Literary Lenses & Concepts

Marxist/Socioeconomic Lens

Analyzes literature based on class struggles, power dynamics, and economic inequality.

Feminist/Gender Lens

Examines how gender roles, identity, sexuality, and power are portrayed in a text.

Ethnic/Cultural Lens

Focuses on race, ethnicity, culture, and identity in literary texts.

Historical Lens

Considers the time period of the text's setting and the author's life.

Psychological/Psychoanalytic Lens

Explores characters' inner thoughts, motivations, and unconscious desires.

Postcolonial Lens

Analyzes effects of colonization and cultural identity in formerly colonized societies.

Ecocriticism Lens

Studies how literature depicts the natural world and humanity's relationship with the environment.

Archetypal/Mythological Lens

Examines universal symbols, character archetypes, and narrative patterns appear across cultures and stories.

Symbolism

The use of symbols to represent deeper meanings or abstract ideas.

Theme

The central idea or message in a literary work.

Tone

The author's attitude toward the subject or audience.

Mood

The emotional atmosphere created for the reader.

Characterization

The way an author develops characters through actions, speech, and thoughts.

Direct Characterization

The author explicitly describes a character's traits.

Indirect Characterization

Character traits are revealed through dialogue, actions, or reactions.

Conflict

A struggle between opposing forces in a story (can be internal or external).

Internal Conflict

A character struggles with emotions or decisions within themselves.

External Conflict

A character struggles against an outside force (person, society, nature).

Protagonist

The main character in a literary work.

Antagonist

The character or force that opposes the protagonist.

Foreshadowing

A hint or clue about what will happen later in the story.

Setting

The time and place in which the story occurs.

Point of View

The perspective from which a story is told.

First Person Perspective

The narrator is a character in the story using 'I' or 'we.'

Third Person Limited Perspective

Narrator knows thoughts and feelings of one character.

Third Person Omniscient Perspective

Narrator knows thoughts and feelings of all characters.

Irony

The difference between appearance and reality, or what is expected and what occurs. Generally categorized as verbal, situational, or dramatic.

Allusion

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event.

Simile

A comparison using 'like' or 'as.'

Metaphor

A direct comparison between two unlike things.

Personification

Giving human traits to nonhuman things.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration for effect.

Diction

The author's word choice.

Imagery

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses.

Narrative Structure

The framework of how a story is told (e.g., linear, nonlinear, circular, or frame narratives).

Literary Criticism

The practice of analyzing and interpreting texts through different perspectives.

Genre

A category of literature defined by style, form, or content.

Satire

A literary work that uses humor or ridicule to criticize.

Parody

A humorous imitation of another work.

Juxtaposition

Placing two elements side by side for contrast.

Ambiguity

Uncertainty in meaning or interpretation.