Guide Questions for

Literary Criticism
Moralist Approach

•How should one act?

•What does one think is right?
•How does one take moral knowledge and
practice it?
•What does “right” mean?
Marxist Approach
•how the literary work reflects the economics, politics,
and culture of the time when it was written;
•how social classes are featured in the text and how
they are depicted; and
•how the struggle to maintain wealth and power
defines a character.
•how the struggle to gain wealth or move up the class
system defines a character;
•relationships between characters as defined by their
social status; and
•the presence of class oppression.
Feminist Approach
1.How are women’s lives portrayed in the work?
2.What does the piece reveal about patriarchy?
3.How does the marital status of a character affect or define her?
4.To what extent is the form and content of the work influenced by
the writer’s gender?
5.How is the relationship between male and female characters
portrayed?
6.How are masculinity and femininity defined in the story? How do
the characters show these traits?
7.How do the characters’ genders affect the story?
8.Are there any characters that exhibit traits from opposite
genders? How so? How does this affect other characters’ reactions
to them?
9.Consider the sociocultural context during the time the work was
published. How did it contribute to the landscape or tradition of
feminist literature?
Histo-Bio Approach
1.When and where is the narrative set?
2.Who is the author? How is his or her background reflected in the text? What
circumstances was he or she going through while writing the text?
3.How does the literary work reflect the time in which it was written? How
accurately does it depict its setting?
4.How does the story reflect the attitudes and beliefs of the time in which it was
written or set? (Consider beliefs and attitudes related to race, religion, politics,
gender, society, philosophy, etc.)
5.Does the story reveal or contradict the prevailing values of the time in which it
was written?
6.What other literary works might have influenced the author’s work?
7.What historical events or movements might have influenced the author?
8.How did the original readers of the work view the characters and events in the
story? From their perspective, does the story provide an opposing view of their
values?
9.How important is the historical context of the work? How does it influence one’s
reading of the work?
Reader-Response Approach
1.Which aspect of your everyday reality is reflected in the text?
2.How does the text relate to you on a personal level? How does it
reflect aspects of your past, present, and future?
3.Consider the view of the world in the text and your own. How
much are they alike? How different are they?
4.What did you learn from the text? How were your views, beliefs,
and opinions challenged or changed by the text?
5.Consider the issues tackled in the text. How relevant are those
issues to you, your family, and your community? How do those issues
affect your economic and social standing?
6.To what extent do you find the text entertaining or amusing?