Literary Criticism
	Literary Criticism is the examination of a text through different points of view
in order to determine where the main concern lies. A literary critic believes that all
literature has a purpose that was intended by the author, but the real importance lies
within the reader's mind.  Plato and Aristotle were the first literary critics.
	
	There are five main schools of literary criticism
1. Marxist Criticism
2. Multi-Cultural Criticism
3. Feminist Criticism
4. Psychoanalytic Criticism
5. Old Historical Criticism

		Marxist Criticism
-Began because people were angry with the hidden messages in literature about social
	status
-Marxist critics adopted the Marx's theory that, "people behave and think in society
	based on economic factors."
-Rich, educated, high-status white males ran publishing companies, and didn't publish
	things that they didn't find interesting
-Goal of Marxist Critics = to expose hidden messages about social class and power
	in order to bring these things to the surface so that we can think for ourselves,
	and not be brainwashed
-Developing a Marxist Critique:  
		1. Find the social ladder
		2. Find out why the social ladder is this way (power, money, race, culture,
			education, skills & experience, gender, sexual orientation, religion,
			age, political beliefs & values, etc.)
-Marxist critics believe that all literature has a very powerful political and moral
	message.

		Multi-Cultural Criticism
-Race is biological, but culture is environmental
-We learn from books, so they can reinforce prejudices
-Multi-Cultural critics want us to learn about other cultures correclty
	*Every human being deserves to be treated with integrity
	*They want educators to teach about multi-cultural authors 
	*Celebrate stories that are truthful about other cultures and
		point out stories that have stereotypes or prejudices
-Developing a Multi-Cultural Critique:
		1. Find all of the cultures in the literature, especially minority cultures
		2. Try to see how each culture is portrayed in the novel 

		Feminist Criticism
-Does what Marxist criticism does, but only with gender
-Developing a Feminist Critique:
		1. Find all the female characters in a novel
		2. Examine whether these characters are positive female
			role models
-Ultimate goal is to show how literature challenges of reinforces the structure of 
	patriarchy
-Four stereotypical roles that women hold:
		1. Caregiver
		2. Dutiful woman (e.g. secretary)
		3. Sexual woman
		4. Non-conformist (doesn't follow or go with the other roles)

		Old Historical Criticism
-Old Historical critics believe that you must understand the historical context
	in which a text was written in order to appreciate its value
-Goal is to place you in the author's shoes so you can understand why they wrote
	what they did (historically what was happening in the author's time-- major
	events, economics, points of view, PLUS biographical information, and the
	period of time in which the author wrote)


		Psychoanalytic Criticism
-Comes from Dr. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis (the earliest form
	of psychology)
-Psychology = the study of the mind, of human psyche
-Psychoanalysists believes that problems can be solved by analyzing the mind
-Psychoanalytic critics take Freud's principles and apply them to literature
-Psychoanalytic critics believe that you need to understand human psychology in order
	to appreciate a text
-Goal is to decode the sexual symbolism of literature in order to uncover the author's
	unconscious obsessions
-Principles of psychoanalysis: Unconscious/Subconscious
	*Unconscious= that portion of our mind that drives everything that we do, say, think,
		and aren't even conscious of
	*Our sexual oppressions (thoughts that we hold back about sex) drive all that we do
	*We have rules in society that repress our sexual desires
	*Unconscious is made up of: ID, EGO, and SUPER-EGO
		-In a normal human, these things are balanced
		-ID = The most animalistic, deals with primitive urges and immediate gratification
		-SUPEREGO = Conscience
		-EGO = The balance between the other two -- it is rational, logical, and 
				analytical
	*We are not aware of our own unconscious/subconscious, and have no control over it or
		access to it
-In Literature, the protagonist is the ego
-With characters that are siblings, especially in threes:
	Youngest - Id
	Oldest - Superego (more responsible, better in school)
	Middle -  Ego (always thinking, analyzing)
-Developing a Psychoanalytic critique: There are two ways to develop a psychoanalytic
	critique
		1. Protagonist =  Ego
			Antagonist  = Superego, Id
		2. Siblings-- Id = youngest, Ego =  Middle, Superego = oldest
-Principles of psychoanalysis: Oedipal Complex
	*Only men have an Oedipal Complex
	*Oedipal complex states that two things are true of a male child:
		1. All male children have an unconscious desire to be with their mothers
			sexually.
		2. Because of that desire, male children consider their fathers to be competition,
			and want them out of the picture.
	*Female equivalent is the electra complex, which is the same thing, except that 
		females want their mothers out of picture so they can be with their fathers
-Oedipal Complex applied to literature:
	1. Conflicts with same sex parent and close relationship with opposite sex parent
	2. Missing parent/parents
-Phallic Symbols
	*Phallus =  sexual organ (usually male)
	*Symbol = some tangible object that represents something abstract
	*Phallic symbol = normal, ordinary, harmless object that an author uses in Literature
		in a normal, harmless way, but to a Psychoanalytic critic seems to represent 
		either a sexual organ or a sexual act
	* There is a phallic symbol in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying (about an 
		ignorant family in the South; supposed to be about the thoughts of a dead mother,
		but is actually about how her family cared about her in different ways) when a
		retarded child tries to stick a banana through a hole in his mother's coffin
-Psychoanalytic critique of Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat
	*Id = Cat, Ego = the kids, Superego = the fish
	*Oedipal Complex-- Boy stares at mom's gown as it flys by; Oedipal triangle with
		man, rake, and milk
	*Phallic Symbol - a limp tree (when mother is gone); a box with thing one and 
						thing two