Theory – Writing About Literature

Feminist Analysis – Incorporating Theory

Unless you are using a new critical or historical approach, you will be incoporating a feminist theory you found from researching into your paper. You want to thoroughly established the theory in the minds of the readers at the beginning of the argument in order for them to see how your following interpretation relates.This will likely be the section you will have to play around with and revise the most. Below is an example of feminist theory incorporation.

Major differences from the previous draft are underlined so it is easy to see the changes.

First Draft with Theory

So why does Mrs. Peters ultimately decide they should cover up the evidence?
This may be because, according to feminist theorist Carol Gilligan, women see moral problems as problems of care and responsibility rather than one of rights and rules (73). So though Mrs. Peters is internally conflicted because of her allegiance with male authority, her understanding of Minnie’s position that comes from her experience as a woman is more important to her moral judgement.

Not only was this section very short, it wasn’t until the sixth paragraph after I had established the whole of my argument. Though the theory worked as great support for my argument, this made it seem like more of an aside. For my next draft I tried to flesh out the theory and explain it in simple terms.

Second Draft with Theory

So how does the obvious gender dynamic play into the women’s complicity in manslaughter? The answer lies in feminist justice theory, and the idea that women have a different orientation than men when it comes to moral dilemmas.
Author of “A Different Voice” Carol Gilligan advances one feminist justice theory that explains the women’s decision. According to Gilligan, women have a care orientation when it comes to moral issues as opposed to a justice orientation. This means that, unlike men, women view relationships as more important to making ethical decisions. Gilligan explains that “With the shift in perspective from justice to care, the organizing dimension of relationship changes from inequality/equality to attachment/detachment, reorganizing thoughts feelings, and language so words connoting relationship like “dependence” or “responsibility” or even moral terms such as “fairness” and “care” take on different meanings”(34). When deciding whether or not to incriminate Minnie, the women take into account the nature of her relationship with her husband John, which is important to their care moral-orientation. When Mrs. Peters’ wavers in her decision making process, it illustrates the influence of male authority and male-dominated justice-moral legal system on women’s judgement. In choosing not to convict Minnie despite the dominant view of justice, the women take an anti-patriarchal stand.

This is better because it uses and explains topic-specific terms and uses a quote from the author. However, it still doesn’t really explain the theory in-depth. It also doesn’t explain how men make ethical decisions, which would be helpful to the reader’s understanding of how women make ethical decisions. It also fails to really explain what this theory means in the bigger picture. Since explaining the concepts of the theory for the reader helps them to establish a framework for the paper I really tried to dig into the topic and explain it in my own words in my next draft.

Third Draft with Theory

Author of In A Different Voice Carol Gilligan advances one feminist justice theory that helps explain the women’s decision. According to Gilligan, when it comes to moral problems women have a care orientation as opposed to a justice orientation. A care-moral orientation considers fairness in terms of relationships and attachment while a justice-moral orientation considers fairness in terms of rules and a standard of equality. Gilligan explains that “With the shift in perspective from justice to care, the organizing dimension of relationship changes from inequality/equality to attachment/detachment, reorganizing thoughts feelings, and language so words connoting relationship like “dependence” or “responsibility” or even moral terms such as “fairness” and “care” take on different meanings”(34). While justice and care considerations are not mutually exclusive when considering moral dilemmas, there is a penchant to value one perspective over the other, with women often leaning towards care. As the American legal system was established and run by men who are largely justice oriented, the popular understanding of morality was determined by men. Because of this, women’s understanding of morality was not considered potentially different but women were viewed as immature moral thinkers by theories of moral development based in a justice-moral system (Noddings 23). Glaspell’s short story is an illustration of how women’s understanding of justice compares to the legal and masculine system of justice.
The women’s moral orientation comes into play when deciding whether or not to incriminate Minnie because they take into account the nature of her relationship with her husband John. Mrs. Peters’ wavering in her decision making process illustrates the influence of male authority and male-dominated justice-moral legal system on women’s judgement. In choosing not to convict Minnie despite the dominant view of justice, the women take an anti-patriarchal stand.

With this draft I tried to explain, not only the theory itself, but also its real-life implications. I discuss how the two perspectives interact with each other and how the different views have an impact on the justice system and on views of women. This draft is much better because it makes it clearer to see how the theory relates to my interpretation of the work. This explanation of the theory also helped me to come up with a more concise thesis. However, the language used by Gilligan can be a little confusing, and I needed to make distinctions between morality, justice-morals, and legal justice for the audience.

Final Draft with Theory

Carol Gilligan, author of In A Different Voice, advances one feminist justice theory that helps explain the women’s decision. According to Gilligan, when it comes to moral problems women tend to have a care orientation as opposed to a justice orientation. A care-moral orientation considers fairness in terms of relationships and attachment while a justice-moral orientation considers fairness in terms of rules and a standard of equality. Though using the term “justice perspective” to describe male-favored moral reasoning potentially implies that the care perspective is not just, this is the term designated by Gilligan, and should be considered separate from a general definition of justice. Gilligan explains that “With the shift in perspective from justice to care, the organizing dimension of relationship changes from inequality/equality to attachment/detachment, reorganizing thoughts feelings, and language so words connoting relationship like “dependence” or “responsibility” or even moral terms such as “fairness” and “care” take on different meanings”(34). While justice and care considerations are not mutually exclusive when considering moral dilemmas, there is a penchant to value one perspective over the other, with women often leaning towards care. As the American legal system was established and run by men who are largely justice oriented, the popular understanding of morality was determined by men. Neil Noddings, author of Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education, explains that because of this it was not considered that women’s understanding of morality was potentially different, but women were simply viewed as immature moral thinkers by theories based in a justice-moral system (Noddings 23). Glaspell’s short story is an illustration of how women’s morality differs from the legal and masculine system of justice.
The women’s moral orientation comes into play when deciding whether or not to incriminate Minnie because they take into account the nature of her relationship with her husband John. Mrs. Peters’ wavering in her decision-making process illustrates the influence of male authority and male-dominated justice-moral legal system on women’s judgement. In choosing not to convict Minnie the women choose a care-oriented moral system despite the dominant view of justice, and therefore take an anti-patriarchal stand.

This final draft is good because it explains the theory, it’s language, and its implications. By making a distinction between justice-moral orientation and justice, the concept is easier to understand.