Feminist Approach

1. Feminist Approach By: Deanna, Christina, Peter, and Alex

2. Definition • Feminist criticism is concerned with the impact of gender on writing and reading. A feminist approach does not simply look at literature from female writers or from female characters. Instead, a feminist approach to understanding literature attempts to uncover what a particular text has to say about gender differences.

3. Feminist Approach • Feminist criticism became a dominant force in Western literary studies in the late 1970s, when feminist theory more broadly conceived was applied to linguistic and literary matters. Since the early 1980s, feminist literary criticism has developed and diversified in a number of ways and is now characterized by a global perspective. • Female authors traditionally have been ignored, discarded, and poorly appreciated, and we need to recover those texts and offer new, more productive and insightful readings of these texts. • Feminist critique also extends to systems of all kinds, including academic curriculum, institutions, popular culture, language use, etc. • The questions that this approach addresses are: • What are feministic views? • How are they applied in literature today?

4. Comparison • The feminist approach in literature addresses the problem of women being underrepresented in the traditional cannon • This approach shows women in a new, positive light • Often misunderstood as “male bashing” • Can turn a work of literature onto a political battle field • Can be often viewed as too theoretical Pros Cons

5. In the Years to Come, In the days to Come • Using what we know from feminist literature, the depression, or lack of motivation, described in the lines, “my mother lies in bed, trying to die” suggests postpartum depression or general expectations/”setbacks” of being a mother. To clarify, the role of being a mother as perceived by society sometimes requires them to give up previous aspirations for their future. The latter (motherhood) seems to be more likely a problem, as the author goes on to say “Eight years have passed, morning the same as evening, and all the hours seconds minutes between them lean and empty.” Postpartum depression doesn’t usually last eight years. The author also mentions how “Eight years [have gone by] and not one moment has...restored her will power, the Joy of Labor, the power to recall something so vital to her being as the Ethical Precepts of Judaism.” This might connect to the “Jewish norm” for motherhood and how their role is defined. Also, the author describes her mother rising out of bed like a lioness, which is quite a flip-flop from her previous descriptions. This might imply her mother’s inner strength which was up to then smothered by this onset of depression, or apathy.

6. Work Cited "DEFINITION OF FEMINIST CRITICISM." Critical Approaches. virtuaLit, n.d. Web. 2      May 2012 "Feminism." Gender. Theory home, n.d. Web. 2 May 2012. • http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/8E3C935D9254246BA53AAA29ADA6E16/0/MFAJ048b0 jpg