LIT2020 Exam 2 Study Guide Literary Theories Marxism Karl Marx founder Believed it was all about money Capitalists or bourgeoisie and Workers proletariats Capitalists and workers are often thrown together in relations of production Capitalists want MAXIMUM profit for LOWEST cost Proletariats want HIGHEST wage for LEAST work Marx says Eventually the workers will rise up in revolution against the capitalist class and a new communist society will be created Marxist theory composed of two parts Base and Superstructure Base economy is the base foundation Superstructure all other parts of society culture the state education Economic base determines the superstructure base superstructure model Ruling class ideology Social class in controlled by this ruling ideas are those of the ruling class False consciousness not understanding true class position working class may suffer fromthis Marxist Theory Focuses on the representation of class distinctions and class conflict in literature Focuses more on social and political elements than artistic elements of a text Questions a Marxist may ask How does the author s social and economic class show through the work What roles do class systems play in the work How do characters overcome oppression How to use Expose a class conflict Show how the dominant class exercises and maintains control Show how the dominant class imposes its beliefs on others Show how the working class is trapped oppressed Critical Race Theory Main points 1 Racism is a normal part of American society and has been throughout history a Racism is not limited to discrete acts of discrimination or violence but it also present in lives and is often unrecognizable Institutionalized racism institutions set up to promote given racial hierarchy b 2 Racism has to be understood in social historical context not as isolated actions but as a 3 pattern of institutions and assumptions To understand racism you must understand the perceptions of those who have experienced it because it is often invisible to those who benefit from it a Reject normativity of white experience recognize white privilege b Reject objectivity openly acknowledge that perceptions reflect the mindset status and experience of the person involved Literary Criticism Understand literary texts according to racial contexts recognizing U S literature as emerging out of a sociological political and cultural situation marked by racial oppression and marginalization Examines white writing in racist countries as it illuminates the nature of the oppression of Celebrates minority writings such as the aesthetics of distinctly black culture ex jazz Attempts to theorize and understand what race is and how it is understood and minorities represented in literature Major Figures W E B Dubois coined the term double consciousness the sense of looking at one s self through the eyes of others Toni Morrison coined the term Africanism the imagined image of blackness Postcolonialism or Post Colonial Theory An intellectual discourse that holds together a set of philosophies films political sciences and literatures These discourses are reactions to the cultural legacy of colonialism Main Points Post colonialism deals with literature produced in countries that once were colonies or theories found amongst the texts and sub texts of other countries especially those of European colonial powers Britain France Spain Deals with literature written in other countries and by their citizens that has colonized people as the subject matter Looks at issues of power economics politics religion and culture and how these elements work in relation to colonial hegemony focusing on how the Western colonizers controlled those they colonized Major Figures Edward Said Homi Bhabha Frantz Fanon Gayatri Spivak Wole Soyinka Salman Rushdie Jamaica Kincaid Chinua Achebe Orientalism book written by Said Term is used to describe the discourse about the East constructed by the West Made them seem exotic outlandish foreign ex Aladdin Key Terms Empire a group of nations or people ruled over by an emperor empress or other powerful sovereign Diaspora any people or ethnic population forced or induce to leave their homelands being dispersed throughout other parts of the world Eurocentrism the practice conscious or otherwise of placing emphasis on European concerns culture and values at the expense of those of other cultures Alterity lack of identification with some part of one s community differentness otherness Hybridity referring to the integration of cultural signs and practices from the colonizing and colonized cultures Feminism First wave Second Wave Third Wave Main Points 19th and early 20th century Focused on promotion of equal contract marriage parenting and property rights Woman s suffrage Mid 20th century Equality other than suffrage such as ending discrimination 1990s present Focus on micro politics and challenge second wave feminists as to what is or what is not good for women Use post structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically politically socially and psychologically patriarchal ideology is the primary means by which they are kept so Woman is other defined only by her difference from male norms and values While biology determines sex culture determines our gender Ultimate goal of changing the world by prompting gender equality Gender issues are a huge part of human production and experience including literature whether we are consciously aware or not Major Figures Virginia Woolf wrote A room of one s own Book shows relationship between women and fiction for a woman to be a good writer she must have social and economic freedom Argues to forgo women as the traditional mirror for man s ability Argues there is no natural distinction between the sexes and that a woman is a social Wrote The Second Sex Describes women as the other because men have shrouded them in a false aura of Simone de Beauvoir construction mystery Goals of Feminism To uncover and develop a female tradition of writing To examine representations of women in literature To examine and challenge patriarchal roles To challenge the view of woman as Other To analyze language as a tool of gender construction To question the neutrality of mainstream interpretation Key Terms Gender the state of being male or female Patriarchy A family group or government controlled by a man or group of men Hegemony influence or control over another country group of people etc