1. Bellringer
In your own words, define how you use Gender Criticism to explore a novel.

2. AP Literature and Composition
“It’s a Wide-Arching Wednesday!”
December 19, 2012
Mr. Houghteling

3. AGENDA Anticipation Guide
The plan from here: Sula, literary criticism, and close textual readings.
Background information related to Sula.
If time allows, begin reading the novel.

4. Bellringer: Gender Critical Perspective
Gender interpretation focuses on relationships between genders, including patterns of thought, behavior, and power in relations between and within the sexes.
For example, a gender reading of Cinderella may take into account the idea of power relationships between the men and women of the novel.

5. Gender Criticism Archetypal Criticism Historical Criticism
Do you remember?
Gender Criticism
Archetypal Criticism
Historical Criticism

6. Gentrification is good for a community.
* GENTRIFICATION: the buying and renovation of houses and business in urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses.
AGREE
STATEMENT or BELIEF
DISAGREE 1.
Gentrification is good for a community. 2.
Governments and communities do their best to support their war veterans. 3.
Childhood friendships (those forged between age 6 and 16) are stronger than friendships made later in life. 4.
The bonds between mothers and daughters are stronger than the bonds between mothers and sons. 5.
I would marry outside of my race. 6.
Regardless of whether or not I would marry outside of my race, my family would accept me and my choice to marry outside of my race.
Total ____________
Total _____________

7. Archetypes
Archetypes are universal symbols.
These symbols “carry the same or very similar meanings for a large portion of mankind” (Philip Wheelwright, Metaphor and Reality).

8. Myth and Archetype Myth is universal.
Similar motifs or themes may be found among many different mythologies.
Certain images or associations recur in the myths of people widely separated in time and place, and these images often have a common meaning or elicit comparable psychological responses.

9. Myth and Archetype
“The myth critic is concerned to seek out those mysterious elements that inform certain literary works and that elicit, with almost uncanny force, dramatic and universal human reactions” (Campbell, The Masks of God).

10. Archetypal Criticism (1)
Archetypal criticism argues that archetypes determine the form and function of literary works, that a text's meaning is shaped by cultural and psychological myths. Archetypes are the unknowable basic forms personified or solidified in recurring images, symbols, or patterns.

11. Archetypal Criticism (2)
These patterns may include motifs such as the quest or the heavenly ascent, recognizable character types such as the trickster, the mentor, or the hero, symbols such as the apple or snake, or images such as crucifixion (as in Cool Hand Luke, or Bride of Frankenstein) or baptism (as in The Awakening)—all laden with meaning already when employed in a particular work.

12. Historical Criticism (1)
Historical Criticism insists that to understand a literary piece, we need to understand the author's biography and social background, ideas circulating at the time, and the cultural environment.

13. Historical Criticism (2)
New Historicism seeks to find meaning in a text by considering the text within the framework of the prevailing ideas and assumptions of its historical era. New Historicists concern themselves with the political function of literature and with the concept of power, the intricate means by which cultures produce and reproduce themselves.

14. Where do we go from here?
As we read, we will apply historical, gender, and archetypal criticism to the text. We will focus on Morrison’s use of characterization, setting, and symbolism, specifically her use of archetype and allusion to develop those literary elements.

15. Before you begin reading:
To utilize historical criticism, we must understand the time period in which a text was written. Sula was published in What was going on in the US in 1973?

16. To better understand:
The first few pages (pp. 3-6) are written from the perspective of The novel then goes back to 1919 (World War I). The majority of the novel takes place in the 1920s, but it was written in We must be aware of both eras’ presence in the novel.

17. Characterization What the character says and doesn’t say.
What the character does and doesn’t do.
Physical appearance or other descriptions by the narrator/author.
What the other characters say about him or her.
How the other characters act towards him or her.

18. Characterization
As a careful reader, which of the ideas on the left should you trust and which should you question?
What the character says and doesn’t say.
What the character does and doesn’t do.
Physical appearance or other descriptions by the narrator/author.
What the other characters say about him or her.
How the other characters act towards him or her.

19. Begin Reading…
Tonight, you will read pages 3-16 and focus on the setting and characterization of Shadrack.
As we read right now, consider the perspective from which this is written = 1973.
What type of place is Bottom?

20. Homework Review the notes from all three literary criticisms.
You promised!