The document discusses literary theory and how different perspectives, or "sunglasses", can lead to different interpretations of the same text. It uses the example of the nursery rhyme "Little Miss Muffet" and shows how a sociologist, militarist, demonstrator, editorial writer, and child would analyze the rhyme differently based on their own lens. Literary theory provides deeper understanding of texts by showing there is no single correct analysis and encouraging readers to think freely about what they read without confinement to one interpretation. The document introduces five major approaches to literary theory: historical criticism, reader-response theory, new criticism, feminist criticism, and Marxist criticism.

1. Literary Theory “ What you find depends mostly on how you see.”

9. Demonstrator “Sunglasses” “ Little Miss Muffet, tuffets, curds, whey, and spiders are what’s wrong with education today. They’re all irrelevant. Tuffets are irrelevant. Curds are irrelevant. Whey is irrelevant. Meaningful experience! How can you have relevance without meaningful experience?”

10. Editorial Writer’s “Sunglasses” “ Why has the government not seen fit to tell the public all it knows about the so-called curds-and-whey affair? It is not enough to suggest that this was merely a random incident involving a lonely spider and a young diner.”