THEORIES OF LITERARY CRITICISM

• Gender critics look for the reinforcement or deconstruction of gender stereotypes in literature.

• Gender criticism examines how an author may have influenced gender perceptions through a work of literature.

• It examines the influence of gender on the way literature is written and read.

• Gender criticism perceives men and women as different.

• Some gender critics look at works by men or women to see what approaches in these works, including language use, portrayal of characters and plots, and use of images and symbols, are essentially female or male.

• Other gender critics explore the effect that male-dominated cultures exert on works of literature and on writers.

• Purpose of gender criticism is to criticize gender.

STRATEGIES FOR GENDER CRITICISM:

Remember that your goal as gender critics is to identify gender stereotypes, not promote them; therefore, be aware of your own word choice when discussing gender differences.

1. Consider the gender of the writer, what role does gender play in this work?

2. Examine whether the reading of the work may be altered by the changes in gender roles over time.

• 3. Observe how gender stereotypes might be reinforced or undermined.

• 4. Consider the gender of the characters, and what role gender plays in this work?

• 5. How is the relationship between men and women depicted?

• 6. How does the treatment of gender in the work reflect the work's meaning?

EXAMPLE:• In Emily Dickinson's poem 280, the speaker feels

trapped, specifically shoved into a coffin, by her inability to adjust to a male-dominated society.

• She moans of the demand to become a part of this society and the aggressive tactics to draw her within, such as in "Kept treading--treading--till it seemed/ That Sense was breaking through" (3-4) and "A Service, like a Drum-- / Kept beating--beating--till I thought/ My Mind was going numb" (6-8).

• She begins to realize how limited her options are at the point when "Space-began to toll" (12), and she sees herself as less than those around her because she is trapped in this coffin and her senses are deprived: "As all the Heavens were a Bell,/ And Being, but an Ear" (13-14).

• She cannot become a full member of society and be who she craves to be; she must choose this forfeiture and her decided path or choose to be a part of the community and give up her ideals. It is only when she lets go of herself and submits to the insanity of "a Plank in Reason, broke" that she is able to re-enter the world as a member of society (20).

• A gender critic might ask these sorts of questions about a text:

-How does this text encode/construct a cultural standard of femininity / masculinity / motherhood / marriage/etc.?

-How do either of the genders or any of the sexual orientations in this text intersect with social status or ethnic identity or national identity?