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Writing a Critique of Fictional Literature

 

          A critique is a reasoned evaluation of a text, an evaluation based on criteria. Perhaps it is helpful to explain what a critique is not; it is not a summary or restatement of a text; it is not a gut reaction to a text; nor is it a complaint about a text. Instead, it is a comment about the work. A person writing a critique selects criteria (standards) that would identify a good text and then evaluates the text against these standards. Sometimes the criteria vary according to the type of text to be effective dialogue, detailed description, and concise wording; however, criteria for a good expository essay would not likely include the first three criteria for the short story.

 

          A critique may evaluate the content, style, tone, or any other features of the text to be critiqued. It may evaluate how the author presents facts, events, or characters or whether the work is focused, well, written, or fair. Below are some questions, applicable mainly to prose fiction, to ask yourself to help you decide what you will comment on and which criteria you will use to evaluate the text.

 

Is the text . . .complete?

  • Does it contain all pertinent information or does it leave important issues unresolved or unintentionally ambiguous?

  • Does it adequately describe all relevant issues of plot, conflict, setting, and character?

  • Does the plot reach a climax and resolve itself satisfactorily?

  • Does it convey a sense of a complete incident?

 

Is the text . . . credible?         

  • Does it reflect an author who has knowledge or a strong imagination in the area of the plot?

  • Do you understand the major characters—their attitudes, their remaining rather static, or their changing? Is their speech, diction, idioms, slang, etc. realistic? Does the author reveal the characters’ motivations?

 

Is the text . . . stylistically interesting?

  • Does the author use fresh diction, avoiding clichés unless they are credibly part of a character’s dialogue?

  • Are the sentences varied in type and length as appropriate to the story and its characters?

  • Is the structure of the story clear? Do the sections have confusing, or irritating, flashbacks or foreshadowing?

  • Do the symbols of the story appear to be natural, not forced, and the imagery fresh and interesting?

  • Is the narrative voice or voices clearly identified for the reader? If the narrative voice shifts, say from a first person account to a third person narrator, or a third person limited and objective voice to a third person omniscient voice, is the shift appropriate and clear?

  • Do the writing style and tone fit the subject matter?

  • Do the writing style, tone, and content fit the intended audience?

  • Is the thesis or main point clear?

 

          The questions above can help you determine the criteria you’ll use to evaluate the text. It is probably not wise to critique everything, but it is necessary to choose which aspects of the text you want to evaluate.

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          In order to decide which criteria you are going to use as a standard by which you will evaluate a short story or other narrative, you need to study and understand the literary devices often employed by writers. You probably studied some of these when you were analyzing an advertisement or literary work in chapter 3.

 

          Below are some common literary devices (often called literary techniques) used in short stories and other narratives. Look up any terms you don’t know plus any other terms your teacher suggests. This website has definitions for these terms and many others. Your teacher may ask you to use a source such as https://literarydevices.net to paraphrase the definition and include an example for each of the terms so that you are familiar with the literary devices you may choose from for your critique.

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          You are not expected to discuss all of these literary devices in a literary critique, but you do need to select at least three to discuss in detail to show how each contributes to the work's overall theme and purpose. You need to discuss how those techniques led you to understand the meaning of the entire work. For example, through the use of symbolism or character, etc., what characteristics emerge that led you to conclude that the work is commenting on society or lack of freedom, etc.?

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Writing a Literary Critique

 

          A literary critique is an attempt to find the full meaning of a work through analyzing various aspects of the work, such as characters, setting, point of view, imagery or symbolism, tone, and literary techniques (allusion, metaphors, personification, alliteration, etc.), and making a judgment of their effectiveness.

 

          As you write your evaluation, keep in mind what the authors are saying and whether you agree with them. Be aware of the criteria you are using to make those judgments; in fact, it would be helpful to jot down the criteria. Liking or disliking a work without knowing why is not really a critique. A critique requires a careful weighing of the aspects of the work, a deliberate assessment of the aspects, based on specific standards or criteria.

 

  1. Reread the narrative your teacher has assigned for you to critique. If your teacher has listed several of texts for you to choose from, reread the ones you are drawn to so that you can decided which one you want to critique.

  2. After reviewing the list of literary terms above, choose at least three literary devices and write a thesis. Remember, introduce the thesis in a sophisticated way, not "What I want to show in this paper is..." or “The thesis of this critique is ….”

  3. Highlight at least 7 or 8 lines or phrases from your chosen short story that support your evaluative thesis. Draft three topic sentences for body paragraphs; here's a hint: include one of the literary devices you are critiquing within each topic sentence. Next, figure out which of your highlighted lines or phrases most adequately support each topic sentence.

  4. Within in the introductory paragraph, lead into your thesis statement with only a sentence or two to let the reader know what the narrative is about. State how the techniques contribute to the overall theme. Remember to introduce the full name of the author and the title of the text. By the way, all subsequent references to the author should be only to his or her last name.

  5. The next paragraph should be a summary of the short story. Please refer to the author's last name and focus on identifying the main points of the text, excluding minor details. Remember to write in present tense and refer to the author's last name and also to place a citation at the end of the paragraph.

  6. Analyze and critique the three literary devices you chose in one or two paragraphs each. Make sure that you use the actual literary terms themselves. Analyzing involves more than just listing the aspects or listing examples. Analyzing involves taking apart the item and discussing it and its relevance to the overall theme, and evaluating how well the writer has used the literary devices to portray his or her message can become lengthy. Consequently, you may need more than one paragraph to do this task justice. If you simply summarize the short story, you have missed the purpose of the assignment.

  7. Quote words or phrases from the narrative to illustrate the literary device and point you’re making in each of the three (at least) paragraphs. Smoothly integrate any quotes into your own sentence so that a quotation is not a complete sentence all by itself.

  8. Conclude the essay with an overall evaluation of the text, including the characteristics that led you to this conclusion. Remember, unless you intentionally make a point of your personal reaction no first person or second person pronouns should not be used.

  9. Generate a work cited page.

 

Organizing a Critique

 

           A critique does not have to be written in a specific format; however, a good critique does need to be organized, fair in its wording and treatment of the text, and well written in order to be effective. The primary purpose of a critique is to evaluate a particular work, but often a critique has a secondary purpose—to persuade the reader to agree with the writer’s assessment of the work. Consequently, you need to give evidence, such as examples or quotations, from the text to back up your evaluation, and your critique needs to use unbiased language and a fair treatment of the work to be believable. An organized, well-written, and balanced critique is most likely one that can achieve both purposes.

 

          Below is a general outline for a critique. Some variations from this outline can be more effective for particular audiences or texts, but generally it is important to include these aspects: an introduction that includes an assertion about the text, background information, a brief summary of the text, and a point by point assessment of the text based on criteria stated earlier, and a conclusion that returns to more general assessment of the text.

 

Introduction

          In the introduction, use material that can attract the reader, such as a provocative statement, background information, a quotation, or anecdote. State the author and the name of the text to be evaluated and include its main points. Add any other material that can help introduce the work and prepare the reader for this critique. Usually the introductory paragraph ends with a thesis statement.

 

          When you write your thesis, be sure to make it clear that the information that follows is a critique, evaluation, opinion, or judgment about the text; however, avoid blatantly announcing this, as in “This paper is a critique on…” or “The purpose of this paper is to….”  Examples of more sophisticated and effective theses include the following: (1) “Although Mark Twain wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn more than a century ago, the novel is relevant today because…” or (2) “Twain’s experience as a riverboat captain enabled him to accurately portray…” or (3) “Twain’s use of character, parody, and dialect make the novel an effective means for commenting on human and societal weaknesses.” The words “relevant today because,” “enabled him to accurately portray,” and “effective” reflect judgments about the author or work, judgments that other people may not share, but ones that need to be backed up by evidence from the text, which you put in the body of the critique. Also note that in order to fairly assess a text or author, you may need to do research, as would be needed for the second thesis on Twain. Make sure the thesis presents an evaluation of the author and/or text, not an evaluation of society in general. For example, the thesis “Society in the 1800s mistreated runaway slave and misfits” may indeed present a judgment about life during Mark Twain’s time; however, the critique that would follow this thesis would have to be about society, not about Twain’s work. Also, make sure that the thesis does not indicate a summary about the work such as the following thesis statement indicates: “Twain’s novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn presents the societal problems facing people in the 19th century American frontier.”

 

Body of the Critique

          The body of the paper includes background information, a brief summary of the text, and assessment of several aspects of the text, such as dialogue, character development, and setting. The paragraphs that evaluate the work should be complete and well developed with quotations and examples from the text.

 

          The background information, probably one paragraph long, should include a survey of facts and issues needed to understand the author’s position, such as the author’s experiences or areas of expertise that equip him or her to write the work. This paragraph should also include your position, your assumptions, and the differences or similarities between you and the author. For example, a critique on Twain or his works would need to identify the different attitudes on slavery between last century and now as well as the differences in language usage. The information in this paragraph helps the reader discover your perspective and the author’s perspective, in addition to potential biases.

 

          The summary (again, about one paragraph long) should briefly summarize the text to be evaluated. This summary is needed because the reader may not have read or have access to the work; consequently, the critique itself may not be meaningful to the reader who has no idea what the original text contains. A caution here it not to let this section become too long; it’s easy to summarize and tempting to expand the summary paragraph.

 

          The specific evaluation is composed of the body (e.g., the main part) of the critique and should be clearly stated and through roughly developed. This section is a point-by-point critique of the text based on the criteria stated earlier. It usually consists of several paragraphs, at least one per criterion. Thus, if you are critiquing a text based on the criteria of the work having effective diction and vivid imagery, the paragraph (or paragraphs) assessing this should have a topic sentence stating that the text does or does not demonstrate a good writing style, followed by evidence (examples from the text) to support the evaluation. The same procedure applies to the other evaluative paragraphs. The information in this section of your critique should be thorough and logical; missing information or having gaps in logic can leave the reader confused or unconvinced about your judgment.

 

          Remember, critiquing something does not mean that you necessarily disagree with it or dislike it; you may like every aspect of the text. A critique is an evaluation, positive or negative, about a work.

 

Conclusion

          The conclusion should rephrase the thesis of this critique and paraphrase your main assertions about the text and/or author. Additional comments may be added as needed, but they must bring a sense of resolution to the paper.Your literary critique should be 2 ½ to 3 full pages in length, double spaced.

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Literary Critique Checklist

Check your introduction for the following elements:

  • Introductory line grabs reader's attention

  • Introduction identifies author and name of text (in quotation marks)

  • Brief summary of work’s main points

  • Introduction builds to clearly analytical thesis (how the literary techniques enhance the author’s purpose)

Check your summary paragraph for the following elements:

  • Follows the same arrangement as the original

  • Refers to the author’s last name

  • Avoids quotations

  • Clearly restructured and reworded lines

  • Captures the original ideas and omits extra details

  • Contains proper MLA in-text citation at the end of the paragraph

Check your body paragraphs for the following elements:

  • Clearly written analytical topic sentence—must use terms

  • At least 2 in-text citations (quotes or paraphrases) correctly documented and smoothly integrated into your text (no dumped quotes and no quotes over 39 words)

  • Comments on how or why this particular element promotes the author’s purpose

  • Clearly written concluding sentences

Check your entire paper for these elements:

  • Insightful, analytical comments about the effectiveness of the techniques

  • Unified and coherent paragraphs

  • Variety in word choice and sentence construction

  • Present tense used

  • First and second person avoided

  • Additional comments supported by outside source (optional

Check your concluding paragraph for the following:

  • Restatement of thesis in different words

  • Interesting comments that make a prediction, draw a conclusion, make a generalization, or make a call to action

Check your Work Cited for the following:

  • Correct MLA format and spacing

  • Hanging indent

  • Alphabetical order (if outside sources are used)

 

Suggested Selections to Critique

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  1. analogy

  2. alliteration

  3. assonance

  4. allusion

  5. personification

  6. point of view

  7. pun

  8. repetition

  9. simile

  10. symbolism

  1. imagery

  2. irony

  3. onomatopoeia

  4. repetition

  5. connotation

  6. consonance

  7. diction

  8. theme

  9. tone

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