Unit 10: Literary Criticism
Unit 10: Literary Criticism
Essential Questions and Skills:
What is the purpose of literary criticism? What are the schools of literary criticism? What is satire? How is The Awakening a work of feminist literature? How is/is not Their Eyes Were Watching God a work of feminist literature? Which influences of Realism are evident in the The Awakening? Which elements or other literary movements are present in "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Their Eyes Were Watching God? How do Chopin/Hurston/Gilman make observations about society through diction, syntax, imagery, and tone? How do Chopin, Hurston, and Gilman depict societal roles of women?
Materials:
The Awakening, Kate Chopin
Their Eyes were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
“The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Francis Perkins Gilman
Overview of Literary Criticism Approaches
Handouts: Satire and Satirical Devices
More Satirical Devices
Voice Lessons: Classroom Activities to Teach Diction, Detail, Imagery, Syntax, and Tone by Nancy Dean
AP Lit Help: The Awakening
Assessments:
A. Reading and Focus: Choose one of the literary criticism approaches that most interest you. Choose from the following: New Criticism, Feminist/Genre Studies, Historicism, or Psychological (Freudian or Archtypal/Jungian). The critical style should be the focus as you read. As you read, make notes of plot, dialogue, characterization, and setting which is reflective of the critical approach chosen. I would suggest noting both page number and chapter, for later reference. As you complete each chapter, write a summary of what you’ve read and what you’ve noticed relevant to the approach chosen.
B. Group Presentation: You and your group will discuss your discoveries in The Awakening, TEWWG, and The Yellow Wallpaper based on the notes and summaries gathered during your independent reading of the works. Your task is to consolidate your finding and present the novel to the class, based on the literary criticism perspective you all chose. During your presentation, you must explain the literary theory; explain the novel in light of the theory; use textual evident and literary terms to portray the novel from your group’s perspective. Presentations may be done in a variety of ways, including: panel discussion, oral interpretation, or teacher lecture.
C. Timed AP style essay
D. Weekly vocabulary assessments
E.. Weekly exercises from Voice Lessons: Classroom Activities to Teach Diction, Detail, Imagery, Syntax, and Tone.
F. Student generated AP style multiple choice questions
H. AP Style Multiple Choice Test
2005 Responses
2005 S