Description

while writing an essay please consider answering some of those questions. it does not have to be everything.
Historical Approach: This approach focuses on connection of work to the historical period in which it was written; literary historians attempt to connect the historical background of the work to specific aspects of the work.

How does it reflect the time in which it was written?
How accurately does the story depict the time in which it is set?
What literary or historical influences helped to shape the form and content of the work?
How does the story reflect the attitudes and beliefs of the time in which it was written or set?
(Consider beliefs and attitudes related to race, religion, politics, gender, society, philosophy, etc.)

What other literary works may have influenced the writer?
What historical events or movements might have influenced this writer?
How would characters and events in this story have been viewed by the writer’s
contemporaries?

Does the story reveal or contradict the prevailing values of the time in which it was written?
Does it provide an opposing view of the period’s prevailing values?

How important is it the historical context (the work’s and the reader’s) to interpreting the
work?