Objective:

Compose an independent
critique of a chosen
selection.
What is Critiquing?
Critique (Critical Analysis)
● A technique that aims to study, discuss, evaluate,
and interpret literary works.
● A critique could be:
○ A critical essay
○ An article evaluating a literary piece
○ Or a review
Why do we need to critique a literary work?

● To know its overall value

● To determine its strengths and weaknesses
Miracle in Cell no. 7

Introduction:

Miracle in Cell No. 7 is a South Korean fervent comedy-drama film, directed by

Lee Hwan Kyung, which was released in 2013. The story forwards with a mild
mentally challenged man who is wrongly imprisoned for a criminal offense he
did not commit.

The film visualises the man's attempt to live his life in jail while maintaining a
strong connection with his daughter.This is one of those movies that I’ve only
ever heard good things about, and have always wanted to watch.
Miracle in Cell no. 7
Summary:

Lee Yong Goo, the protagonist of the movie, is imprisoned and assigned to "Cell No
7", the roughest cell in a maximum-security jail. Yong Goo saves the life of his
cellmate - So Yang Ho, who is a prison gang leader.

Yang Ho repays the favour by smuggling Lee Ye Seung (Yong Goo's daughter) into
Cell No 7. The cell's prisoners slowly befriend Yong Goo and start to feel that he is
a good man who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The police head commissioner, however, threatens to harm Ye Seung if Yong Goo
does not confess his crime during the trial. At length, Yong Goo chooses to plead
guilty and accepts the death sentence; sadly, his execution date of December 23
coincides with his young daughter's birthday.
Miracle in Cell no. 7
Analysis:

Along with a great storyline, the movie had some shortcomings, too. Upon close inspection, some parts
of the movie may seem illogical or impractical to many. For instance, how can a mentally challenged
person like Yong Goo be Ye Seung's guardian in the first place? Firmly, he does not have enough
mentally maturity enough to raise a child.

Secondly, the older Ye Seung's argument at court is only based on what her father told her and that too,
without any strong evidence. Thirdly, the police head's conspiracy and rage to scrape him out was not
much logical, either.

Moreover, the decision of giving the death sentence to a mentally challenged person is not a true
justification. And lastly, the prisoners managing such a big air balloon for their escape cannot be
justified as well.

These were some of the illogical and unrealistic events from a critic's perspective but rest assured,
these shortcomings do not reduce the greatness of this movie.
Miracle in Cell no. 7
Conclusion:

It feels cathartic, though long overdue, when the judge pronounces Yong Gu innocent; finally, Yong
Gu’s name is officially cleared of that terrible crime.

What matters the most in this movie is the character development and interaction, which was executed
in an outstanding way. The supporting cast also did an excellent job. Hope, justice, mercy, innocence,
sacrifice, and affection are the main themes which were explored in this harrowing and satisfying
movie.
Introduction to Literary
Criticism
Objectives:
● Define Literary Criticism.
● Identify the different literary
approaches.
● Differentiate various literary
approaches used in literary
criticism.
● Compose an independent critique
for a chosen selection.
What is Literary
Criticism?
Why do we need to understand this?
Literary Criticism

● Literary criticism is the name given to works written

by experts who critique—analyze—an author’s
work.
● It does NOT mean “to criticize” as in complain or
disapprove.
Literary Criticism

● Literary criticism is often referred to as a

secondary source, because it is used to analyze
your primary work—the work or text (novel) you
are reading.
● Literary criticism is used by people who want to
use an expert’s opinion to support their own
ideas.
Literary Criticism

● Remember, literary criticism is used by readers

to analyze, NOT by authors to write.
● Therefore, when you begin to analyze your
novel, you’ll make use of expert, reliable literary
criticism to support your opinion—your thesis—
which you will develop for your paper.
How does Literary
Criticism help us?
Functions of Literary Criticism
Literary Criticism helps us in three ways:

● It help us understand what is essential about

the text.
● It allows us to see the relationship between the
authors, the readers, and the texts.
● It enhances the enjoyment of our reading of the
literary work.
Functions of Literary Criticism

● To analyze, study, and evaluate works of

literature.
● To form general principles for the examination of
works of literature.
How does Literary
Criticism help us?
Why do we have to analyze?
Why do we need to analyze literary works?

● Talking about experiences enhances our

enjoyment of them.
● Talking about experiences involves the search
for meaning which increases our understanding
of them.
“The life which is unexamined
is not worth living.”
Socrates
The Four Critical Variables in Literary Criticism

● Author’s world- refers where the author is from.

● Author’s life- how does the author lived his life.
● Text- the work itself is placed in the center because all approaches
must deal, to extent or another, with the text itself.
● Audience- how will the audience respond to the literary selection
Why do we need these literary approaches/ theories?

● Different approaches or lenses help us

to discover rich and deeper meaning.
● Each lens has its strengths and
weaknesses.
● Each lens is valuable.
Critical Approaches
in Literary Criticism
What do you see?
What comes into your
mind when you see the
image?
What do you see?
What comes into your
mind when you see the
image?
Approaches in Literary Criticism

FORMALISM
● Formalism is an object-centered theory of critical approach to literature. It focuses only
on the work itself and completely ignores the author of the work, time and background
information of the work, and the audiences’ feeling or perception about the work.
● Formalism holds that true meaning can be determined only by analyzing the literary
elements of the text and by understanding how these elements work together to form up a
cohesive whole.
Approaches in Literary Criticism

FORMALISM
● It studies how the elements work together to form unity and to give meaning to a text.
a. How do elements conspire or work together?
b. How does the conflict affect the characters’ actions?
c. What do the objects, events, images or actions symbolize?
Approaches in Literary Criticism

MORALIST/ MORALISTIC APPROACH

● A type of literary critique that judges the value of the literature based on
its morals or ethical teachings. In simpler terms, it determines the worth of
the literature by seeing if it encourages good out of the reader.
● It evaluates the maturity, sincerity, honesty, sensitivity, and courage of
literature.
Approaches in Literary Criticism

MORALIST/ MORALISTIC APPROACH

● Using this approach, literature that is ethically sound and virtuous
is praised while literature that misguides and corrupts is
condemned.
Homework #3:

1.Read “The Story of an Hour” by Kate

Chopin and “Dead Stars” by Paz
Marquez Benitez.
2.Identify the elements of the story of
the two given texts. List all the
characters and describe them.
3.Make a comparison between the two
texts using a graphic organizer.
Marxist Criticism/ Marxism
Objectives:
● Relate the different literary
approaches to a chosen literary
selection.
● Differentiate various literary
approaches used in literary
criticism.
Marxist Criticism
Marxism uses literature to show class conflict and class distinction.
Marxists examines literature in terms of the social and political meaning of
the literary work. It basically investigates on the class struggle of the
characters and the political ideologies presented. According to this theory,
literature reflects an author’s own class or analysis of class relations, however
piercing or shallow that analysis may be.
Marxist Criticism

● Explores the power struggles of those who are

minorities in dominant culture.
● Examines who has/does not have power, how they
attained it/why they don’t have it, and what they do
with it/how they are manipulated by it.
Marxist Criticism

● Believes that literature is essentially

political; it either supports or refutes
economic oppression. In other words, the
author either reinforces the status quo or
rebels against it.
Marxist Criticism

● Bases approach largely on works of Karl Marx

(1818-1883) German political philosopher.
● Investigates assumptions and values associated
with culture, race, class.
● For example: Are the rich always good or bad?
Are the poor always good or bad?
BACKGROUND OF THE THEORY
Marxism is always traced back to Karl
Marx, theorist and historian, who is the
father of Marxist political theory. Social
stratification is very prominent during his
time because of the Industrial Revolution,
thus leading him to attribute monetary
disproportion as the foundation for societal
problems. In relation to literature, Marxism
emerged during the 1920s when politics,
economics, and class struggle was the major
issue in the society. Then, people recognize
that literature is a creation of the influences
in the author’s surroundings.
Nature of Marxism
Marx argued that historical materialism evokes productivity among the people in the society.
He introduced the concept of the division the society into bourgeois and proletariat. Where
both rely on each other but the former is superior to the latter. In line with this, Marxist
literary criticism suggests that works of literature are brought about by history and is
analyzed through looking at the social and material conditions in the plot. Also, it proposes
that socioeconomic status is the foundation of everything, even literature.
STEPS IN ANALYZING A TEXT USING THE THEORY
When preparing to analyze any text using the Marxist procedure, every Marxist reader normally wants to
prepare him or herself to by check-listing a number of objectives and features the following:

Step One: A good place to start analyzing a text begins with the protagonist. Ask yourself questions like:

1. What is the protagonist’s social class based on wealth? (upper, middle, lower)
2. What is the social class of the author?
3. What social class does the author seem to represent or empathize with?
4. Now that you’re done accessing the protagonist, move on forward to examining the other
characters.
STEPS IN ANALYZING A TEXT USING THE THEORY

Step Two: It’s important to study the characters using an interactionist approach. How do the
different social classes interact or conflict? Assess each character’s occupations because it
provides the best clue in determining their place in the “class system”.

Step Three: Determine if there is an issue such as a class conflict.

1. Who owns the means for production (the bourgeoisie)?

2. Who are the workers (proletariats)?
3. Who benefits from the production and who suffers?

Step Four: Examine how each character uses his or her free time in the text.
The Author:

In the 1860s, Russian author Leo Tolstoy wrote his first

great novel, War and Peace. In 1873, Tolstoy set to
work on the second of his best-known novels, Anna
Karenina. He continued to write fiction throughout the
1880s and 1890s. One of his most successful later
works was The Death of Ivan Ilyich.
The Author:

On September 9, 1828, writer Leo Tolstoy was born at

his family's estate, Yasnaya Polyana, in the Tula
Province of Russia. He was the youngest of four boys.
When Tolstoy's mother died in 1830, his father's cousin
took over caring for the children. When their father,
Count Nikolay Tolstoy, died just seven years later, their
aunt was appointed their legal guardian. When the aunt
passed away, Tolstoy and his siblings moved in with a
second aunt, in Kazan, Russia. Although Tolstoy
experienced a lot of loss at an early age, he would later
idealize his childhood memories in his writing.
 God Sees the Truth But Waits (Summary)

Ivan Dmitrich Aksionov was a responsible and well-liked merchant, living in Vladimir,
a town in Russia. Being a merchant, he decided to go to a fair but his wife said he
should not go because she had a bad dream about Aksionov. However, he disregarded
the dream and still went on his way where he met another merchant whom he had a
good time with. Aksionov wakes up early the morning after that to continue his
journey but he was stopped by some policemen. The policemen said that a merchant
was murdered and robbed so they made a search on Aksionov’s bag to confirm his
innocence. They found a bloody knife in there thus resulting to being imprisoned for
26 years in Siberia.
 God Sees the Truth But Waits (Summary)

Aksionov dedicated his life to God while he was in prison. One day, some new prisoners, including a
man named Makar Semyomich, were transferred to their jail. Makar Semyonich was talking to some
prisoners about his sins, suddenly Aksionov was convinced that Makar Semyonich is the man who
committed the crime blamed to him. Eventually, Aksionov confronted Makar Smeyonich but he denied
the accusation. One day, the guards found a tunnel inside the prison. Aksionov knows that it was Makar
Semyonich who was digging the hole in the ground but he did not tell the police what he knows. Makar
Semyonich felt grateful for Aksionov and at the same time guilty, so he admitted his crime to Aksionov.
In that moment, Aksionov forgave Semyonich. Semyonich confessed to the authorities about the murder
to relieve Aksionov of his sentence. Unfortunately, Aksionov died before he can come home.
Guide Questions: Identify Me!

1. What is the genre of the literary work?

2. Where did the story take place?
3. Who are the characters?
4. What is the conflict of the story?
5. What is the climax of the story?
6. What literary technique is used in the story?
Gender Criticism

● Gender criticism analyzes literature through the

lens of socially-constructed gender roles.
● The largest part of gender criticism is feminism,
which critiques and seeks to correct women’s
subordination to men in society.
● In its most basic form, feminism is about
equality.
Gender Criticism (Feminist Reading of Cinderella)

● As a single, young woman, Cinderella is without means or opportunity

because she is unattached to a father or a husband.
● It is only through the magic of a fairy godmother that she can be made
presentable and meet the prince AND he is the only means of her
escaping her plight.
● What skills does she have? She is beautiful, can sing well, and is kind.
These are highlighted as the desirable qualities in a woman (hence, her
UGLY, UNTALENTED, stepsisters who are portrayed as undesirable).
 Generalization: Picture Tell
Tell something about the picture and identify the approach
that you linked/ apply to the picture.
Example: The first thing that comes
to my mind upon seeing the picture
is Snow White because this fruit
was used to poison her in order for
the Evil Queen to be recognized as
fairest woman in the whole
kingdom. (Gender approach)
because the story focused on the
standards set by the society on
woman
A blue apple
An old woman standing being
ignored in a train.
Remember, literary approaches are like this:
Different approaches or lenses help readers
to discover rich and deeper meaning of each
literary selection/ story.
Reference: https://cornsmashers.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/marxism/