New Criticism

• Theme• Symbol• Character• Figurative Language• Imagery

Reader Response (meh)

• Has there been a time in your life when you liked someone?

• Have you ever boasted about yourself to impress someone?

Reader Response (yay!)

• Are there personal experiences, characteristics, or qualities that shape your interpretation with the text?

• What other contextual features might shape your understanding of the text?

Feminist

• Who are the female characters in the text? • How are they portrayed? • What roles do the female characters play?• Who is the ideal audience for this text?

Marxist

• What is the political/historical context of the text?

• What is the social position of the creator of the text?

• What does this text say about social class?• How does this text position readers?

Marxist or Feminist

• Who does this text think readers/listeners are?

• Who would it like them to be?• What does it assume about the audiences

attitudes, values, prejudices, etc.?• As the audience, do we want to allow the text

to construct us or do we want to resist it?

Deconstructionist

• What does an examination of the structure of the text reveal? Where does it break down?

• Does the text contradict itself in any way? Does it work against the author’s intentions in any way?

• What does this text try to disguise?