ELIT 48C Class 8

Class # 9

AGENDA

Lecture: Feminist Criticism

Discussion: QHQ: Feminist Criticism/ The Great Gatsby

Literary Theory/Feminist Theory

Lecture

Tool for the Day:

The Wrench

Feminist Criticism

Feminist criticism is concerned with “the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson). This school of theory looks at how aspects of our culture are inherently patriarchal (male dominated) and “this critique strives to expose the explicit and implicit misogyny in male writing about women" (Richter 1346). This misogyny, Tyson reminds us, can extend into diverse areas of our culture: "Perhaps the most chilling example [...] is found in the world of modern medicine, where drugs prescribed for both sexes often have been tested on male subjects only" (83).

Feminist Theory and Criticism

The objectives of the criticism include the following:1. To uncover and develop a female tradition of

writing2. To interpret symbolism of women’s writing

so that it will be lost or ignored by the male point of view.

3. To rediscover old texts4. To analyze women writers and their writing’s

from a female perspective 5. To increase awareness of the sexual politics

of language and style.

Feminist criticism has, in many ways,

followed what some theorists call the

three waves of feminism:

First Wave Feminism

Ran from late 1700s-early 1900's: writers like Mary Wollstonecraft (A Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792) highlight the inequalities between the sexes. Activists like Susan B. Anthony and Victoria Woodhull contribute to the women's suffrage movement, which leads to National Universal Suffrage in 1920 with the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment

Second Wave Feminism

From early 1960s-late 1970s: building on more equal working conditions necessary in America during World War II, movements such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), formed in 1966, cohere feminist political activism. Writers like Simone de Beauvoir (Le deuxième sexe, 1972) and Elaine Showalter established the groundwork for the dissemination of feminist theories dove-tailed with the American Civil Rights movement.

Third Wave Feminism From early 1990s-present: resisting the perceived essentialist (over generalized, over simplified) ideologies and a white, heterosexual, middle class focus of second wave feminism, third wave feminism borrows from post-structural and contemporary gender and race theories to expand on marginalized populations' experiences. Writers like Alice Walker work to “reconcile [feminism] with the concerns of the black community [and] the survival and wholeness of her people, men and women both, and for the promotion of dialog and community as well as for the valorization of women and of all the varieties of work women perform" (Tyson 97).

In Groups

Discuss feminist criticism and your QHQs

QHQ Feminist Criticism

1. In what way does Feminist Criticism adhere to and/or contradict New Criticism?

2. Q: What can men learn about themselves through feminism?

3. Q: Is it even possible to identify the perils of patriarchy and alter one’s conduct so that one might eschew its domineering prevalence?

4. Q. Do gender issues really play a part in every aspect of human experience?

1. Q: Why are women urged to play the Traditional roles?

2. Q: How did gender roles become such a despicable aspect of our social constructs, and how has it been present within and affect literature?

3. Q: Throughout the entire Feminist Criticism chapter, women who are a part of the patriarchal programming are considered submissive, modest, emotional, and weak (on a much larger scale than a man). Could a woman subscribe to patriarchy without having all of these attributes?

4. Q: Are gender roles biological or socially constructed?

5. Q: How do we choose which social constructs to break down?

6. Q: How do we break down social constructs?

In The Great Gatsby

Is masculinity the desired quality for an individual in a paternalistic society, or is it subjective to gender as well? How does Fitzgerald present the view of masculinity regarding women in The Great Gatsby?

In what ways does Fitzgerald follow and reverse traditional gender roles?

Questions Feminist Critics Ask about Literary Text

HOMEWORK

Read: Critical Theory Today: Chapter 11 “African American Criticism” pp. 359-409

Post #8: QHQ: African American Criticism