🎯NAME THE APPROACH
A critic focuses on the language, imagery, symbolism, structure, tone, rhyme, and characterization found within a literary work.
Which literary approach is being used?
Text-Oriented Approach
A literary work portrays women as having fewer opportunities and less authority than men.
What would a Feminist critic primarily examine?
Gender roles, women's representation, power relationships, discrimination, inequality, and women's opportunities and freedom.
Juan says:
“This poem makes me think about my experience of losing someone I love. Because of that experience, I understand the poem as being about grief.”
What clue tells you that this is a Reader-Oriented interpretation?
The interpretation is connected to the reader's own personal experience and emotional response.
An old grandfather repairs a broken clock instead of throwing it away and buying a new one.
If you were using the Philosophical Approach, what deeper question could you ask about his action?
The focus should move beyond what happened toward what the action suggests about life, values, or meaning.
Lila asks:
“Why are some characters wealthy while others struggle to survive? Who controls the resources, and who benefits from the existing system?”
Which lens fits best?
Marxist Criticism
A critic studies the author's personal experiences, beliefs, intentions, and background to better understand a literary work.
Which literary approach is being used?
Author-oriented Approach
A character repeatedly avoids speaking in front of others even though the character knows the correct answers.
What would a Psychological critic examine to understand this behavior?
The character's fears, emotions, motivations, desires, and possible internal conflicts.
A story was written during a period of major social change. It portrays families experiencing changes in their traditions and way of life.
What clues would a Context-Oriented critic investigate?
The historical period, social conditions, cultural practices, beliefs, and changes in society surrounding the literary work.
You are analyzing a poem. You notice that the same image appears throughout the poem and seems to change in meaning as the poem progresses.
If you were using the Text-Oriented Approach, what would you do?
Examine the image itself, its repetition, its relationship with other elements, and how it contributes to the meaning of the text.
Leo asks:
“Why does the female character have fewer opportunities than the male characters? How does the story portray her position and freedom?”
Which lens fits best?
Feminist Criticism
A reader interprets a poem based partly on their own experiences, emotions, beliefs, values, and personal understanding.
Which literary approach is being used?
Reader-Oriented Approach
A story presents a character who must decide whether breaking a law is justified if it will save another person's life.
What would a Philosophical critic primarily examine?
Morality, right and wrong, justice, values, and whether an action can be justified by its consequences.
A character becomes extremely angry whenever someone criticizes them. The critic looks beyond the anger and investigates the character's possible insecurities, fears, and emotional experiences.
Which approach is being used, and what is the critic looking for?
Psychological Approach — the critic is examining the character's inner emotions, fears, motivations, and psychological conflicts.
A poem repeatedly discusses loneliness. The author's biography reveals that the author experienced a similar period of isolation.
If you were using the Author-Oriented Approach, how could this information help your interpretation?
The author's personal experience may provide context for understanding the ideas, emotions, or themes expressed in the poem.
A critic examines a character who repeatedly avoids social situations. The critic looks at the character's fears, emotions, desires, and possible reasons behind this behavior to understand why the character acts this way.
Which literary approach is being used?
Psychological Approach
A critic examines how the society, culture, history, and social conditions surrounding a literary work may influence or be reflected in it.
Which broad literary approach is being used?
Context-Oriented Approach
A student is analyzing a poem and focuses on its repeated words, imagery, symbolism, tone, and structure.
What is the student examining, and which approach does this represent?
The student is examining the elements within the literary text itself, representing the Text-Oriented Approach.
A story portrays wealthy business owners controlling most of the resources while workers receive very low wages.
What clues would a Marxist critic look for?
Social class, wealth, labor, ownership, power, inequality, and access to resources.
Two students read the same poem.
Student A interprets it as a poem about freedom.
Student B interprets it as a poem about responsibility.
Both students use different experiences and beliefs to explain their interpretations.
How can the Reader-Oriented Approach explain these different interpretations?
Readers bring their own experiences, beliefs, values, emotions, and perspectives to a literary work, so the same text can produce different interpretations.
Totoy asks:
“What does this literary work suggest about human nature, morality, freedom, happiness, or the meaning of life?”
Which lens fits best?
Philosophical Approach
A critic examines social class, wealth, labor, inequality, and who has power or control over resources in a literary work.
Which specific approach is being used?
Marxist Criticism
A student wants to understand why a poem contains ideas that seem connected to the author's childhood and personal experiences.
What should the student examine?
The author's biography, personal experiences, beliefs, intentions, and background.
A female character is repeatedly told that her role is only to obey her husband and take care of the household.
What clues would a Feminist critic examine?
Gender expectations, women's roles, power relationships, discrimination, women's freedom, and how the female character is represented.
A story shows a community where traditional beliefs strongly determine how people behave and make decisions.
If you were using the Context-Oriented Approach, what would you investigate before interpreting the story?
I would investigate the culture, social practices, historical circumstances, beliefs, traditions, and social conditions surrounding the literary work.
What is a literary approach, why do we use different literary approaches, and how can the same literary work have different interpretations?
Answers Vary