Critical Theory: Feminist , Psychoanalytic, and Marxist

Honors English 11 Mr. Rodriguez Critical Theory:Feminist, Psychoanalytic, and Marxist

How Most People Read Stories: • They look at plot, setting, and characters • They analyze the plot elements • Exposition • Initiating Event • Rising Actions • Climax • Falling Actions • Resolution (denouement)

How Critical Thinkers Read: • They use several theories to further analyze the plot, setting, and characters • We still study: • Psychoanalytic Theory • Feminist Theory • Marxist Theory

Feminist Theory Explores how patriarchal ideology (traditional gender roles, the economic and psychological oppression of women, sexism, etc) shapes our identity/behavior/ experience

Feminist Theory • Patriarchy: a social system that privileges men by promoting traditional gender roles according to which it is natural for men to be dominate and for women to willingly and cheerfully submit to that domination.

Feminist Theory • Traditional gender roles • Men: yard work, providers, work outside of home • Women: caregivers, housework, cooking, cleaning, generally submissive

Think about it • Think back to your favorite childhood movies, cartoons, and books. Describe the general plot. Do you think that these movies, cartoons, toys, games, or books supported patriarchal ideas? How? • Example: playing “house” as a little girl supports traditional gender roles that women are natural caregivers and belong in the home taking care of the house and children. • Princess • Woman • Women • Lady • Female

Feminist Theory • Woman as objects: a woman can be treated as an object in a number of ways. • Sex object • Status symbol, or an embodiment of traditional gender roles • “The wife”

Feminist Theory • The Idealization of Women: idealize her to a standard of perfection. • Examples: celebrities

Feminist Theory • “Good Girl/Bad Girl”: how women are made into objects • Good girl: you follow the “normal” patriarchal ideals/gender roles. Marry-wife. • Bad girls: violate their gender roles-patriarchal men are attracted to the bad girl.

Feminist Theory • Sisterhood: political bonding among women based on common experiences or goals • Can help women gain power in numbers and undermine patriarchy. • Ex: The Secret Life of Bees

Feminist Theory • Biological essentialism: biological differences between sexes that are considered part of the unchanging essence of men/women • Women: inherent caregivers, gentle, more emotional (irrational), sympathetic • Men: naturally stronger, more violent/aggressive, rational, decisive, protective

Feminist Short Stories: • “Story of an Hour” – K. Chopin • “A Rose for Emily” - W. Faulkner • “Sweat” – Z.N. Hurston • “Child X” – L. Gould • The Awakening – Our next novel – K. Chopin

Psychoanalytic Theory • How do our psychological problems (our core issues and defenses which originate in the family) shape our identity/ behavior/ experience? • Originated from psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) who believed all psychological behaviors could be traced to the family and the unconscious desires of human beings. • Ex: Antwone Fisher

Psychoanalytic Theory • Core Issues: problems that a character has that affects his/her behavior. Some examples could include: • low self-esteem • fear of intimacy • fear of abandonment • control issues • confusion of sexuality

Psychoanalytic Theory • The Defenses:a way of keeping oneself unaware of one’s core issues in order to feel an illusory protection from those issues. • Examples: • Selective perception • Denial • Selective memory • Avoidance • Projection • Regression • Displacement

Psychoanalysis • The Unconscious: what a character is not consciously aware of, his/her psychological motives (core issues) driving behavior. • Freud believed humans portrayed their unconscious thoughts through dreams. • Ex: College Applications/ Future Plans

Psychoanalysis • Repression: when a character keeps his core issues hidden in his/her unconscious due to fear of facing his/her problems. • We repress painful experiences (e.g., feeling frightened, abandoned, unloved, inadequate, etc.) because we feel that the memory of them will overwhelm us. This forms our unconscious when we are young. • These repressed experiences, especially if they are repeated, form our core issues.

Psychoanalysis: Avoidance • We simply find ways of avoiding having to face uncomfortable situations, things, or activities. • The discomfort may come from unconscious aggressive impulses. • May include removing oneself physically from a situation. • May also involve finding ways not to discuss or even think about the topic in question. • Ex: Conflict in relationships • Ex: Simba running away from his king responsibilities in The Lion King

Psychoanalysis: Projection • When a person has uncomfortable thoughts or feelings, they may project these onto other people, assigning the thoughts or feelings that they need to repress to a convenient alternative target. • Projection may also happen to obliterate attributes of other people with which we are uncomfortable. • We assume that they are like us, and in doing so we allow ourselves to ignore those attributes they have with which we are uncomfortable.

Projection Examples • Someone who never lies is easy to deceive because he projects his truthfulness onto others, assuming that others are honest also • An inept con-man fears that others are trying to cheat him, signals his fear and alerts others • A person who has cheated in a relationship may always be suspicious of his/her partner’s actions

Psychoanalysis: Displacement • Putting blame on somebody else who didn’t cause the pain. • Habits and phobias may also use displacement as a mechanism for releasing energy that is caused in other ways.

Psychoanalysis: Regression • Regression: when you go back to the time before or during the traumatic experience

Psychoanalytic Short Stories: • “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” • Psychoanalytical annotations/ summary • “The Lady with the Dog” – A. Chekhov • “The Lady with the Pet Dog” – J. C. Oates • Comparison Sheet

Marxist Theory • Claims that capitalist and individualist societies undermine people of lower economic status as less than human, and focus on personal money and economic gain, rather than the good of society as a whole.

Marxists believe: • that socioeconomic class (money) divides people more than gender, race, ethnicity, and religion. • that the class you are born into determines everything about you (who you are, who you marry, psychological being). • that the goal is equality -they want to level the socio-economic status so there is no more human competition for money • competition is evil and unethical • that the American dream is a capitalist myth and really only attainable to those already in the middle to upper classes.

Class Systems • Homeless: few, if any, material possessions and little hope of improvement *(Underclass): • Poor: limited education and career opportunities. Struggle to support families and live in fear of homelessness. *(Lower class) • Financially established: nice homes and cars, send children to college but might not have went to college themselves, work hard. *(middle) • Well-to-do:two or more expensive homes, many cars, luxury items, went to big universities, money not a worry *(Upper) • Extremely wealthy: large corporate C.E.O’s, mansions, money is never a worry, inheritance (?), other people do work for them *(Aristocracy) • *Middle class sides with wealthy rather than help the poor because they believe in the “American Dream”*

Marxist Terms • Capitalism:is a destructive ideology that evaluates all objects, people, and experiences in terms of their monetary value (money) and thereby robs them of any other kind of value. • Consumerism: belief that “I am only as good as what I can buy.” • Alienated Labor: workers don’t profit from the work that they do and they feel no personal ownership or satisfaction in work (factory workers-just one piece of car, never see whole). • Rugged individualism:keeps focus of society on the “me” instead of the “us.” Gives illusion that we are responsible for our own decisions and are not influenced by ideology. Keeps people from asking for help. • Material circumstances:Economic conditions. Poor people in urban centers where resources are available.

Terms continued • Commoditization: the act of evaluating human beings in terms of their exchange value or sign-exchange value • Use Value: what one can do or what one is used for. Example: book: you can read, throw, balance a table, etc. • Exchange value:money or other commodities for which an object can be traded ex: sell book for $2, exchange book for another book • Sign-exchange value: value is not on what it can do, but what social status symbol it gives to the owner. Example: gold shovel

Colonized Consciousness • Colonizers tell the native people that they are mentally, spiritually, and culturally inferior to their conquerors-so the people of that nation begin to believe that. People see the world they way the rich want you to see it (poor people believe they are lazy and not worth as much as rich people).

Short Stories: • “The Happiest Man on Earth” • Discussion Questions • “The Use of Force” • Opinionnaire and Discussion Questions • “A Small, Good Thing” • Opinionnaire and Character chart

Critical Theory: Feminist , Psychoanalytic, and Marxist