Literary Criticism

1
Literary Criticism

• June Olson
• Mountain Pointe High School
• 2005-6

2

• Your paper grows from your own curiosity
  regarding the effectiveness of the author to tell
  the story in counterpoint with your own
  interpretation of the novel. It seeks to
• judge and justify your evaluation of the
  novel.
• To begin, ask
• What did I best like about this novel?
• How did the author create characters you could
  care about/abhor?
• What truth about life does this story tell?
• What questions do you have about the authors
  life that might give you insight into the novel?
  If you could meet the author, what would you ask
  him/her?
• How does the setting of the novel influence the
  characters?
• Which quotes in the book seem carry the most
  meaning?
• Literary criticism seeks to interpret a work of
  art. Throughout your search, your seek
  verification that your/critics interpretation is
  reasonable and supportable.

3

• As you read your book, be observant. Highlight
  and write on the pages
• Significant developments in the PLOT
• Which events have the most impact on the
  developing characters or create twists in the
  sequence of events?
• Which events parallel important stories from
  other literature? Remember those stories to
  enrich your understanding of this one.

4

• Structure of the book and its impact on your
  ability to follow and understand plot and
  characters
• Modern authors often experiment with
  unconventional structures to more accurately
  represent modern life. The resulting chaos
  confuses readers.
• How does this disorganization carry over to the
  characters? To you as a reader?
• Optional structures memoir, intercalary,
  loosely-connect short stories, shifting focus on
  multiple characters

5
Plot-related Thesis Statements
In (Title), (Author) employs episodic structure
to mimic the verisimilitude of contemporary
life. Despite placing the climax of (Title)
after the first third of the novel, (Author)
keeps the reader engaged through deeper character
development. In The Color Purple, Alice Walker
effectively develops plot, characters, and themes
through the literary vehicle of letter writing.
Through the novel Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt
Vonnegut portrays himself as Billy Pilgrim in
order to tell his survival story of the bombing
of Dresden. In Tim OBriens If I die in a
Combat Zone, Box me up and Send me Home, the
narrator is constantly hampered by duty and
courage in a time of violence and war. As art
mirrors life, Arthur Millers protagonists in
Death of a Salesman and The Crucibles chief
nemeses are their own tragic flaws, reflecting
the corruptibility of human nature.
6

• Setting
• Where (place, time in history, culture) does the
  story take place?
• How do the events during that time influence the
  characters?
• How does the landscape itself limit or expand the
  characterizations?
• How do the values of the times influence the
  characters?
• How does the authors first-hand knowledge of the
  setting help paint the picture more vividly?

7
Setting-related Thesis Statements
The Mississippi River and its inhabitants
represent a major character in (Title), offering
a counterpoint to Huck and Jims naiveté in Mark
Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn. (Time/Location detail) is the antagonist
in (Authors) (Title), greatly limiting the
ability of characters to make wholesome decisions
for themselves. In (Authors) (Title), the
protagonists oppression represents the social
and psychological oppression of women during the
(Time). Employing detailed description of
(Location) as a vehicle for symbolism, the
(geography) comes to represent Nature, a source
of major conflict in the (Authors) (Time). The
historical setting of (Time) presents a source of
cultural conflict for all characters, major and
minor, in (Authors) (Title). Although Sandra
Cisneros The House on Mango Street demonstrates
that despite oppression by their patriarchal
society, Hispanic womens roles have positively
changed by the end of the novel.
8

• Character development
• Is the character an archetype, one fashioned
  after a cultural or trans-cultural pattern?
• How does the character change? What prompts that
  change?
• How does the character perceive him/herself,
  events in life, others?
• How does the character deal with situations?
• What motivates the character?
• How do you connect with the characters
  experience?
• What strata socio-economic level do the
  characters represent? How does their status
  influence their motivation, choices?

9
Character-related Thesis Statements
In (Title), (Character A) is a universal
archetype representing the mentor-adviser to the
naïve (Character B), helping him/her eventually
develop into a significant, American, cultural
hero. (Character) exemplifies the contemporary
struggles of youth in the post-modern literary
masterpiece (Authors) (Title) through conflict
against the mores of society. Throughout
(Authors) (Title), (Character) struggles against
the morals of socio-economic forces, both
literally and figuratively, emerging battered but
whole in the end.
10
(Authors) (Character) asserts his/her
willfulness despite ironic feminist/masculine
restrictions on individuals during (Time) in
(Title). In the novel The Catcher in the Rye,
Holden Caulfield struggles with internal as well
as external conflicts that consume his life. In
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut uses the
innocence of Christ-figure Billy Pilgrim as an
instrument to display his cynical, anti-war views
about the effects of war on both the individual
and society. The nameless protagonist seeks his
identity while trying on various social roles in
Ralph Ellisons The Invisible Man. Earnest
Gaines A Lesson Before Dying presents one mans
search for the purpose of living in counterpoint
to another mans quest for dignity in light of
injustice and death.
11

• Point of view
• Is the story in first or third person (limited or
  omniscient)?
• How does the point of view influence your
  perception of
• the characters?
• What is the author showing through this voice?
• How is this voice unique in all literature with
  which you are familiar?
• To what extent can you trust the perspective of
  the narrator?

12
Point-of-view-related Thesis Statements
In (Title), (Author) effectively maintains
suspense through third-person limited point of
view by controlling the readers access to
character motivation and perspectives. By using
first person point of view, (Author) gives the
reader of (Title) the privilege of intimate
knowledge of a mind clouded by (Mental
Illness). Through Sylvia Plaths greatest
literary work, The Bell Jar, the reader views the
tranquil 50s through the eyes of an oppressed
young woman, Esther Greenwood. In J.D.
Salingers The Catcher in the Rye, the main
character, Holden Caulfield, effectively portrays
the complexities of American adolescence during
the mid-twentieth century through the vehicle of
first person point of view.
13

• Author Style
• What types of recurring imagery, metaphors,
  similes does the author use? How do they affect
  you as the reader?
• How does the author set the tone of the book?
  What exact passages accomplish that task? Note
  them.
• Closely examine wording employed in imagery.
  What senses does the author use? Are there any
  pet patterns (such are repetition) used to convey
  images?
• What metaphors seem to permeate the book? What
  effect do they have on you as a reader?
• How does use of similes enable you to see and
  understand better?
• What is the predominant sentence structure used
  throughout the book? Long sentences or short,
  terse sentences?

14
Style-related Thesis Statements
(Authors) intimate knowledge of (Location) is
evident in his/her poetic style through
(Title). Ray Bradbury uses powerful metaphors to
symbolize the fragile, dystrophic world of
Fahrenheit 451 through his extensive use of
imagery and parallelism. Margaret Mitchell
expertly uses character names to symbolize their
personalities and functions to deepen the plot of
Gone with the Wind. In Henry James A Portrait
of a Lady, the imagery of architecture is used
to create characterization.
15
Kurt Vonneguts extensive use of Black Humor in
Slaughterhouse-Five deepens the readers
understand of the irony during World War
II. Willa Cathers use of visual and tactile
imagery to poetically create the Nebraskan
prairie in My Antonia surpasses her monumental
ability of storytelling. John Gardners Grendel
serves as an modern allegorical warning of the
need for social awareness.
16

• Symbolism
• What recurring images seem to carry meaning
  throughout the novel?
• Pay attention to objects, colors, people,
  situations.
• Themes
• What meaning or messages jumps out at you as you
  read the book? How do these themes unify the
  novels puzzle pieces?

17
Symbol and Theme-related Thesis Statements
Rudolfo Anayas Bless Me, Ultima displays
contrastive religious and secular symbolism to
mark Antonio Marezs soul search. As
exemplified by his novel A Prayer for Own Meany,
John Irvings work is marked by violent,
contrastive symbols to create a single truth. A
close reading of The Grapes of Wrath reveal John
Steinbecks social concerns during the 1930s.
Throughout Joseph Hellers writing of Catch-22,
he shows that interpretations of power and
authority can separate the sane from the insane.
In On the Road, Jack Kerouac illustrates the
profound change in the American dream of the
beat generation through the travels of Sal
Paradise.
18
Jon Krakauer, survivor of the 1996 disaster and
author of Into Thin Air, makes a strong case for
reserving Everest for elite, experienced
climbers. In A Prayer for Owen Meany, John
Irving uses biblical symbolism to create a
parallel between his protagonist Owen Meany and
Jesus Christ In the novel One Flew Over the
Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey, Randal Patrick
McMurphy is a superhero whose powers fight
villains and allow others to achieve the
extraordiary. Toni Morrisons Song of Solomon is
a classic bildungsroman, tracing the journey and
development of the main character, Milkman
Dead. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the
raft becomes a refuge for Huck and Jim along the
journey through the morass of human flotsam.