Short Story
& Literary Theory Unit
LENSES ON LITERATURE
PROJECT
Winter 2014
PART I: Creative Presentation (40 pts)
 During this unit, we’ve explored short stories and other texts through a variety of critical
lenses. These lenses help us read literature from critical perspectives and consider
multiple interpretations as we construct meaning for ourselves. The theories we’ve
studied are now part of your “literary toolkit” and can be applied to a wide range of texts,
both inside and outside of school. Literacy is much more than the ability to read and write
traditional texts like essays, short stories, and novels. Understanding critical theory will
help you notice, question, interpret, and construct meaning when watching films, listening
to music, experiencing the arts, and “reading” the world around you. Literacy is a process
of constructing new meanings every day.
 Therefore, your final project asks you create something new. First you will pick one
story that we’ve studied together and one or two lenses through which you will
interpret that story. Your interpretation will be both academic and creative as you
demonstrate your understanding of the text’s meaning through a new creative medium.
Your final product is NOT a literal representation of the story, but a new, insightful artifact
that reflects your individual understanding of the text.
 For example, if you choose for your project “Where Are You Going…?” by Joyce Carol
Oates when read through the gender lens, you might create a parody film that switches
the gender roles, casting a male student in Connie’s role and a female student in Arnold’s
role in order to highlight the power differential between men and women in the text.
 Another example might be a painting that demonstrates your reading of “The Masque
of the Red Death,” by Edgar Allan Poe through the archetypal lens, manipulating the
symbolic colors of the story’s setting in order to express your understanding of their
significance.
 Possible Texts
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“The Masque of the Red Death,” by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Flowers,” by Alice Walker
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates
“Fiesta, 1980,” by Junot Diaz
“The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“Recitatif,” by Toni Morrison
 Possible Theories / Lenses / Perspectives
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Reader-Response
Gender / Feminist
Social-Class / Marxist
Psychological
Archetypal
Postcolonial
 Presentation Formats (choose one of the following):
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Cartoon / Comic illustration
Drawing / Painting
Hip-hop / Rap / Lyrical performance
Poetry / Spoken-Word / Slam performance
Musical Song / Instrumental performance
Internal Monologue / Soliloquy / Scene
Interpretive Dance
iMovie / Film / Documentary / Trailer
Newspaper Article
Magazine Article
3D Set Design
Board Game
Original Short Story (if you choose to write a short story, it must be read or
performed in one of the mediums listed above).
Video Game
Animation
Other (approval required)
 Additional Requirements
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The piece must be at least 3 minutes in length (to perform, read, or explain).
The piece must include a visual component of some kind.
Short Story
& Literary Theory Unit
LENSES ON LITERATURE
PROJECT
Winter 2014
PART II: Critical Lens Essay (40 pts)
 The second part of this project is a critical lens essay in which you will demonstrate in
writing your understanding of the short story chosen when read through a selected literary
theory. Although separate, the story and lens should correspond to your creative
presentation, synthesizing your understanding of the text in a traditional literary
analysis that uses textual evidence to support your ideas, questions, observations, and
interpretations. This essay will adhere to MLA format and should be 3 – 4 pages (no
more or less).
 Although this is similar to a traditional literary criticism, you do not need an explicitly
stated thesis. However, your paper should be organized around a central question or
idea and the lens or theory should help you to explore that question in depth.
 Overview of Guidelines
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3 - 4 pages
MLA Format
Quotes from story as evidence
Quotes from theory as evidence
Clear organization
Formal tone
Central question
No outside sources (only story & theory readings)
Submitted to Turnitin.com
 Questions to Consider
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What are the key elements of your critical theory?
What are the limits or constraints of this theory?
What other theories is it similar to or different from?
How does this theory explain or otherwise apply to your selected story?
What features of the text come into focus when reading through this lens?
What questions does this theory raise in regards to your selected story?
How does reading through this lens enhance or constrain your understanding of
the story?
Do you subscribe to the interpretations suggested by reading through this lens?
Why or why not?
How does your own personal understanding of the text support or conflict with
these interpretations?
What interpretations do you embrace? resist? reject?
Short Story
& Literary Theory Unit
LENSES ON LITERATURE
PROJECT
Winter 2014
PART III: Meta-Text Reflection (20 pts)
 After the submission of your creative presentation and critical lens essay, you will write
a 1 - 2 page reflection paper that addresses the following:
 Questions to Consider
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Discuss the process of designing and presenting your creative project,
explaining (3) aesthetic choices that you made.
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What was the goal / purpose of your creative presentation? How were you able
to express your reading or understanding of the text’s new meaning(s)?
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What aesthetic decisions did you make when creating and presenting your
creative presentation?
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What textual evidence guided your aesthetic choices?
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How did your creative project allow you an opportunity to express your
understanding of literary theory? of the short story? of the unit? of yourself as
reader / writer / meaning-maker?
 Overview of Guidelines
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1-2 pages
Informal tone
Reflective
Insightful
Quotes from story as evidence
Quotes from theory as evidence
Process-oriented
Synthesizes understanding
Provides rationale
Discusses specific choices
Uses the language of art