Critical Perspectives — Practice · Grade 12 English

Chapter: Close Reading & Literary Analysis

What this practice covers

By the end of Critical Perspectives you should be able to:

11 questions, multiple choice and written answer, each with a worked explanation.

Vocabulary used: critical lens, historical criticism, feminist criticism, Marxist criticism, psychoanalytic criticism, archetypal criticism.

Problem 1

A CRITICAL LENS is best described as…
  1. a way to prove there is only one correct reading of a text
  2. a license to claim a text means absolutely anything at all
  3. a disciplined set of questions you bring to a text, which reveals some things while backgrounding others
  4. a plot summary of the text
Answer and explanation

a disciplined set of questions you bring to a text, which reveals some things while backgrounding others

A lens is a disciplined angle of attention — a set of questions that opens some meanings while quietly backgrounding others. It is neither a single right answer nor an anything-goes license.

Problem 2

A reader examines who holds economic power in a novel — who owns, who labors, who profits — and how the story's conflicts track money and class. This is most clearly a…
  1. psychoanalytic lens
  2. Marxist lens
  3. archetypal lens
  4. feminist lens
Answer and explanation

Marxist lens

A focus on class, money, labor, and economic power is the Marxist lens.

Problem 3

What does it mean to say a rich text supports 'multiple valid interpretations' without meaning that 'anything goes'?
Answer and explanation

It means a strong text can honestly sustain several different readings at once — a feminist one, a Marxist one, a psychoanalytic one — each opening real meaning in the work. But 'valid' still requires that every reading be built from strong, thorough textual evidence. A reading the text can support is an interpretation; a reading merely imposed on the text, ignoring the words, is an invention. So the perspectives multiply meanings responsibly, disciplined by the evidence, rather than making all claims equal.

Problem 4

Why do skilled critics say that every critical lens both REVEALS and CONCEALS?
  1. Because foregrounding one set of questions necessarily backgrounds others, so no single lens captures the whole truth
  2. Because only one lens is ever allowed per text
  3. Because lenses have nothing to do with textual evidence
  4. Because a text's meaning is fixed and lenses are mere decoration
Answer and explanation

Because foregrounding one set of questions necessarily backgrounds others, so no single lens captures the whole truth

Each lens is a trade-off: by illuminating some questions (class, gender, the unconscious) it leaves others in shadow, so the honest critic names both what a lens shows and what it misses.

Problem 5

Pick a public-domain work you know (for example, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, or Hamlet) and briefly show how one critical lens would read it, naming the evidence the lens would fasten on.
Answer and explanation

Answers vary; look for a named work, a clearly identified lens, and specific evidence the lens foregrounds. For example, a feminist reading of Jane Eyre might focus on Jane's insistence on her own equality and independence and on the confined, silenced figure of Bertha in the attic; a Marxist reading of Frankenstein might focus on the creature as abandoned, unpaid labor rejected by his maker; a psychoanalytic reading of Hamlet might focus on his delay as the sign of a repressed, unspeakable conflict. The key is that the lens selects and explains real evidence.

Problem 6

Compare two possible lines of inquiry. Give a detail and explain its relevance.
Answer and explanation

Narrative analysis asks how layered accounts affect trust. A social lens asks how exclusion shapes the speaker’s identity. A strong reading weighs his own conduct as well as others’ labels.

Use the criteria to compare your reasoning, not to copy the model’s wording. A supported alternative interpretation may earn full credit.

Response criteria

  • Make an accurate, focused claim or revision.
  • Use a relevant detail or a clearly explained language choice.
  • Explain the relationship and recognize a relevant limit.

Problem 7

A learner writes: “Once I choose a lens, every detail must support it.” Explain the problem and produce a better response.
Answer and explanation

Use conflicting details to test or qualify the interpretation. A critical method should enable inquiry, not suppress contrary evidence.

Use the criteria to compare your reasoning, not to copy the model’s wording. A supported alternative interpretation may earn full credit.

Response criteria

  • Make an accurate, focused claim or revision.
  • Use a relevant detail or a clearly explained language choice.
  • Explain the relationship and recognize a relevant limit.

Problem 8

Compare what you must inspect in these two cases. What can transfer, and what must be checked again?
Answer and explanation

A critical perspective is a set of questions used to interpret a text. Formal analysis focuses on craft; a historical lens examines context; social perspectives examine power, access, or representation. The method transfers, but the particular detail, scope, and context must be read again. Narrative analysis asks how layered accounts affect trust. A social lens asks how exclusion shapes the speaker’s identity. A strong reading weighs his own conduct as well as others’ labels.

Use the criteria to compare your reasoning, not to copy the model’s wording. A supported alternative interpretation may earn full credit.

Response criteria

  • Make an accurate, focused claim or revision.
  • Use a relevant detail or a clearly explained language choice.
  • Explain the relationship and recognize a relevant limit.

Problem 9

Using an assigned reading or one exercise source, write a developed response applying critical perspectives. Aim for 300–450 words; name the reading or reproduce the sentence you revise.
Answer and explanation

A craft lens tracks the naming contrast and its reversal. A power lens asks who receives public identity and agency. The two can reinforce each other, but neither establishes the museum’s motives without more evidence. A complete response supplies context, a focused claim, a brief supporting detail, explanation, and a relevant qualification. Do not simply repeat this model.

Use the criteria to compare your reasoning, not to copy the model’s wording. A supported alternative interpretation may earn full credit.

Response criteria

  • Make an accurate, focused claim or revision.
  • Use a relevant detail or a clearly explained language choice.
  • Explain the relationship and recognize a relevant limit.

Problem 10

Write two specific feedback comments on a response to this unit: one on accuracy or meaning and one on evidence or language. Then state a revision priority.
Answer and explanation

Check whether the response explains a critical perspective is a set of questions used to interpret a text. formal analysis focuses on craft; a historical lens examines context; social perspectives examine power, access, or representation. Ask for a relevant detail and the reason it supports the conclusion. Prioritize the mistaken assumption shown here: “Once I choose a lens, every detail must support it.”

Use the criteria to compare your reasoning, not to copy the model’s wording. A supported alternative interpretation may earn full credit.

Response criteria

  • Make an accurate, focused claim or revision.
  • Use a relevant detail or a clearly explained language choice.
  • Explain the relationship and recognize a relevant limit.

Problem 11

Choose a fresh sentence or detail from the assigned selection. Explain how this unit’s method applies, and identify one uncertainty or limitation.
Answer and explanation

Mira’s conflict moves from a distorted excerpt to the conditions of consent and correction. Her revised policy acknowledges staffing costs and the persistence of screenshots. The less elegant final wording suggests that shared decisions can require qualifications rather than a pleasing slogan. The response must supply its own precise detail and explain it; copying the model without fresh evidence is insufficient.

Use the criteria to compare your reasoning, not to copy the model’s wording. A supported alternative interpretation may earn full credit.

Response criteria

  • Make an accurate, focused claim or revision.
  • Use a relevant detail or a clearly explained language choice.
  • Explain the relationship and recognize a relevant limit.

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