of life does the story present? Which character best articulates this
viewpoint?
● According to this work’s view of life, what is mankind’s relationship to God? To the
universe?
● Is the world ordered or random?
● What does the work say about human nature?

Formalist Theory: This theory of criticism considers the style of the author and the text
(i.e. craft & technique), examining the aesthetic qualities of literature and the specific
techniques an author has used and their effects on the reader. Refer to Purdue Owl.

Investigative Questions:
● How is the work’s structure unified?
● How do various elements of the work reinforce its meaning?
● What recurring patterns (repeated or related words, images, etc.) can you find?
What is the effect of these patterns or motifs?
● How does repetition reinforce the theme(s)?
● How does the writer’s diction reveal or reflect the work’s meaning?
● What is the effect of the plot, and what parts specifically produce that effect?
● What figures of speech are used? (metaphors, similes, hyperbole, personification,
etc.)
● How does the writer use paradox, irony, symbol, plot, characterization, and style to
enhance the story? What effects are produced? Do any of these relate to one another
or to the theme?
 ● Is there a relationship between the beginning and the end of the story?
● What tone and mood are created at various parts of the work?
● How does the author create tone and mood? What relationship is there between
tone and mood and the effect of the story?
● How do the various elements interact to create a unified whole?

New Historicism Theory: This theory of criticism seeks to reconnect a work with the time
period in which it was produced and to identify it with the cultural and political climates of
its time. *Think Time & Space and Intertextuality. Refer to Purdue Owl.

Investigative Questions:
● 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 literary or historical influences helped to shape the form and content of the
work?
● How does the story reflect the attitudes and beliefs of the time in which it was
written or set? (Think beliefs and attitudes related to race, religion, politics, gender,
society, philosophy, etc.)
● What other literary works may have influenced the writer?
● What historical events or movements might have influenced this writer?
● How would characters and events in this story have been viewed by the writer’s
contemporaries?
● Does the story reveal or contradict the prevailing values of the time in which it was
written? Does it provide an opposing view of the period’s prevailing values?
● How important is it the historical context (the work’s and the reader’s) to
interpreting the work?

Feminist Theory:

Feminist criticism is concerned with the way that men and women are represented in
literature by both male and female authors. It considers gender roles and societal
conventions and how characters conform to, or deviate from, the cultural norm. We will use
this theory to examine: The Great Gatsby, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, A Doll’s House, and
Persepolis.

Common Space in Feminist Theories (provided by Purdue OWL):

Though a number of different approaches exist in feminist criticism, there exist some areas
of commonality:
1. Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically, politically, socially, and
psychologically; patriarchal ideology is the primary means by which women are oppressed.
2. In every domain where patriarchy reigns, woman is other: she is marginalized, defined
only by her difference from male norms and values.
3. All of Western (Anglo-European) civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology, for
example, in the Biblical portrayal of Eve as the origin of sin and death in the world.
4. While biology determines our sex (male or female), culture determines our gender
(scales of masculine and feminine).
5. All feminist activity, including feminist theory and literary criticism, has as its ultimate
goal to change the world by prompting gender equality.
6. Gender issues play a part in every aspect of human production and experience, including
the production and experience of literature, whether we are consciously aware of these
issues or not.

Investigative Questions:
● How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?
● What are the power relationships between men and women (or characters assuming
male/female roles)?
● How are male and female roles defined?
● What constitutes masculinity and femininity?
● How do characters embody these traits?
● Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How so? How does this change
others’ reactions to them?
● What does the work reveal about the operations (economically, politically, socially,
or psychologically) of patriarchy?
● What does the work imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as a mode of
resisting patriarchy?
● What does the work say about women's creativity?
● What does the history of the work's reception by the public and by the critics tell us
about the operation of patriarchy?
● What role does the work play in terms of women's literary history and literary
tradition?

Marxist Theory:

Marxist criticism, based on the theories of Karl Marx, examines a piece of literature through
a social lens, seeking to identify the class structures and struggles presented within the
text, as well as the societal values established or undermined through the work. We will use
this theory to analyze The Great Gatsby.

Investigative Questions:
● Whom does it benefit if the work or effort is accepted/successful/believed, etc.?
● What is the social class of the author?
● Which class does the work claim to represent?
● What values does it reinforce?
● What values does it subvert?
 ● What conflict can be seen between the values the work champions and those it
portrays?
● What social classes do the characters represent?
● How do characters from different classes interact or conflict?

Post-Colonial Theory:

Post-colonial criticism examines a piece of literature through a cultural lens, specifically

focusing on the issues of power, economics, politics, religion, and culture and how these
elements work in relation to colonial powers and those who were/are colonized. We will
use this theory to examine Persepolis.

Investigative Questions:
● How does the literary text, explicitly or allegorically, represent various aspects of
colonial oppression?
● What does the text reveal about the problematics of post-colonial identity, including
the relationship between personal and cultural identity and such issues as double
consciousness and hybridity?
● What person(s) or groups does the work identify as "other" or stranger? How are
such persons/groups described and treated?
● What does the text reveal about the politics and/or psychology of anti-colonialist
resistance?
● What does the text reveal about the operations of cultural difference - the ways in
which race, religion, class, gender, sexual orientation, cultural beliefs, and customs
combine to form individual identity - in shaping our perceptions of ourselves,
others, and the world in which we live?
● How does the text respond to or comment upon the characters, themes, or
assumptions of a canonized (colonialist) work?
● Are there meaningful similarities among the literatures of different post-colonial
populations?
● How does a literary text in the Western canon reinforce or undermine colonialist
ideology through its representation of colonialization and/or its inappropriate
silence about colonized peoples?