Does Hermione Granger get the credit she deserves?

Feminist Literary
Criticism
Sandra Gilbert
bell hooks
This does not make one a femiNazi. Think of this as a lens to
look through & see bettermore
deeply & analytically.

What Feminist critics do:

(1) Rethink the canonthe accepted greats of all-time

to include women authors, poets, directors, actors
(2) Examine representations of women in literature and
film by male and female authors & moviemakers
(3) Challenge representations of women as Other, as
lack, as part of nature (whereas, men are part of
culture and better than natural or emotional)
(4) Raise the question of whether men and women are
essentially different because of biology, or are socially
constructed as different (subjugating women as worse
than men in the important ways)

I choose books that young men

will like; wont the gals read

anything
Do girls likealready?
Barbies naturally or because we

buy Barbies for them and tell them to like the

dolls?
Do boys like footballs naturally?

Are boys more competitive naturally, having been

hard-wired to compete for centuriesfor
women, food, respect, status, rank?

24:1 ratio in Applied English 12

9:1 ratio in Saturday School; prisons?

Feminist criticism on
Cuckoos
Women
in CN areNest
either de-masculating castrators:

Nurse Ratched
Nurse Pillbow
Vera Harding
Billys mom
Night supervisor nurse
Chiefs mom

or pleasure-providers:

Candy & Sandy

The Japanese nurse on the

Disturbed ward is the only
redeemable woman in the
novel.

Feminist criticism on
Cuckoos
Nest
What
is Kesey saying
about women
through/with his women characters?

Thursday in class:
scholarlynx.ning.com
Become an aware
Become an aware
Marxist literary critic:

How does Keseys social

status & lifestyle influence
his writing?
How does your social status
& lifestyle influence your
reading/interpretation?
What systems are good for
you, for the characters?
What systems are
bad/exploitive for you, for
the characters?

Feminist literary critic:

What are your problems

with this novel?
What female qualities are
shown as weak, bad,
pathetic, negative?
What masculine qualities
are shown as strong,
good, powerful, positive?
How does your gender
affect your
reading/interpretation?

A Feminist critic, such as myself, would analyze Juno.

These pictures depict her as: confident, powerful, equal,
firm, at peace, dauntless, self-sufficient, co-owning, secure,
judged but able to withstand, even bolder than her man

A Feminist critic would analyze Twilight. These pictures

depict her as: insecure, submissive, dependent, reliant,
protected, main but lesser, sustained by, accessory, strong
because of, empowered by, obedient, even slavish

What women want

Immortality
Different/unique
Romance
Wealth
Super physical powers
Protection
Being fought over
(werewolf vs. vampire
fight over Bella)