| Contemporary critical theory helps a teacher of English to discover different ways of reading texts. This dissertation examines the favorable sides of practicing critical theory in the introductory-level course. The principal purpose of using theory is to empower the reader by way of introducing reading strategies that mirror a reader's sense of purpose or sense of viewing the world: an informed reader learns to connect pre-existing and newly-acquired knowledge through literature. This dissertation will examine in detail deconstruction, Marxism, and feminism in the classroom; other reading strategies such as reader response and formalism will surface briefly in chapters two through four and in greater detail in chapter five.;The case studies in this project are classroom exercises in the following: (1) a deconstructive reading of William Butler Yeats's "The Second Coming" and William Blake's "The Sick Rose"; (2) a Marxist/New Historicist reading of Edith Wharton's "Souls Belated" and Willa Cather's "Paul's Case"; (3) a feminist reading of Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street and "Woman Hollering Creek" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"; and (4) a series of readings (including reader-response, New Critical, structuralist, deconstructionist, Marxist, and feminist) of Rebecca Harding Davis's "Life in the Iron Mills.";The introduction to this dissertation examines recent controversies and interest in theory in the classroom, and the final chapter argues for scholarship and practice in the area of informed readings. Drawing from actual classroom experience, this project explores how critical theory affects pedagogy and how classroom exchange affects critical theory. |
