An Overview of Literary and Critical Theories

Remember this: When applying Marxist criticism, look for how texts reveal class tensions, economic power structures, or how characters are influenced by their socioeconomic position.

Try this: When reading a text, look for characters' dreams, slips of speech, or unusual behaviours that might reveal their unconscious desires – this is psychoanalysis in action!

Key insight: When reading texts with colonial contexts, notice who has power, whose perspective is centred, and how characters from different cultures are portrayed.

Consider this: When reading any text, ask yourself how female characters are portrayed compared to male characters. Do they have agency? Are they defined by their relationships to men? This simple approach can reveal powerful insights.

Mind-bender: Postmodernism suggests there's no single "correct" reading of a text – your interpretation is valid and shaped by your own experiences and context. How does this change how you approach literature?

Challenge yourself: Next time you read a text with clear opposites (hero/villain, civilisation/wilderness), look for moments where these categories blur or contradict themselves – you're doing deconstructionist analysis!