MORALIST APPROACH proletariat by their affluence, and

➔ The moral literary approach is their great cultural and financial

concerned with content and values. capital.
➔ Literature that is ethically sound and ★ Proletariat - The name given by
encourages virtue is praised. Marx to the workers in society.
➔ To study literature from within the ★ Ideology - A systematic body of
lens of the moralist approach is concepts especially about human life
therefore to determine the lesson or culture.
and significance of the story for the ★ Capitalism - is an economic system
reader's understanding of the world. that is based on private ownership
of the means of production and the
GUIDE QUESTIONS: creation of goods or
1. What ideas does the work contain? services for profit.
2. How strongly does the work bring forth its ★ Superstructure - The social
ideas? institutions such as systems of law,
3. How can ideas be evaluated morality, education, and their related
intellectually? ideologies, that shape and are
shaped by the base
IMPORTANT KEY POINTS OF MORALIST - Human institutions and
APPROACH ideologies that produce art
1. It doesn't look at the story as a and literary texts comprise
"piece of art" with no moral superstructure
implications, rather with values that
can help us better understand our MARXIST LITERARY CRITICISM
situations in life. - Emphasizes class, socioeconomic
2. Literature can affect the reader status, and power relations among
either subtly or directly. various segments of society
3. It perceives the value of the - Marxism borrows some concepts
message as important as the story from the nineteenth-century writings
itself. of Karl Heinrich Marx
-
Disadvantages of the moralist approach
● Too "judgmental"
● Literature should be judged primarily
(if not solely) on its artistic merits,
not its moral or philosophical
content.

★ Aristocracy - the traditional notion

of nobility.
★ Bourgeoisie - a social class
equivalent to the middle or upper
class. They are distinguished from,
and traditionally contrasted with, the
The German Ideology (1846) 4. It aims to arrive at an interpretation
- Humans define themselves of literary text in order to define the
- Marx declares that "consciousness political dimensions of literary work.
does not determine life: life 5. It believes that the literary work has
determines consciousness." ALWAYS a relationship to the
society.
MARXISM 6. It judges literature by how it
- Focus of Marxism; Marxism utilizes represents the main struggles for
socialism's concept of public power going on that time, how it may
ownership influence those struggles.
- Engels and Marx founded the social
and economic system of Marxism in GUIDE QUESTIONS IN MARXIST
the 19th century. CRITICISM
- The opposite of capitalism. 1. What is the economic status of the
- Marxism theorizes that in order to characters
remove the proletariat from its poor 2. What happens to them as a result of
economic situation, a socialist this status?
revolution must occur to remove the 3. How do they fare against economic
unconcerned ruling class from and political odds?
government 4. What other conditions stemming
from their class does the writer
emphasize?
The core belief of Marxism 5. economic, social, and political
- Marx believed that society had implications of its material?
progressed from one economic 6. In what other ways does economic
system to another. determinism affect the work?
- As society progresses from a feudal 7. How should the reader's consider
system to a more market-based this story in today's developed or
economy, the actual process of underdeveloped world?
producing, distributing, and
consuming goods becomes more FEMINIST CRITICISM
complex and people's functions - is concerned with "the ways in which
within the economic system literature (and other cultural
becomes differentiated. productions) reinforce or undermine
the economic, political, social, and
General Principles of Marxist Criticism psychological oppression of women
1. It promotes the idea that literature - Feminist criticism is also concerned
should be a tool in the revolutionary with less obvious forms of
struggle. marginalization such as the
2. It attempts to clarify the relationship exclusion of women writers from the
of literary work to social reality. traditional literary canon.
3. It is political in nature.
WHAT DOES FEMINIST CRITICISM DO?
It observes, analyzes, and challenges:
 ➔ > The language, institutions, and Guide Questions
power that have reflected patriarchal A. How are women's lives portrayed in the
interests and had a profound impact work?
on women's expression and quality B. Is the form and content of the work
of life influenced by the writer's gender?
➔ Women's resistance and subversion C. How do male and female characters
of patriarchal oppression relate to one another? Are these
➔ Empowerment for women through relationships sources of conflict? Are these
representation conflicts resolved?
D. Does the work challenge or affirm
Common Space in Feminist Theories traditional views of women?
Though a number of different approaches E. How do the images of women in the story
exist in feminist criticism, there exist some reflect patriarchal social forces that have
areas of commonality. This list is excerpted impeded women's efforts to achieve full
from Tyson (92); equality with men?
F. What marital expectations are imposed
1. Women are oppressed by patriarchy on the characters? What effect do these
economically, politically, socially, and expectations have?
psychologically; G. What behavioral expectations are
2. In every domain where patriarchy imposed on the characters? What effect do
reigns, a woman is other: she is these expectations have?
marginalized, defined only by her H. If a female character were male, how
difference from male norms and would the story be different (and vice
values. versa)?
3. All of Western (Anglo-European) I. How does the marital status of a character
civilization is deeply rooted in affect her decisions or happiness?
patriarchal ideology, for example, in
the Biblical portrayal of Eve as the HISTORICAL APPROACH
origin of sin and death in the world. - It involves looking beyond literature
4. While biology determines our sex at the broader historical and cultural
(male or female), culture determines events occurring at that time the
our gender (scales of masculine and piece was written.
feminine).
5. All feminist activity, including GOAL OF HISTORICAL APPROACH
feminist theory and literary criticism, ● It seeks greater understanding of
has its ultimate goal to change the biblical texts by analyzing the
world by prompting gender equality. historical and social contexts in
6. Gender issues play a part in every which they developed.
aspect of human production and ● Traditionally, the goal has been to tr
experience, including the production to understand the text's meaning in
and experience of literature, whether its original context and to answer
we are consciously aware of these questions about the text, such as
issues or not. who wrote it? When was it written?
What else was happening at the
 time of its writing? How did it come that is not to say that they can come
to be in the form we have it today? up with any random interpretation,
What did it mean to the people who interpretations always need to have
first read or heard it? textual support The reader must
create meaning out of what the text
THREE OF THE MOST WIDELY USED has given them for example, through
METHODS language, structure, etc
1. .SOURCE CRITICISM
- This method questions whether texts IMPLIED READER
came from a singular source, author, - The Implied reader is who the author
or historical context, and seeks to has in mind when they are writing
untangle the sources present within the text, who they expect to react to,
any given text. pick up on, interpret, and experience
aspects of the text in a certain way.
2. FORM CRITICISM
- This method seeks to understand RESISTING READER
the claims of a text by analyzing its - The literary critic Judith Fetterley
linguistic patterns. found the concept of the implied
reader problematic and came up
3. REDACTION CRITICISM with the concept of a resisting
- This method analyzes how redactors reader', who refuses to fulfill the role
(i.e. editors) wove together various of the implied reader - who refuses
traditions into one whole. to read the text how it was
"supposed to be read"
NEW HISTORICISM
- States that the relationship between INTERPRETIVE COMMUNITY
the history and the text is not - A way of grouping readers that
mono-linear but bi-linear. (Millikan, share historical and cultural
2011) contexts, which shapes the way they
read and interpret texts.
READER RESPONSE CRITICISM
- An approach to literary criticism and The TEXT
analysis that focuses on how - Ordinarily, when we use the term
readers are actively engaged in the 'text', we are referring to a physical
creation of meaning in a text. or digital copy of a work of literature.
- Reader Response Criticism argues
The Reader that the text is a performance; an
- RRC focuses on the reader's event; an interactive process.
psychological experience of reading - Reader Response Critics also
a text, and how the reader creates focuses on the importance of the
meaning from what the text has reading experience.
given them as they read - Some Reader Response Critics
- While this approach sees readers as think that the literary text can
creating their own, unique meanings, actually be viewed as a performing
 art, with different readers creating - Intro should end with your thesis
different performances of texts. statement
- Reader Response Criticism also 2. Write the body paragraphs.
invites us to look at the text as an - Write 3-4 paragraphs that discuss
event, rather than a lifeless object. the text and the reading questions in
The text is not sheets of words depth.
bound together, the text needs you - Multiple questions can be combined
to read it for it to be a text. and addressed in a single
- Therefore, the text is an interactive paragraph,
- event. The text is alive in the 3. Remember to explain how, why, and
interaction between the reader and what.
the words on the page. - As you write your paper, think about
explaining not just how you felt
If the text is an interaction or event, how about the text. but why it made you
do readers experience the text? feel a certain way.
- The readers' experience of - Don't just state that the text taught
movement through a text is an you a lot, give an example of
important factor in the creation of something you actually learned.
meaning As we move onwards 4) Incorporate specific examples into your
through a text, we fill in the blanks analysis.
and form expectations according to - Each body paragraph should include
Stanley E. Fish. at least 1-2 specific examples from
the text.
Reader Response critics focus on 5) Keep quotations short and sweet.
different aspects of the reader - Resist the temptation to string
experience. Such as: together multiple multi-line
- how the text tries to structure a - Make sure to include at least one
specific experience, sentence after each quote explaining
- the extent to which readers' how it relates to the point you are
experiences match the intended making.
experience, - Make sure and cite your examples
- and the ways in which readers' per class directions.
experiences differ from the intended - You will usually be required to note
experience. the page numbers of any quotations
or specific examples in parentheses
To write your personal reaction to a at the end of the sentence
literary text, you must consider the 6) Write the conclusion.
following: - Summarize your arguments & bring
1. Write the introduction. the reader back to your thesis or
- Intro must specify the name of both main point.
the text & author
- Intro should also include some
description of the text and what it’s
about