A lot of people use theory the way that a small child learns new words. It's probably the least interesting or thought-provoking method, but it's common. You learn a theory (a pattern, a process, a narrative, whatever), and then you go out into the world looking for examples of it, much like a child learns what a duck is and then yells "duck!" every time she sees one. In a small child, this behaviour is cute and charming and part of a very important learning process.
I expect more from adults, though. I expect them to start thinking about all the different kinds of ducks, about where the ducks seem to appear, about the difference between real ducks and fake ones, about how humans appropriate duck imagery, et cetera. These more complex questions are the kind of thing that lit crit theory should make a person aware of. Theory is a way of looking so that you see things you didn't see before, but it doesn't end there. It has to carry over to a more involved analytical process.
Otherwise, you're just yelling at ducks.
Posted by orion at July 15, 2008 2:10 PM