Critical Lens Theory

-the analysis of elements of a text through a particular identifiable perspective

 

Reader Response:

            The most natural way to read a text in which the reader taking what he or she knows and uses this to construct meaning from a text.  In Reader Response, there is only the reader and his or her experiences and the text. Bringing these two together creates meaning.

Reader  à  Meaning  ß  Text

 

New Criticism:

            A response to other criticisms at the time, this is the most frequently used one in schools focusing on metaphor, symbolism, theme, etc. It looks at a work as self-contained, not taking the outside world, influences, or the author into consideration.

           

Marxist Theory:

Based on the teachings of Karl Marx.  This lens examines economic aspects of a work.  This includes any monetary or material elements as well as jobs, producers, and workers in the text.  Further, this can include classes and how the classes are represented in the text as well as how they treat each other.

 

Feminist Criticism:

            This lens advocates equal rights for women, but it can also be used to examine gender roles.  This lens lets the reader explore what it means to be a man or a woman in a text, how society socializes each sex to behave in a certain way and how characters may break those gender norms. The reader can apply knowledge about gender roles and examine the characters through these preconceived notions.

 

Cultural Studies:

            This lens encompasses all cultures and is used to look at the race and culture of the author as well as the characters in the text.  Through this lens the reader can ask what it means to be white or black, Spanish or Asian in relation to the text.  This lens encompasses many things, but can be focused on American or British Multiculturalism (for example).  This allows to the reader to explore race and culture in a text by apply a specific lens.  It takes into account beliefs in society and in the text.

 

Archetypal Approach:

            Based on the studies of Jung, this criticism explores specifically outlined types of characters and symbolism that have already been determined to have certain meaning, and then relating it to the text being studied.  Examples of these are: “the tragic hero,” “the wise old man,” “the trickster,” the water, the sun, and colors.  All these have specific preconceived notions about them and one can apply this lens to examine these in relation to their archetype.  Do those elements in the story hold true to that archetype?  Is it manipulating the archetype by using it in a contrary or opposite way?  (ie. The old man is actually foolish?)

 

Historical:

            This is meant to examine the work in taking into consideration what was going on a the time the piece was written, arguing that the author is influenced by that time and if the reader studies the text in relation to the time in which it was written the reader can discover deeper meaning.  This grounds the text in that time as a commentary of that time.

 

Biographical:

This is like historical and can go hand in hand, but this also takes into consideration the experiences of the author and how that author may be blatantly or subversively writing a work that is biographical.  For example, if the author went through a traumatic experience, that experience may be in the text in some way, or reversely, if there is a traumatic experience the reader must question if this happened in some way to the writer.