Literary Lenses and Associations
This term, often explored in feminist theory, refers to the societal privileging of male experiences and authority.
What is patriarchy?
Many works of literature contain a character who intentionally deceives others. The character’s dishonesty may be intended either to help or to hurt. Such a character, for example, may choose to mislead others for personal safety, to spare someone’s feelings, or to carry out a crime. Choose a novel or play in which a character deceives others. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the motives for that character’s deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
What is deception?
A story begins with a murder scene, then shifts back six months to explain how it happened
What is flashback?
What is onomatopoeia?
This wildly popular game, originally released in 2017, involves 100 players fighting to be the last one standing
What is Fortnight?
This lens often has a focus on the central struggle that drives social and economic systems, as well as class hierarchies.
What is Marxist theory?
Names are often keys to the signicance of literary characters. Select a novel or play in which a central figure’s name gives access to that character’s ambiguity or complexity. Then write a well-organized essay analyzing how the name illuminates that character and informs the meaning of the work as a whole.
What are names?
In a novel’s final chapter, the language and vibe changes from bitter and cynical to hopeful and forgiving. What do we call this change?
What is a shift?
My love is like a red, red rose.
What is simile?
Known for her role in Euphoria and for dating Spider-Man, this actress is also a fashion icon
Who is Zendaya?
Hamlet’s hesitation to kill Claudius is often examined through this literary lens concept involving desire and disappointment for the mother and the need for revenge with the father.
It has often been said that what we value can be determined only by what we sacrifice. Consider how this statement applies to a character from a novel or play. Select a character that has deliberately sacrificed, surrendered, or forfeited something in a way that highlights that character’s values. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the particular sacrifice illuminates the character’s values and provides a deeper understanding of the meaning of the work as a whole.
What is sacrifice?
in the opening chapter, the narrator tells us the protagonist is “insecure, curious, and eager to please.
What is direct characterization?
a thief that steals youth.
What is personification?
This Netflix series, starring Jenna Ortega, reimagines a member of the Addams Family as a teenage sleuth
What is "Wednesday"?
This 20th-century philosophical movement emphasizes individual freedom, choice, and the absurd
What is existential theory?
In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character’s relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
What is the past?
Readers feel empathy for the grieving father, even as he lashes out at others
What is sympathetic character?
The sun slipped silently
What is alliteration?
What is gothic literature?
This Critical Race Theory concept coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, explores how multiple parts of our identity cross and effect one another.
What is intersectionality?
One definition of madness is “mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it.” But Emily Dickinson wrote Much madness is divinest Sense— To a discerning Eye— Novelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a “discerning Eye.” Select a novel or play in which a character’s apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Then write a wellorganized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the “madness” to the work as a whole.
What is delusion or madness?
A character debates whether to betray her friend for a promotion, weighing guilt against ambition
What is internal conflict?
Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul
What is a metaphor?
This number is the amount of "points" available in the electoral college.
What is 538?