THE CRITICAL

APPROACHES IN
WRITING A
REVIEW
Group 1
FORMALISM
WHAT IS FORMALISM? 3

- refers to critical approaches that analyze,

interpret, or evaluate the features of a text
- object-centered theory of critical approach
to literature
- It concentrates only on work itself and
totally ignores the author of the work, time
and background information of the work.
FORMAL PROPERTIES OF
FORMALISM

● Words (meaning of the words)

● Shape/structure of the text
● Harmony of the words
● The rhythm of the sentences
● Rhyming of the words
● Meaning of the text as a whole
FORMAL PROPERTIES DO NOT 5

INCLUDE:

● Time of the work

● Background of the work
● Representation of the work
● The symbolism of the words
● Author’s moral, religious, or political
values
● Author’s personal life
FORMALIST CRITICISM
- analyzes the form of a literary work to discover its true
meaning (not what
the audiences think but what the text says)
- examine a text regardless of its time period,
social/political/religious setting, and author’s
background
- they believe that true meaning of the text lies only in
the text
WHAT IS TEXT?
- according to Formalism, a text is a literary work
which is a finished product and nothing can
change its meaning and form.
- the form and contents of the text cannot be
separated. It creates meaning as a whole.
- a literary text has a fixed meaning.
-the greatest literary texts are ‘constant’,
‘coherent’, ‘timeless’, and ‘universal’.
 A CHECKLIST FOR 8

FORMALIST CRITICISM:
A formalist critic analyzes:
FEMINISM
WHAT IS FEMINISM?
-feminist theory is a major branch within sociology that shifts its
assumptions, analytic lens,
and topical focus away from the male viewpoint and experience
toward that of women
-promotes the pursuit of equality and justice
-supports the idea that men and women have different strengths,
perspectives, and roles, while advocating for the equal worth and
dignity of both sexes
FEMINIST THEORY
FOCUSES ON:
● discrimination and exclusion on the
basis of sex and gender
● objectification
● structural and economic inequality
● power and oppression
● gender roles and stereotypes
 GENDER
DIFFERENCES
-feminist theory provides framework for
understanding women’s location in and
experience of social situations differ from men.

- believe that the different roles assigned to

women and men within institutions better
explain gender differences, including the sexual
division of labor in the household.

- focus on how women have been marginalized

and defined as “other” in patriarchal societies
GENDER INEQUALITY
- recognize that women’s location in and experience of
social situations are not only different but also unequal
to men
- feminist theorists claim, married women have higher
levels of stress than unmarried women and married men
GENDER OPPRESSION
- argued that not only are women different from or unequal to men, but that they are
actively oppressed, subordinated, and even abused by men

2 Main Theories of Gender Oppression

-Psychoanalytic feminists
-Radical feminists
 PSYCHOANALYTIC
FEMINISTS
-explain power relation by reformulating Sigmund
Freud’s theories of human emotions, childhood
development, and the workings of the subconscious
and unconscious
- believe that conscious calculation cannot fully
explain the production and reproduction of patriarchy
RADICAL FEMINISTS
-argue that being a woman is a positive
thing in and of itself, but that this is
not acknowledged in patriarchal
societies where women are oppressed
STRUCTURAL OPPRESSION
-women’s oppression and inequality are a result of
capitalism, patriarchy, and racism
-intersectionality theorists seek to explain oppression
and inequality across a variety of
variables, including class, gender, race, ethnicity, and
age
READER-RESPONSE
CRITICISM
-suggests that the role of the reader is essential to the meaning of a text, for
only in
the reading experience does the literary work come alive

Your critical reading of a text asks you to explore:

● why you like or dislike the text;
● explain whether you agree or disagree with the author;
● identify the text’s purpose; and
● critique the text
MARXIST CRITICISM
-Literature reflects class struggle and materialism
-a careful reader or viewer who keeps in mind issues of power and
money, and any of the following kinds of questions:

● What role does class play in the work; what is the author's analysis of class relations?
● How do characters overcome oppression?
● In what ways does the work serve as propaganda for the status quo; or does it try to undermine
it?
● What does the work say about oppression; or are social conflicts ignored or blamed
elsewhere?
● Does the work propose some form of utopian vision as a solution to the problems encountered
in the work
QUIZ TIME!
Test I. Identification

1. It refers to critical approaches that analyze, interpret, or evaluate the features

of a text object-centered theory of critical.

2. It supports the idea that men and women have different strengths,
perspectives, and roles, while advocating for the equal worth and dignity of both
sexes.

3. Believe that the different roles assigned to women and men within institutions.

4. Women’s location in and experience of social situations are not only different
but also unequal to men.

5. Argued that not only are women different from or unequal to men, but that
they are actively oppressed, subordinated, and even abused by men.

Test II. Enumeration

Enumerate the formal properties of formalism. (In any order)

 
ANSWER
TEST I
1.FORMALISM
2.FEMINISM
3.GENDER DIFFERENCES
4. GENDER INEQUALITY
5.GENDER OPPRESSION
TEST II
● Words (meaning of the words)
● Shape/structure of the text
● Harmony of the words
● The rhythm of the sentences
● Rhyming of the words
● Meaning of the text as a whole