The Assignment:
A Research Paper on Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
Students are to choose a lens through which they wish to view the author Charles
Dickens, the novel Great Expectations, or both.
Each student has written me a proposal regarding how they want to approach the novel, using
one of the theoretical lenses above. Each student will need to do research beyond the novel
itself.
Their Works Cited Page will need a minimum of two sources.
They can check out Google Scholar; though it may be a bit esoteric: https://scholar.google.com/
The Critical Literary approaches:
New Criticism, New Historicism, Reader Response, Queer/Gender Theory, Eliot's view of
"Tradition and Individual Talent," and of course Character Analysis vis a vis The Hero's Journey.
What students will need to look for, on day ONE in the library:
Reader Response: They will need to access reviews of Great Expectations from various
historical periods: the 1860s-70s, when it was first serialized; a review prior to and post the
1960s, and a review of a film version of the book.
Example: NYT Michiko Kakutani Review 2011
New Historicism: They will need to research what was going on during Dickens's writing life and
"formative years" ~ historically, culturally, politically, etc. Finding photos of this period would
be great, too.
Example: Dickens’ obituary
Example: Accessible review, discusses the economic classes in Great Ex:
http://fiction.eserver.org/criticism/dickens.html (use for background; not citation; author is
anonymous)
T.S. Eliot: They need to discover who the writers and artists were that came before Dickens and
influenced him: who did he read as a child and as a young adult?; who were his
contemporaries; which artists beyond his genre influenced or interested him, who did he read?,
who did he admire? who did he distain? (i.e. he loved the theatre, he corresponded with
George Eliot, he hated much of America, etc.)
Example: review good biographical notes to see who he read and who he admired:
http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/dnb/7599.html
http://www.dickenslit.com/index.html
Pre-AP Freshman English Winter Quarter Novel: Great Expectations
Pre-AP Freshman English Winter Quarter Novel: Great Expectations
New Criticism: this is the way a fellow writer likes to approach a piece of text: How is
this made? How does it work? What are the literary elements that make it work?
Students will need to read some accessible New Criticism -- I can pursue this avenue -Dorothy Ghent is a good critic who can be cherry-picked to provide students with
coherent and accessible ideas. Also Joseph Hynes and Harry Stone.
Example: Harold Bloom has complied an anthology of critics discussing Dickens’s novel, Great
Expectations. A great place for any student to begin, skimming the titles and first paragraphs of
the entries for a phrase, or claim, that links to their own interests: https://goo.gl/paVx4q
Queer/Gender Theory: Students need to be able to find out about gender roles and gender
biases, during Dickens's time, and/or potential "under the radar" gay/lesbian themes in the
novel. Gender theory is basically concerned with how Dickens's subtly subverts or overtly
supports dominant ideas about gender. He is a great author to approach this way, because he is
"soft-hearted" and does creating nurturing men and domineering women, fusing gender
expectations.
Example: some articles to browse on The Victorian Web:
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/ge/genderov.html
The Hero's Journey: I have what I need here, and they did this last year, but I want their
"Journey" to be more complete and sophisticated this year, so they will need to deal with the
archetypes -- the hero, Pip, and the other players -- in addition to the cycle of the hero.
Example: This YouTube video describes the archetypes in The Hero’s Journey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rnV9aszXbQ
Reader Response: Surprisingly, lots of students want to approach Dickens this way. I need to
find some information on how other teachers have done this work in high school classrooms. It
is tricky to make it rigorous, since it can easily be confused with the approach, "I don't know
much about art, but I know what I like."
Students interested in Reader Response must first investigate and answer these two questions:
 Why do high schools “make” students read “literature?”
 What is that “good literature” supposed to “do” to these young citizens?
Students who want to use Reader Response must first find a credible source to investigate
these questions, including one from an educator’s or the educational world’s perspective.
Example: One writer’s plea for literacy and libraries: http://goo.gl/NhDWTb
Pre-AP Freshman English Winter Quarter Novel: Great Expectations
The above Hero’s Journey is kitschy, but it DOES contain all the stages Freshman scholars will
need to identify and discuss.
Pre-AP Freshman English Winter Quarter Novel: Great Expectations
“Language on the Loose” chapter re: Dickens’ show don’t tell dictum put so much
more elegantly and tonally annoyed 
https://goo.gl/3vsUjY