Literature - Formalism, The Hershey Bar of Criticism Essay

When discussing how one should look at art, paintings, or even sculptures to understand it for its full meaning Patrick Frank’s Prebles’ Artforms categorizes it in five ways; commentary, worship and ritual, commemoration, persuasion, and self-expression (Frank 23-34). I believe that these five categories can really help you when looking at any type of artwork because you can distinguish what message the artist is trying to convey and a deeper understanding of the work.

Power and control plays a big role in the lives many. When power is used as a form of control, it leads to depression and misery in the relationship. This is proven through the themes and symbolism used in the stories Lesson before Dying, The fun they had, The strangers that came to town, and Dolls house through the median of three major unsuccessful relationship: racial tension between the African Americans and the caucasians in the novel Lesson before Dying, Doll’s House demonstrates a controlling relationship can be detrimental for both individuals and The Stranger That Came To Town along with The Fun They Had show that when an individual is suppressed by majority they become despondent.

Many people believe that material things will bring you peace and happiness. That is not always that case though.Everyone at some point in their life had gone through something that they thought would have a major positive impact on their life, but ultimately, it affected them very negatively. These can include anything from money, to power, even to women. Bernard Malamud explains these example in his book, The Natural, with his character, Roy Hobbs. Roy is the Knights star baseball player, when all goes wrong. He starts to chase different women, believing that those people will lead him to happiness in the end. Roy Hobbs is the main character in the book, The Natural, who finds himself in tough situations, and finally discovers that what he wanted from the start, won’t actually make him happy in the end.

Since the beginning of time, artists have labored extensively to find innovative ways to convey sentiment, passion, and feeling. Telling stories and trying to unlock the minds of people through different avenues of artistic labors. Art touches and affects people in unique ways; it can have special or unusual meaning on the person depending on how one views it. Artists’ rendering of their art is interpreted in numerous ways by others who view it unless it is explained by the artist on its meaning giving a clear example of what they are portraying. Two people looking at the same painting, sculpture, portrait, or photo may come to different views on the arts meaning even though they are looking

The forms in this piece is realistic. Realistic means that it exists in real life. None of this piece is abstract because abstract means it it could exist in real life but is taking basically shapes and placing them together in different

content is the subject of an artwork, form is the means by which the subject is expressed.

Just like everything else in life, art has its critics. Art criticism is the expression used to describe the act of making selective judgments, both positive and negative, about an art piece. Just as art is so diversely expressed and interpreted, those who critique it also have various methods and use various standards when criticizing an art piece. There are many theories critics use to evaluate art but there are three basic theories most commonly put to use by professionals. The three basic theories are: formal theories, contextual theories, and expressive theories. Formal theories focus on the formalities of art. Critics using formal theories pay close attention to the making of a piece, how each section of the art piece works to form a visual experience that may or may not attract the attention of those who come across it. Formalists’ attention is centered on the formal organization rather than the themes, which they deem irrelevant. Contextualists, on the other hand, value the theme and its relevance to the times in which the artwork was created. The contextual theories deal with the context in which an art piece is used; what it symbolizes concerning the culture and values of the environment. Lastly, there are the expressive theories. Expressionists are more concerned with the artist and the personal expression put into the work. Also, because art is a method of communication, expressive theories

The exposition in a play gives background information to the audience about the characters and situations the characters are in. Expositions are necessary in plays because without them, audience members would have no clue what is going on. Expositions are also useful in letting an audience know what to expect and see later on in a play. Exposition can occur through action, narration, or dialogue from the characters. In Trifles, by Susan Glaspell, the exposition occurs through action and dialogue. The characters Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Hale, Mr. Hale, the sheriff, and the county attorney all meet up at the Wright’s abandoned farm house letting the audience know that something bad must have occurred at that

Beginning a formal analysis by exploring the composition of the work, in this particular case, is to begin with how a viewer would experience the painting. The forms closest

These forms were perhaps used to satisfy the desire to fill the void with selected or mixed elements that may have resulted in a kind of chaos or art. It can be distinguishing by the manner in which the artist regulates the elements of his composition by reflecting all the elements of the design which are used for functional and aesthetic purposes.

In “An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory” Bennett and Royle, explore topics such as subjectivity and ideology. In the Chapters “Me” and Ideology”, Bennett and Royle are able to define the terms as well as suggest how they are interrelated or interconnected. Bennett and Royle contend that literature replicates structures of ideology while encouraging subjects to question personal idenitity. They believe “subjects – people – make their own ideology at the same time as ideology makes them subjects” (Bennett and Royle 202). Stevens exemplifies Bennett and Royles contentions by building his ideologies around his profession as a bulter at the risk of losing himself to the subjection of his ideologies in which he can never be alone and cannot exist without his profession or the justications of his profession.

Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is mainly known for his trilogy that investigates, using fiction, the history of Nigeria. The trilogy begins with Things Fall Apart, followed by No Longer at Ease and ended with Arrow of God. Furthermore, in this critically analytical essay, through a feminist perspective, a chapter of his second novel, No Longer at Ease, published in 1960, will be discussed. The setting of the novel is Lagos, Nigeria and Umuofia, Nigeria during the 1950s, before Nigeria attained independence from Great Britain. The novel, No Longer at Ease begins with Obi Okonkwo on trial, charged for accepting a bribe. However, using flashback, the author takes us back to the point before Obi’s departure

Art criticism, defined as the linguistic exploration of artworks, or talk about art (Feldman, 1970). Art criticism is driven by various individual perceptions, world views, morals, and values. Throughout this essay I will explain my thoughts and feelings about a particular piece of artwork I find fascinating. For this essay I will be focusing on Grant Wood's portrait painting of the American Gothic. The American Gothic painting was created in the 1930s and has become an iconic piece of art as well as in my opinion his greatest work.

We perceive a different world through our mind than we do through the senses. It is the material world, perceived through the senses and this world changing. It is the realm of forms,which one sees through the mind, this world is permanent. It is this world that is more real; the world of change is merely an imperfect image of this world. A form is an abstract property or quality. Take any property of an object and separate it from that object and consider it by itself, this is a form.For instance,when we talk of a triangle we say that it is a three sided enclosed figure and the sum of whose all sides is 180degrees,but have we ever seen a perfect triangle what we have seen is just a close approximation of an ideal triangle but not an ideal triangle.

In the short story, “My Parents’ Bedroom,’ written by Uwem Akpan, the most defining role of literacy that sticks out is symbolism. The images that are engraved into readers brains are ones that have deeper meanings than what we initially see on the surface. The story is told through the eyes of a little girl named, Monique, who is only nine years old. It is told in first person point of view so that the reader feels as if he/she is actually experiencing the situations first hand. The symbolism in the story, “My Parents; Bedroom,” illustrates the day to day struggle of living in Africa during the genocide. Symbolism is