,An Overview of Critical Lenses
Adapted from: Appleman, Deborah. Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory
to Adolescents. New York: Teachers College Press, 2000.
Literary theories were developed as a means to understand the various ways people read texts.
The proponents of each theory believe that their theory is the theory, but most of us interpret texts
according to the “rules” of several different theories at a time. All theories are lenses through which we
can see texts. There is nothing to say that one is better than another of that you should read according to
any of them, but it is sometimes fun (or valuable) to “decide” to read a text with one in mind because you
often end up with a whole new perspective on your reading. And even if you deeply disagree with the
tenets of some of these theories, it is helpful to understand how they influence the thinking of those who
have bought in.
What follows is a summary of some of the most common schools of literary theory. These
descriptions are extremely cursory, and none of them fully explains what the theory is all about. But it is
enough to get the general idea. Enjoy!
New Criticism. This is still the most common approach to literature in high school English classrooms.
New critics regard texts as independent and self-sufficient objects—separate from historical and social
context and from the psychology of readers and authors. Main ideas of the New Critics include the
following:
 A poem should be treated just as a poem (not, for example, a political statement) and should be
regarded as an independent and self-sufficient object
 The educated reader’s task is to explore and analyze the subtle and complex relationships
between components of a work: words, sentences, figures of speech, symbols…
Reader-Response Theory. This is the second most common approach to literature used in high school
English classrooms. Reader response theorists focus on the activity of reading a work of literature. They
are interested in the responses of readers as their eyes follow a text. By this shift of perspective a literary
work is converted into an activity that goes on in a reader’s mind, and what had been features of the work
itself (including characters, plot, narrator, style, structure) are less important that the connection
between the reader’s experience and the text.
Proponents of Reader Response theory believe that literature has no objective meaning or
existence. People bring their own thoughts, moods and experiences to whatever they are reading and get
out of it whatever they happen to, based on their own expectations and ideas.
Archetypal Criticism. In criticism, the word “archetype” signifies plot designs, character types, and
images that are said to recur in a variety of literary works as well as myths, dreams, and rituals. These
recurring patterns are held to reflect a set of universal, primitive patterns—to capture a basic and
profound human truth that evokes strong emotional response from readers. The death-rebirth theme is
said to be the “archetype of archetypes.” Other archetypal themes are the journey underground, the
heavenly ascent, the search for the father, the paradise/Hades dichotomy, the Promethean rebel-hero, the
scapegoat, the earth goddess, and the fatal woman. Archetypal critics seek these patterns in literature
and treat them as the fundamental source of literary meaning.
Feminist Criticism. Feminist critics look at patterns of thought, behavior, communication, and power
between genders. Frequently they look at structures that have kept women from reaching their full
potential (whether that potential is creative, economic, professional, or other). They also look at ways
that women are turned into “negative objects” or “Other,” defined only in comparison with men. There
are some key assumptions and concepts held in common by most feminist critics:
 Our civilization is pervasively patriarchal.
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The concepts of “gender” are largely, if not entirely, cultural constructs that spring from
patriarchal bias.
Patriarchal ideology pervades those writings that have been considered great literature. These
works lack autonomous female role models and are implicitly addressed to male readers. Women
readers are forced to identify against themselves by reading (perceiving, feeling, and acting) as if
they were male.
Marxist Criticism. This school of critical theory focuses on power and money in works of literature.
Who has power and money? Who does not? What happens as a result? What determines who gets
power and money—how is it passed out or handed down? Here are some key ideas shared by most
Marxist critics:
 History, human institutions and ways of thinking are determined by changes in “the means of
production”—or basic economic organization (i.e. whether a society is agricultural, industrial,
high-tech…)
 Changes in the means of production change the relationship between social classes. The social
classes are locked in a conflict for economic, political and social advantage.
 Human consciousness in any era is shaped by an ideology—that is, a set of concepts, beliefs,
values, and ways of thinking and feeling that define how people see reality. A Marxist critic
typically tries to “explain” literature by revealing the economic, class and ideological
determinants of how an author writes, and to examine the relation of the text to the social reality
of the author’s time and place.
Critical Race Theory. Critical Race Theory, or CRT, begins with the notion that race is not a biological
reality but rather a social construct—something that exists only in people’s minds. A Critical Race
theorist argues that the biological differences between people of different races are minute and there is
no clear biological dividing line between one racial category and another. Racial categories are arbitrary
and exist only because people keep treating them as real (in language, the law, and other kinds of social
interactions) and using them to achieve different kinds of power or advantage. Though “race isn’t real,”
racism (or the belief in race) does have huge impact on people’s lives. Critical Race Theorists read to
understand how notions of race get created, reinforced and passed down, and to understand the effects of
race on people’s lives.
Postcolonial Criticism. Postcolonial criticism attempts to examine and dismantle the political, social,
linguistic and economic theories (like racism, the “White Man’s Burden,” notions of religious or cultural
superiority, etc,) that imperial societies have used to justify their domination of colonized people. It
examines the ways that these lingering theories continue to shape relationships between individuals and
societies even after the colonial era. Postcolonial critics also work to understand and express the
perspectives of the colonized and their creative ways of resisting the colonizing culture. Postcolonial
critics read looking for places in the literature (even just in the author’s word choices) where colonial
ideology is either reinforced or subverted.
Psychoanalytic Criticism. Psychoanalytic critics are interested in the subconscious impulses and
longings that shape human emotions, relationships, and behavior. They read looking for subtle clues that
reveal the underlying mental traits of the author or characters. They are interested in determining the
real reasons for people’s actions and feelings.
Deconstruction. Deconstructionists declare that literature means nothing because language means
nothing. Every statement is ambiguous and contains its own contradiction. We cannot know the
“meaning” of a story because there is no way of knowing. Deconstructionists seek our contradiction and
instability; they work to challenge notions of absolute meaning or truth.