Feminist critiques of language often argue that:

Language itself can reinforce patriarchal norms and structures

In feminist readings, the Angel in the House archetype is criticised because:

It idealizes self-sacrificing women and supports patriarchal values

What does Judith Butler argue about gender in Gender Trouble?

Gender is socially constructed and performative

The hysterical woman trope often functions to:

Discredit female emotion and reinforce patriarchal stereotypes

Reclaiming lost or overlooked women writers is known as:

Literary recovery or feminist literary archaeology

What is an example of “problematic empowerment” in feminist critique?

A female character whose power serves only to advance a man’s journey

What does the “dead mother” trope often signify in literature?

The removal of female authority to enable male-centred narratives

Which of the following best describes the purpose of feminist literary criticism?

To explore how literature enforces gender-based power structures

According to Sara Ahmed, a “feminist killjoy” is:

A person who disrupts oppressive norms by refusing to stay silent

A feminist utopia would be...

A society where everyone has equal power, autonomy, and opportunity

Female agency in literature refers to:

Characters acting with purpose and resisting imposed roles

Simone de Beauvoir’s phrase “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” critiques:

The idea that gender is purely biological

What is patriarchy in feminist theory?

A system where men dominate politics, culture, and institutions

The theory of intersectionality highlights:

How gender, race, and class intersect to shape lived experience

How might a feminist lens interpret the silences and gaps in a text?

As signs of how women’s voices have been marginalized in society

Why are feminist critics interested in fairy tales?

They reinforce ideals of beauty, passivity, obedience in female characters

A feminist reading of The Yellow Wallpaper might argue that:

It critiques how patriarchy controls women through medicine and marriage

studbud

Feminist Criticism

17 termsStudBud Administration12 plays

Imported from external platform

Flashcards17 cardsFPractice quizPHost liveL

Questions 17

Answers

1
Feminist critiques of language often argue that:
Language itself can reinforce patriarchal norms and structures
Women’s writing uses more adjectives
Male characters dominate conversations in all genres
Fiction should use gender-neutral pronouns
2
In feminist readings, the Angel in the House archetype is criticised because:
It shows women as too perfect to be believable
It lacks sufficient character development
It idealizes self-sacrificing women and supports patriarchal values
It ignores the existence of working-class women
3
What does Judith Butler argue about gender in Gender Trouble?
Gender is irrelevant in literary criticism
Gender is biologically determined
Gender roles are fixed but expressed differently across cultures
Gender is socially constructed and performative
4
The hysterical woman trope often functions to:
Discredit female emotion and reinforce patriarchal stereotypes
Add gothic flair to the narrative
Explore mental illness as metaphor
Represent untamed creativity
5
Reclaiming lost or overlooked women writers is known as:
Gender archive theory
Canon repair
Critical refeminisation
Literary recovery or feminist literary archaeology
6
What is an example of “problematic empowerment” in feminist critique?
A strong woman character who defeats all odds
1. A villainess who steals the spotlight
A female character whose power serves only to advance a man’s journey
A woman who becomes too powerful to be relatable
7
What does the “dead mother” trope often signify in literature?
The metaphorical death of traditional values
The central role of grief in family drama
The removal of female authority to enable male-centred narratives
A lack of maternal influence in society
8
Which of the following best describes the purpose of feminist literary criticism?
To explore how literature enforces gender-based power structures
To promote female protagonists in every story
To critique all male-written literature
To replace male authors in the canon
9
According to Sara Ahmed, a “feminist killjoy” is:
Refuses to laugh at jokes unless they pass the Bechdel Test
Someone who critiques fashion in novels
A person who disrupts oppressive norms by refusing to stay silent
An activist who rewrites fairy tales
10
A feminist utopia would be...
An island ruled by Virginia Woolf and a choir of cats
Street names are replaced with quotes by Audre Lorde and Beyoncé
A society where everyone has equal power, autonomy, and opportunity
Men are sent to live underground and only emerge once a year to apologize
11
Female agency in literature refers to:
Romantic freedom in fiction
The use of internal monologue
Characters acting with purpose and resisting imposed roles
Women influencing minor plot details
12
Simone de Beauvoir’s phrase “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” critiques:
Male education systems
The lack of maternal figures in novels
Romantic ideals in 19th-century literature
The idea that gender is purely biological
13
What is patriarchy in feminist theory?
A land ruled by dads in cargo shorts
A system where men dominate politics, culture, and institutions
A religious hierarchy found in ancient texts
A literary trend of the Enlightenment
14
The theory of intersectionality highlights:
How gender, race, and class intersect to shape lived experience
The role of narrative perspective in gendered texts
That not all women experience sexism equally
A feminist yoga pose
15
How might a feminist lens interpret the silences and gaps in a text?
As literary devices meant to increase suspense
As structural flaws the author didn’t address
As signs of how women’s voices have been marginalized in society
As examples of poor plotting
16
Why are feminist critics interested in fairy tales?
They contain early proto-feminist heroines
They reinforce ideals of beauty, passivity, obedience in female characters
They’re useful for teaching genre conventions
They allow symbolic reversals
17
A feminist reading of The Yellow Wallpaper might argue that:
It critiques how patriarchy controls women through medicine and marriage
It promotes the idea that madness is beautiful
The wallpaper symbolizes her need for artistic freedom
The wallpaper is just ugly and needs a Pinterest makeover

Feminist Criticism Flashcards | StudBud