Do Now!

On the Cornell Notes you picked up, make sure you have the following
written down before we start the lesson:

Your Name
Literary Criticisms-Feminist CT #

What are the lenses with which we can analyze a

text? How do these lenses impact our interpretations?
Critical Literary Theory
OVERVIEW
What is Literary Criticism?
Literary Criticism
Different Lenses to look at literature, art, culture
Same text
How female characters are treated, interact with others, and
are portrayed connected to gender

How the characters are treated, interact with others and are
portrayed because of their economic status

How the characters are treated, interact with others and are
portrayed because of the subconscious psyche

How the characters are treated, interact with others, and are
portrayed based on race
Big Four
Psychoanalytic Criticism

Feminist Criticism

Marxist Criticism

Critical Race Theory

Important Vocabulary

Literary Criticism- the study, evaluation,

and interpretation of literature. Modern
literary criticism is often influenced by
literary theory, which is the philosophical
discussion of literature's goals and methods

Literary Canon-refers to a body of books,

narratives and other texts considered to be
the most important and influential of a
particular time period or place *
*What is seen as important is often determined
by dominant social group
Feminist Critical Theory
Vocabulary
Feminism-the advocacy of women's political, social, and economic
rights on the basis of equality of the sexes
 Vocabulary
Patriarchy-a system of
society or government in
which men hold the
power and women are
largely excluded from it.
 Vocabulary
Misogyny-dislike of,
contempt for, or
ingrained prejudice
against women
 Gender-the range of
Vocabulary characteristics pertaining
to, and differentiating
between, masculinity and
femininity.
 While watching the video, we will pause at specifc
Overview moments to make notes about the four parts of modern
feminism discussed in this video.
First-Wave Feminism
Lasted from ~1790s-1960s and was mainly concerned with establishing
the legal policy that women are human beings and not property;
establishing full citizenship rights for women (including suffrage).
Second-Wave Feminism
Lasted from 1960s until the late 1970s and stressed gender equality in
social, political, legal and economic arenas.
Cultural feminism versus Difference feminism
Third-Wave Feminism
Began in the early 1980s and continues to the present
It stresses a more inclusive vision of feminism including
women of color, poor women, lesbian women, transgendered
women and even men
Essentialist versus Constructivist
Kimberl Crenshaw and Intersectionality
 Elaine Showalters History of Womens Literature
1. Feminine- women wrote in an effort to equal
the intellectual achievements of the male culture,
and internalized its assumptions about female
nature
2. Feminist-characterized by womens writing that
protested against male standards and values, and
advocated womens rights and values, including a
demand for autonomy.
3. Female-one of self-discovery. Showalter says,
women reject both imitation and protesttwo
forms of dependencyand turn instead to female
experience as the source of an autonomous art,
extending the feminist analysis of culture to the
forms and techniques of literature
 Additional feminist/gender theories
Maternal Theory
Queer Theory and Gender Studies

General terms:
Cisgender
Heteronormative and
heteronormativity
Sapiosexual
Heteroflexible
Contemporary Reactions to Feminism
Contemporary Reactions to Feminism
And then theres this
 Feminist /Gender Study Approaches
What is the authors gender?
What types of roles do women have in the text?
Are there generalized attitudes held by the male characters toward female characters?
Is feminine/yonic imagery used? If so, what is the significance of such imagery?
What feminist approach can be takencultural vs. differenceessentialist vs. constructivist?
Do female characters speak as often and/or differently than male characters?
Which phase of Showalters womens literature does the text occur?
Might the female characters be dealing with multiple forms of oppression? What other forms of
oppression might intersect with sexism?
In what ways might a text convey to us the restraints of a heteronormative society?
Considering a texts time period/historical context is there any sort of gender expression that is being
repressed or codified? (Characters who might be something other than cisgender?)
Kate Chopin The Awakening
Chopin worked on The Awakening and
finished the novel in 1898. The next year it
was published. A few critics praised the
novels artistry, but most were very negative,
calling the book morbid, unpleasant,
unhealthy, sordid, poison.
[She revolted] against tradition and authority
with a daring which we can hardly fathom
today. She was something of a pioneer for
writing about the improper treatment of
sexuality, of divorce, and of womans urge for
an equal place in the world.

What is the author saying? What is the author doing?