' T Your Pet-It's Your Kids: An Analysis Of Gender Criticism

Joss Whedon once said, “All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn't your pet -- it's your kid. It grows up and talks back to you.” (Whedon) This statement describes how all literary works are open to many different interpretations, commonly known as literary criticism. A formal definition of literary criticism is that it is used to describe, analyze, interpret, study, and evaluate works of art. The phrase “literary criticism” derives from the Greek language, literally meaning, “judge of literature.” All people who respond to a text are considered to be a literary critic. These critics use a concept called literary theory to help analyze texts. Literary theory is a person’s assumptions (either conscious or

Gender studies first began as the feminist theory, but now include all gender and identities. Specifically, the feminism theory began after the reemergence of feminism throughout politics in the United States and Western Europe during the 1960s. One early feminist, Elaine Showalter, created “gynocriticism” which converged with this second wave of feminism during this tumultuous period. Gynocriticism studied works by female authors and the depiction of women by male authors. Other important feminism theorists who helped develop the gender theory include Simone de Beauvoir, Luce Irigaray, Helene Cixous, and Julia Kristeva. Overall, the feminism theory focuses on women’s rights, identity, and representation throughout literature, media, and the culture as a whole.

The different theories making up literary criticism promotes the opportunity for the reader to have a better understanding, not only of the text, but also the culture, society, and humanity of the literature itself. Literary theories also teach a tolerance for other individual’s beliefs, opening up the floor for interesting and engaging discussion of literature, allowing readers to experience a different understanding of a text. Two commonly studied theories are Feminism and New Historicism. The Feminism theory gives the reader the opportunity to understand how male authors and women themselves were portraying the female gender during the time the text was written. Contrastingly, New Historicism helps the reader establish an interpretation that the text’s authors and original audience would support. (Bressler, 1999) All literary theories provide a deeper understanding of a text and allow readers to experience a higher level of enjoyment while reading a piece of