ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES  Paradox, ambiguity, and irony in the work

 Unity in the work

CRITICAL APPROACHES IN WRITING A CRITIQUE  A "scientific" approach to literary analysis, focusing on "facts
LESSON 6 (2ND QUARTER) amenable to "verification" (evidence in the text).
 a literary work status as art, or as a great work of art, is how all of
Critique is derived from ancient Greek (“kritike”). It is defined as a careful its elements work together to create the reader's total experience
judgment in which you shape your opinion about the strengths and (thought, feeling, gut reactions, etc.)
weaknesses of a piece of writing or work of art.
GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. What is the title, setting, other elements etc. and to what extent it
CRITIQUE PAPER is a genre of an academic writing. It briefly and
is symbolic?
critically summarizes and evaluates a work or concept.
2. What kind of language does the author use?
3. How is the work’s structure unified?
Critical approaches are different perspectives we consider when
4. How do various elements of the work reinforce its meaning?
looking at a piece of literature. It should always keep our focus on the
5. What recurring patterns (repeated or related words, images, etc.)
text and use these critical approaches such as feminism, formalism,
can you find? What is the effect of these patterns or motifs?
Marxism, reader-response, etc.
6. How does repetition reinforce the theme(s)?
Moreover, it will never look at a text strictly from one standpoint or 7. How does the writer’s diction reveal or reflect the work’s meaning?
another, ignoring all other views. These approaches provide the basis 8. What is the effect of the plot, and what parts specifically produce
that grounds the critique, giving it a solid foundation. It answers the that effect?
question: What principle did the writer use? 9. What figures of speech are used? (metaphors, similes, etc.)
10. Note the writer’s use of paradox, irony, symbol, plot,
characterization, and style of narration.
Critical Approaches in Writing a Critique
11. What effects are produced? Do any of these relate to one another
or to the theme?
1. FORMALISM OR NEW CRITICISM
12. Is there a relationship between the beginning and the end of the
This approach claims that all that are important in analyzing
story?
and understanding the text can be found in the piece of writing or
13. What tone and mood are created at various parts of the work?
text itself. Outside information regarding the author, society of the
14. How does the author create tone and mood? What relationship is
time, politics or any other external context are no longer needed.
there between tone and mood and the effect of the story?
On the aforesaid principles, formalism requires a close and
15. How do the various elements interact to create a unified whole?
intent reading of the text concentrating on the relationships within
16. What is the argument or thesis?
the text that showcases its distinct characteristics or form.
17. Who is telling the story in the piece?
Following are the common aspects looked into in formalism:
 Author’s techniques in resolving a contradiction within the work
2. FEMINISM (Feminist Criticism)
 Central passage that sums up the entirety of the work
This approach focuses on how literature presents women as a
 Contribution of parts and the work as a whole to its aesthetic
subject of socio political, psychological, and economic oppression. It
quality
also reveals how aspects of our culture are patriarchal, i.e., how our
 Relationship of the form and the content
culture views men as superior and women as inferior.
 Interconnectedness of various parts of the work
 Contribution of rhymes and rhythms to the meaning or effect of the
work
The common aspects looked into when using feminism are as
 Use of imagery to develop the symbols used in the work
follows.
 It concerns the role, position, and influence of women in literary It is concerned with the reviewer’s reaction as an audience of a
text work. This approach claims that the reader’s role cannot be
 Demonstrating that attitudes and traditions reinforcing systematic separated from the understanding of the work; a text does not have
masculine dominance are inscribed in the literary canon meaning until the reader reads it and interprets it. Readers are
 Examines the way that the female consciousness is depicted by therefore not passive and distant, but are active consumer of the
both male and female writers material presented to them.
 Patriarchal ideals pervade “literature” The common aspects looked into when using reader response
criticism are as follows:
GUIDE QUESTIONS:  This type of criticism attempts to describe the internal workings of
1. How are women’s lives portrayed in the work? the reader's mental processes. It recognizes reading as a creative act,
2. Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s a creative process.
gender?  The plurality of readings possible are all explored. Critics study
3. How do male and female characters relate to one another? Are how different readers see the same text differently, and how religious,
these relationships sources of conflict? Are these conflicts resolved? cultural, and social values affect readings.
4. Does the work challenge or affirm traditional views of women?  Interaction between the reader and the text in creating
5. How do the images of women in the story reflect patriarchal social  The impact of reader’s delivery of sounds and visuals on enhancing
forces that have impeded women’s efforts to achieve full equality with and changing meaning
men?
6. What marital expectations are imposed on the characters? What 4. MARXIST CRITICISM
effect do these expectations have? It is concerned with differences between economic classes and
7. What behavioral expectations are imposed on the characters? implications of a capitalist system, such as the continuing conflicts
What effect do these expectations have? between the working class and the elite. Hence, it attempts to reveal
8. If a female character were male, how would the story be different that the ultimate source of people’s experience is the socio-economic
(and vice versa)? system.
9. How does the marital status of a character affect her decisions or
happiness? The common aspects looked into when using Marxist criticism
10. How does culture view women vs. men? are as follows:
11. How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?  These critics examine literature in its cultural, economic, and
12. What are the power relationships between men and women (or political context: they explore the relation between the artist and the
characters assuming male/female roles)? society--how might the profession of authorship have affected what's
13. Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How so? How been written?
does this change others’ reactions to them?  Social class of the characters
14. What does the work reveal about the operations (economically,  The way in which dominant groups (typically, the majority) exploit
politically, socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy? the subordinate groups (typically, the minority)
15. What does the work imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as
a mode of resisting patriarchy? GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. What are the differences between economic classes?
2. What conflict has arisen between the working class and the elite?
3. What implication may the socioeconomic system bring?
4. What social class has been emphasized and how was this
portrayed in the piece?
3. READER RESPONSE CRITICISM