Introduction to Literary Criticism

Mid-Term Test 1

Name: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fill in the blanks with words from the list (4 marks)

accurately, across, author, concept, creating, everywhere, influence, lenses, limit,

natural, paths, shape, steered, traditional, within, world,

Any piece of text can be read with a number of different sets of “glasses” (critical
--------------------), meaning you are looking for different things -------------------- the
text.

As children, there is no -------------------- to what we believe we can become. But as

girls and boys, we are -------------------- in different directions growing up. This is
because of what we call "gender stereotypes": -------------------- ideas about what boys
and girls can or should do.

Literary criticism helps readers understand a text in relation to the --------------------,

other texts, the real --------------------, the audience…

New writers started -------------------- literary works that more -------------------- reflect
the developing -------------------- of the “modern woman”.

They may not always be obvious but stereotypes are --------------------, and they start
to follow us from our earliest days in the toy store and continue to -------------------- us
when choosing subjects at school.

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When we come -------------------- the same stereotypes again and again, they begin to
feel -------------------- and start to -------------------- our preferences and career ---------.

Match parts of sentences in A with their completion in B (4 marks)

A B
1- A primary source tells you about an a- (human beings) before 1975.
event… b- (of the father or husband).
2- A secondary source tells you about c- and exposing suggestions of
an event…
misogyny in literature.
3- Feminists became interested in
d- and is from the time of that event.
exposing…
e- approach to literary criticism:
4- If a person is critical of something,
feminist criticism.
he or she…
f- ascribes how they feel in terms of
5- If something is critical,…
6- If you train hard enough… jobs.
7- In British law, women were not g- because you're one gender.
considered persons… h- before you can actually go about
8- Literary criticism is mainly meant to finding a solution.
critique and analyze,… i- but is from a time after the event.
9- The 1960s saw the rise of a new j- finds fault with it.
10- The basis of the feminist movements,
k- is that Western culture is
both in literature and politics,…
fundamentally patriarchal.
11- The feminist approach is partly based
l- it is essential or very important.
on finding…
m- it shouldn't matter what gender
12- The literary works of female writers
(and works about females)…
you are.

13- The way that we condition men and
women…
14- Women were treated as property…
15- You have to acknowledge a problem
exists…
16- You should never have less
n- not to criticize, complain or
disapprove.
o- the ways women in literature are
undervalued.
p- were examined by the standards

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 opportunities… of male writers.

A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
B

Find 10 pairs of opposites out of the following adjectives (2 marks)

active, analytical, blunt, cruel, decisive, dominant, emotional, home-oriented,

indecisive, kind, logical, passive, submissive, tactful, verbal, worldly

----------------------- ≠ --------------------- ----------------------- ≠ ---------------------

----------------------- ≠ --------------------- ----------------------- ≠ ---------------------

----------------------- ≠ --------------------- ----------------------- ≠ ---------------------

----------------------- ≠ --------------------- ----------------------- ≠ ---------------------

Say whether the following statements are True or False (2 marks)

- “To criticize” can involve both positive and negative aspects of a literary
work. ---
- A critic is someone who only finds the negative. ---
- In a patriarchal society, women are expected to be disobedient and submissive
at all times. ---
- Literary criticism does not mean “to criticize” as in complain or disapprove. ---
- Literary criticism is used by people who want to use an expert’s opinion to
back their own ideas. ---

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 - Literary criticism is used by readers to critique, not by authors to write. ---
- Voltaire hates women because they are inscrutable. ---
- When you begin to analyze your novel, poem or play, you’ll make use of
expert, unreliable literary criticism to support your opinion. ---

Open-ended Questions (3 marks)

What does STEM stand for?

S---------------------, T--------------------, E--------------------, M--------------------

What does "expert" mean?

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Explain "patriarchal"

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Misogyny means ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A stereotype is -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mention 4 critical theories

1) ------------------------------- 3) -------------------------------
2) ------------------------------- 4) -------------------------------