Critical Lenses/Approaches
Fences
Reading Groups
Think Like a Professor: Literary Elements
Poetry
100
The connection between the author, their experiences, and their ideals and the work.
What is a biographical approach?
100
This literary element is shown through Troy's brother, Gabriel, and his horn
What is Biblical Allusions?
100
BONUS: The man in this picture
Who is Tim Friedas?
100
The use of objects or symbols to represent an idea or emotion
What is Symbolism?
100
This FRQ focuses on reading and interpreting poetry.
What is FRQ1?
200
This approach analyzes the affect gender has on the story and its characters, such as the view of women or how men and women interact in the story.
What is a gender criticism?
200
The main character of Fences, this person is simultaneously a literary vampire and a tragic hero
Who is Troy Maxson?
200
A group of elderly Chinese woman meet up in San Francisco to play Majong together and trade stories of their families and lives. This book features 16 vignettes and has themes of family, culture, and generational trauma.
What is The Joy Luck Club?
200
This classic monster can also be represented by human individuals who drain the life from others, like Troy from Fences
What are Literary Vampires?
200
The last paragraph of your poetry essay should focus on this literary device which explores differences between two items.
What is contrasts?
300
How a work is influenced by how it connects to the historical period when it was written in or about.
What is a historical approach?
300
This character is a foil to Troy.
Who is Bono?
300
This novel tells the story of twelve people from a Native American community in California, connecting themes of identity, trauma, and identity.
What is There, There?
300
BONUS: Mrs. Baker has this important reminder for AP Lit written in big letters on her white board.
What is SO WHAT?
300
This poetic device is characterized by patterns between verses:
Ex. AB AB CD CD EE
What is rhyme scheme?
400
This approach focuses on the mental state and motivations of a character.
What is a psychological approach?
400
This theme of Fences, represented by the unfinished fence in the yard
What is Family?
or
What is Familial relationships?
400
A story of the two sisters and their very different lives that explores themes of slavery, racial prejudice, cruelty, and redemption.
What is Home Going?
400
Allusions or references to this famous religious text
What is Biblical Allusion?
400
This style of poetry has fourteen lines, is written in iambic pentameter.
What is a sonnet?
500
This approach focuses on the structure, the different literary devices and elements used, and how different parts of the work connect to each other.
What is a formalistic approach?
500
This theme of Fences is conveyed through Troy and Cory's unachieved careers in sports and Rose's feelings about her marriage.
What are Broken Dreams?
or
What are Unfulfilled Dreams?
500
A young man searches for his mother who disappeared when he was a child and a woman confesses her turbulent past in this novel which explores themes of family, independence, and identity.
What is The Leavers?
500
This happens when you share a meal with someone to bond with them.
What is Communion?
500
This poetic device is characterized by pauses or breaks between words or lines.
What is caesura?