Critical Stance generally focuses on your understanding of the author's craft. It is reading like a writer, questioning the author’s decisions, and evaluating the information being presented. When you take a critical stance, you are asked to make judgments about how a story or an article is written. This is why the literary elements the author chose to use are so important. In exemplary samples of literature, the literary devices act as the vehicle to communicate the nuances of the setting, the characters, and the plot. Some sample thoughts, ideas, and questions that will help you establishing the author’s craft include:
- The use of figurative language.
- Are you able to identify and analyze the author's perspective (e.g. bias)?
- Analyze literary elements of the author's craft (irony, flashback, writing pattern).
- Analyze form and substantiate a qualitative judgment.
- Think about the way the author describes the setting. Did the author choose the words well to describe the setting? Can you explain why this might be so?
- How did the author's choice of setting affect the characters in the selection?
- How effective is the author's choice of setting on what happens to the character(s) in the selection? Are you able to support your answer with details from the story?
- How well do the characters fit into the author's choice of setting?
- How was the author's development of Scout's character consistent with the theme of the story? What about Atticus’s character?
- How does the author use character names to enhance the story?
- Are you able to tell how the author implies the character's feelings, attitudes, past life?
- Was the sequence of events in the story logical?
- Did the author finish the story the way the characters would have wanted it finished? Why or why not?
- What is the significance of the author's choice of the trial to the total story?
- Was the plot strong enough to make a convincing story? Why or why not?
- How did the title give an accurate indication of the action?
- What part or parts of the action were most vividly described by the author? What part of the story best conveyed the author's message?
More information regarding what literary criticism is.
Example of an abridged, published critical stance piece.
Another example of a published critical stance essay.
A more in depth example.
Example of an abridged, published critical stance piece.
Another example of a published critical stance essay.
A more in depth example.
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