Critical Reading Strategies Formalist Biographical HistoricalMarxist Psychological Mythological

Critical Reading Strategies Formalist, Biographical, Historical/Marxist, Psychological, Mythological, Reader Response, & Feminist

Formalist • New Critics – most famous modern formalists who dominated American criticism from the 1940 s to the 1960 s • Focus on the formal elements of a work – language, structure, tone • Reads literature as an independent work of art rather than as a reflection of the author’s state of mind or as a representation of a moment in history • Pays attention to intrinsic rather than extrinsic matters (e. g. , history, biography, politics)

Formalist – “Story of an Hour” • Surprise ending – explore foreshadowing that may have prepared the reader • Irony – how various examples reflect conflict and foreshadow ending; Louise’s conception of herself as a “goddess of Victory” is interpreted by Josephine as grief; doctors believe she has died of joy rather than shock or dismay • Point of view – third-person narrator presents story in a manner similar to Josephine’s gentle attempts to break the news of Brently Mallard’s death • Imagery – setting as a symbol of freedom

Biographical • Knowledge of an author’s life can help readers understand his or her work more fully • Characters’ experiences and relationships may reflect those of the author • May argue that biographical knowledge can at least control interpretation • May also complicate interpretation as biographical facts may be at odds with characters’ experiences • May simply enrich our appreciation of a work – Milton’s visual imagery cam after he became blind; Beethoven’s greatest works after he succumbed to deafness

Biographical– “Story of an Hour” • Might examine Chopin’s own marriage – her husband died twelve years before she wrote the story • Chopin’s evidently happy marriage may complicate interpretations and raise more questions – Why would Chopin be willing to “forget the past ten years of … growth” given her protagonist’s desire for “self-assertion”?

Historical – Literary History • May view literature as a window to the past – characters may reflect attitudes not recorded in historical documents • May consider how the literary trends of the day influence the writing of a work • Move beyond the facts of an author’s personal life and the text itself to the social and intellectual currents in which the author composed the work • May treat a text as reflecting, producing, or being produced by the social conditions of its time, giving equal focus to the social milieu and the work itself

Historical– “Story of an Hour” • The repression expressed in the lines on Mrs. Mallard’s face is more distinctly seen if the story is placed in the context of the “woman’s question” as it continued to develop in the 1890 s. • Mrs. Mallard’s impulse toward “self-assertion” parallels the growing women’s movement away from the role of long-suffering housewife. • This movement was regarded by traditionalists of the 1890 s as selfish, unnatural, and immoral – Are Mrs. Mallard’s feelings of joy “monstrous”? • An understanding of the historical context helps to explain the pressures, tensions, and momentary release Mrs. Mallard experiences.

Historical – Marxist • Developed from the heightened interest in radical reform during the 1930 s • Focus on the ideological content of a work – the assumptions and values about matters such as culture, race, class, and power • Often seek to reveal and clarify how these issues appear in the text and correct social injustice • Argue that literature (and literary criticism) is essentially political because it either challenges or supports economic oppression; even if in ignoring class conflicts, it supports the status quo

Marxist– “Story of an Hour” • May say that some of Mrs. Mallard’s repression was generated by the socioeconomic structure contemporary to her • May note that Chopin challenges the validity of the 1890 s socioeconomic structure by having Mrs. Mallard resist it • Mrs. Mallard’s conflict is not simply an individual issue but is part of a larger class struggle

Psychological • Stems from Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theories and their influence on 20 th century interpretations of human behavior (e. g. , dream interpretation, unconscious desires, sexual repression, levels of the psyche) • Based heavily on the idea of the existence of a human unconscious –those impulses, desires, and feelings that a person is unaware of but that influence emotions and behavior (e. g. , Oedipus complex)

Psychological – “Story of an Hour” • New of Mrs. Mallard’s husband’s death has released powerful unconscious desires for freedom that she had previously suppressed • Might explore Chopin’s own views of her marriage – despite her conscious statements about her loving her husband • Might also questions about readers’ psyche – how might responses in female and male readers differ and what does that reflect about their unconscious desires?

Mythological • Also, known as archetypal critics • Attempt to identify what in a work creates deep universal response in readers and to interpret how these reflect the hopes, fear, and expectations of entire cultures – how humans try to account for lives symbolically • Look for underlying recurrent patterns in literature that reveal universal meanings and basic human experiences for readers regardless of when or where they live (e. g. , death and rebirth reflected by seasons; stories of quests/the monomyth stages; colors) • Examine the elements of a work to make larger connections

Mythological – “Story of an Hour” • Mrs. Mallard’s life parallels the end of winter and the earth’s renewal in spring • She initially tries to resist but she cannot control the life force that surges within her and all around her • Her death is an ironic version of a rebirth ritual; the coming of spring is an ironic contrast to her own discovery that she can no longer live a repressed life with her husband • The old, corrupt order continues, and that for Chopin is a cruel irony that mythological critics would see as an unnatural disruption of the nature of things.

Reader Response • Focuses attention on the reader rather than the work itself • Describes what goes on in the reader’s mind during the process of reading a text • Do not assume that a literary work is a finished product, but is an evolving creation of a reader – therefore, there is no single definitive reading of a work because readers create rather than discover meaning • Do not see a “correct” reading but are interested in the reader’s experience with the text

Reader Response – “Story of an Hour” • Chopin does not say that Mrs. Mallard’s marriage is repressive; that troubling fact dawns on the reader at the same time the recognition forces its way into Mrs. Mallard’s consciousness • How the reader responds to this discovery is not entirely controlled by Chopin; imagining different readers can allow us to imagine a variety of responses based on the readers’ impressions, memories, or experiences with marriage

Feminist • Seek to correct or supplement what they regard as a predominantly maledominated critical perspective with a feminist consciousness • Examine how images of women in literature reflect what the patriarchal social forces that have impeded women’s efforts to achieve full equality with men • Examine how gender affects the way men and women write about each other and how genders use language differently • Characterized by a broad range of disciplines – history, sociology, psychology, linguistics, etc. – to provide a perspective sensitive to feminist issues

Feminist – “Story of an Hour” • Explore the psychological stress created by the expectations that marriage imposes on Mrs. Mallard • The issue is not her being married to Brently Mallard but her being married at all – marriage as an institution that creates in men and women the assumed right to “impose a private will upon a fellow creature. ” • Might note that the protagonist is introduced as Mrs. Mallard (learn that her first name is Louis later in the story); she is defined by her marital status and her husband’s name is related to a male duck • Her emotions and the cause of her death are interpreted in male terms by male doctors