Critical and Literary Theory Question Grid
Critical theories were developed as a means to understand the different “ways” people read the world. Literary theory grew out of critical theory as a way for people to understand literature. The question grid is helpful for your to recognizing what theory or lens you are using when you ask specific questions.
Reader’s Response Feminist/Gender Social Class Critical Race Theory
Examines the relationship between the text and the reader (you!) personal reactions, how the reader creates meaning
 What am I thinking as I read?
 How do I feel about what I am reading?
 What personal characteristics, qualities, or elements of my personal history might be relevant to how I read this text?
 What properties of the text(vocabulary, sentence length, punctuation, structure, etc) affect my reading or response? Why?
 What meaning did I find in the text?
 Why am I reacting in a certain way (positively or negatively) to the text?
Examines power, gender, and how they interact
Examples: Gender roles, how different genders are portrayed, etc
 How are women portrayed or represented?
 How are men portrayed or represented?
 How are the relationships between men and women shown?
 What are the power relationships between men and women?
Which gender has power?
 How are female and male roles defined?
 Do characters take on traits of the opposite gender at any point?
Examines power, social class, and money in order to show social injustice. Based on the theories of Karl Marx
 Who benefits if the text is accepted or believed?
(those with money, those without money)
 What is the social class of the author?
 What social classes do the characters represent?
 What values does the text support?
 What values does the text criticize?
 How do the characters from different classes interact, communicate, or conflict?
 How do the more powerful characters hold the other ones down?
Examines how people of different races are portrayed
 What races are represented in this text?
 Does this text portray any stereotypes?
 Is this text “good” for people of color?
 How does the text portray people of color?
 Does this text exclude people of color?
 Does this text silence people of color?
 Is this text historically accurate?