Theory

My blog for this semester will reflect my ideas and assumptions concerning different aspects of theory. I hope to use this blog in order to gain a better insight of the different theories we will be discussing in class. While I am aware of some types of theory, such as Feminist and Marxist criticism, I have never been introduced to others such as Psychoanalytic or Postcolonial criticism. Because of my ignorance concerning these theories, my hopeful vision for this blog is that by the end of the semester I will be able to have a strong hold on what these theories mean, and also be able to explain and argue certain points the theories maintain in my own writing. Once I am able to fully understand these different theories, I hope to incorporate them in my writing, so that I may strengthen my ideas and overall argument--This blog will help me with exactly that. My initial thoughts concerning "theory" is that it allows people to approach a text critically in regard to unstable characteristics such as socioeconomic status or gender. For instance, the Feminist theory approaches certain texts in light of socially constructed concepts such as patriarchy, which infers male domination. I find it interesting that a particular theory can be applied to a certain text, and as a result reveal underlying messages within the work. Theories allow us to dig deeper into the meaning of the text, so that we can analyze the work from a different approach. I think that theories are very useful when it comes to critically analyzing and dissecting the meaningful components of a text, in order to gain a better understanding of the author's purpose. I am personally looking forward to learning about the different theories, as well as the opportunity to incorporate their ideas and points in my own writing for this blog.