Critical Essay #1: Reader-Response

For your first major assignment you will be asked to compose an essay utilizing a Reader-Response approach, analyzing one short story and one poem covered during the first unit of the course.

In his book Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory Steven Lynn offers this general overview of the Reader-Response critical approach:

Reader Response criticism starts from the idea that the critic’s interest ultimately ought to be focused on the reader rather than the text itself or the author. Without readers, it seems safe to say, there would be little reason to talk about literature; it is the reader who brings the text to life, who gives it meaning.

The reader-response critic focuses on the reader’s activity in one of two ways: by describing how a reader should respond to the text or by giving the critic’s own personal response.

Using this definition as a guide, your essay will answer one of the two main questions that this particular approach seeks to explore:

How should an audience respond to the texts?
Or

How do you personally respond to the texts?

To answer these questions it may be easiest to focus on a response or a reaction one might experience. Do these texts evoke a response of sadness? Anger? Joy? Do you believe the audience will gain knowledge or understanding? Or will the audience be compelled to rethink their own values, or their opinions on a specific concept, action, or incident? As you can see, there are many ways to enter a text using Reader-Response approach; as such, please don’t feel that you are limited to the examples I’ve provided here.

During this first unit we’ll be discussing conventions of literature. Plan on using your knowledge of these conventions to further your exploration. Some of the topics we’ll be discussing are as follows:

Types of Conflicts
Structure (both in fiction using Plot, or in poetic structures such as meter, open or closed forms)
Speaker/ Voice
Point-of-View
Characterization
Symbol/Metaphor
Imagery

One of the most challenging aspects of this assignment will be for you to find a way to unify your essay, especially as you are discussing two different mediums within the same piece. You can accomplish this in many different ways, the easiest of which may be to explore the manner in which the two texts illicit a similar response; an example of a thesis for such an approach might read “Both Poem A and Story B use characterization to make an audience question their views on war and violence.”

You might also choose to focus on the manner in which the two texts use a similar convention to unify your essay, even if your reaction was different to each, such as “Even though both Poem C and Story D used Point-of-View in interesting ways, each one caused me to have very different and unique emotional responses.”

If you would like to cover a poem or story we haven’t discussed I’m open to it, so long as you are not looking to rehash an old paper. Just seek my approval well in advance of the due date.

Seek to produce 5 pages, typed, double-spaced, 1 inch margins, with 12-point font. Use MLA for all citiations.