Reading and Resisting Ideology, Or, What's a Theory For?: Contemporary Literary Theory and Adolescents University of Minnesota Thursday, February 5, 2004

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlyn, “is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins….you may see the world around you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then… to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate,never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you.” T.H.White, The Once and Future King

The main reason for studying theory at the same time as literature is that it forces you to deal consciously with the problem of ideologies...There are many truths and the one you will find depends partly on the ideology you start with. [Studying theory] means you can take your own part in the struggles for power between different ideologies. It helps you to discover elements of your own ideology, and understand why you hold certain values unconsciously. It means no authority can impose a truth on you in a dogmatic way--and if some authority does try, you can challenge that truth in a powerful way, by asking what ideology it is based on... Theory is subversive because it puts authority in question. - Bonnycastle, In Search of Authority, p. 34

Ideology In essence an ideology is a system of thought or “world view” which an individual acquires (usually unconsciously) from the world around him. An ideology determines what you think is important in life, what categories you put people into, how you see male and female roles in life, and a host of other things. You can visualize your ideology as a grid, or a set of glasses, through which you can see the world. (Bonnycastle) The term ideology describes the beliefs, attitudes, and habits of feeling which a society inculcates in order to generate an automatic reproduction of its structuring premises. Ideology is what preserves social power in the absence of direct coercion. (Ryan)

Ideological common sense is common sense in the service of sustaining unequal relations of power. -Fairclough

Ideology is most effective when its workings are least visible. If one becomes aware that a particular aspect of common sense is sustaining power inequalities at one’s own expense, it ceases to be common sense, and may cease to have the capacity to sustain power inequalities, i.e., to function ideologically. And invisibility is achieved when ideologies are brought to discourse not as explicit elements of the text, but as the background assumptions which, on the one hand, lead the text producer to textualize the world in a particular way, and on the other hand, lead the interpreter to interpret the text in a particular way. Texts do not spout ideology. They so position the interpreter through their cues that she brings ideologies to the interpretation of texts—and reproduces them in the process! -Fairclough, 1989, p. 85

An Assertion of Individualism?

Contemporary theory holds that there is no such thing as an innocent, value-free reading. Instead, each of us has a viewpoint invested with presuppositions about ‘reality’ and about ourselves, whether we are conscious of it or not. People who deny having a critical stance, who claim they are responding “naturally” or being “completely objective” do not know themselves. - Staton, Literary Theories in Praxis No Such Thing as Innocence

“Until lions tell their stories, tales of hunting will glorify the hunter.” --African proverb

A man with one theory is lost. He needs several of them, or lots! He should stuff them in his pockets like newspapers. -Bertolt Brecht

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. -F. Scott Fitzgerald

It is not that we shouldn’t care about individual students and texts. We should, and I do. We also recognize, however, that students and texts are embedded in huge, living, sometimes contradictory networks, and if we want students to understand the workings of textuality, then we have to think about those larger systems. - Bruce Pirie, 1996

Literary theory can handle Bob Dylan just as well as John Milton. -Terry Eagleton

Critical Encounters: Reading the World The relationship between the text and the world is not simply a fascinating problem for textual theory. It is, above all others, the problem that makes textual theory necessary. (Scholes, 1985, p. 75) The world is like a huge novel that needs to be interpreted. It has a very broad and confusing plot with a variety of settings and many different cultures and themes. (Jesse, Grade 11) Critical lenses are devices of interpretation. Just as they are used to interpret literature they can be used to interpret the world. When a critical lens is used in literature, in essence, it is being applied to the world. A critical lens can be used to “read” the world because there is little, if any, difference between what is real and the literature it is customarily used for. (Carmen, Grade 12)

Jenny’s Response

Anna’s Response

Matt’s Response: Ethiopia Versus Tiffany & Co. Description After we talked about Marxism and Of Mice and Men, I was looking at the NY Times A section and saw these two items facing each other. There’s a long article about famine in Ethiopia-I didn’t copy it all. Then right across the page is this ad for diamond earrings. I thought it was ironic enough and then I saw the price of the earrings, $10,500! Analysis Capitalism can be found alive and well in every corner of this paper. The news alternates with ads for luxury goods. The Marxist lens makes me think about the haves and have-nots as represented by these two artifacts. Where is the middle class? Conclusion I found the ad obscene next to the famine article. I wonder if the editorial staff even notices this stuff. Are people who can afford to buy earrings interested in the famine article? Do people who care about famine in Ethiopia tolerate earring ads? The typical reader of the NY Times lives between the earrings and the famine.

Re-reading Romance

Deconstructing the “Prince”

Can We Use Critical Encounters to Read the World? Yes, totally. To get a wide picture (and a 3-D view) of the world, its inhabitants, and its goings on, its imperative that we see it through different lenses. My mom always lectures me what I complain about someone or something, saying that I should put myself in their shoes. Aren’t moms the wisest? Perspectives help us be clearer thinkers, better friends, and very helpful mediators. While I may not say, “OK, now for the Marxist lens” or “new criticism”, but just because I don’t label them doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about them. Sarah, Grade 11

No, even when we try to understand critical lenses our understanding is filtered through our own “perspectives” or “lenses.” No intellectual theory has ever truly led scholars to understand the world. We can each use our individual understandings or critical lenses to add even more variety to our many thoughts about the world, but these learned perspectives will never come near replacing our natural ones. Mark, Grade 11

Yes, I believe that we can use critical lenses to “read” the world. The world is like a huge novel that needs to be interpreted. It has a very broad and confusing plot with a variety of settings and many different cultures and themes. Maria, Grade 11

I definitely believe that we can read the world through critical lenses. The reason I feel this way is because if we didn’t use lenses to read the world everyone would walk around with a one-track mind. Lenses help us view things, all things, in a different light. They help us understand each other and society in general. Each lens opens a door to a new possibility and isn’t that what life is like in our world, opening doors to new possibilities? Every day learning something new and then sharing your wisdom with the world? Lenses help to make us more diverse in our knowledge and then gives us the wisdom to share that knowledge, so you ask can we use critical lenses to “read” the world? Yes, I would definitely say yes. Jeff, Grade 12

For knowledge isn’t just something we acquire; it’s something we are or hope to become. Knowledge is what constitutes our relationship to ourselves and to our world, for it is the lens through which we view ourselves and our world. Change the lens and you change both the view and the viewer. This principle is what makes knowledge at once so frightening and so liberating, so painful and so utterly, utterly joyful. - Lois Tyson, 1999