This blog assignment is asking you to take a crack at Literary
Criticism, going beyond the formalist responses you've been practicing
for the past few years in order to work up a review in the style of a
Reader Response critic. Reader response critics--and I'll admit that
this is a little odd, and philosophical, if you've never heard of it
before, but bear with me--reader response critics believe that readers
don't just passively read. They believe that readers actively construct
the meaning of a text as they read it, bringing all of their personal
experiences with them and applying them to the text as they read. For
them, the author is irrelevant, once the story is published. For them,
literally, each reader creates the story as he or she reads it.
That means, for example, that a mother who has lost a son in a war will
read the story of the Trojan War very differently from a young man who
is planning to sign up for the army next week. Each will look at the
story differently, and whereas the mother might decide that the story is
about the horrors of war, the soon-to-be soldier might decide that the
whole story is about the glory of war, despite its ugliness.
Reader response critics tend to ask certain questions of themselves in
their attempt to write their type of criticism, which mostly tells the
story of three things: 1.)what they think the story they just read is
about, 2.) what it is about themselves that makes them think what they
think about the story, and 3.) what they experienced while they were
reading the story.
Some typical questions include the following:
What was this story about for me?
Before I begin, how do I feel about reading this piece? Am I eager to
begin? Curious about what I will find? Am I dreading it? Why?
Before I begin, what do I already know about this work, this author, the time, place, or characters involved in the story?
As I read it, do I find myself liking or hating the plot or the characters? Why?
Are there personal experiences I have had that influence my opinion of this story?
Do the characters remind me of anyone?
Does the situation described remind me of anyone?
Is there anywhere where I don't understand the story? What stumped me?
Your assignment: create three paragraphs of Reader-Response criticism in
reaction to the latest story you read for the short story unit.
Your response should be at least 15-20 sentences long. Remember that
other people from the class will be reading and responding to what you
write!
Best of luck, not that you'll need it. ; )
The Metamorphosis was a very interesting story to say the least. The main idea of the story is very weird and different. The fact that it was weird and different made it good and bad. The story begins with the main character being turned into a bug for no apparent reason. Realistic people most likely wouldn’t enjoy a story with that sort of basis. I enjoyed it but only because I found the idea so ridiculous that is was amusing. His friends and family are trying to get him to come out of his room, but he won’t because he knows how they will react.
ReplyDeleteI found when reading it that the concept was very hard to grasp. There seemed to be no reasoning behind the boy turning into a bug and that puzzled me. I think that this story may appeal better to a younger age group because they have more crazy imaginations. I just couldn’t get over the idea of a human being turned into a bug. I’m a very realistic person so my mind had trouble escaping my original thoughts on how weird the plot is.
Aside from the surrealism, the character does face some more basic problems. He doesn’t want his parents to find out and he knows he can’t miss work. Everyone has had something that they try to keep from their parents. It’s a part of childhood! That is a very conventional problem that is also relatable. His boss is very suspicious of his absence from work. He comes to the house to see what is wrong, which reminds me of students and teachers in my life who may choose to skip school. Whenever anyone is missing, people get suspicious. Overall the story was very odd but there were also a lot of elements that could have been taken seriously. It wasn’t my favorite story, but I could get through it. – Matt Jones
Trey VanAken
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started reading “The Metamorphosis” have to admit I wasn’t too thrilled about reading a story about a boy who was a bug. I’m not really too interested in stories like that. But after I started reading I felt like I could not put it down and I had to finish it. I became very interested in finding out how the situation of Gregor Samsa turning into a bug was going to play out. I felt attached to the main character and felt like I could feel all of the emotions he was feeling. Like when he was trying to get out of bed and he kept falling and hurting himself I felt like I could feel his frustration. Also when Gregor chased after the Manager when he ran away and was going to tell the story of how Gregor was turned into a monster I felt anger towards the Manager just like Gregor felt.
I felt like the setting of this story had a great impact on how the reader feels about the main character. The story takes place somewhere around Germany right after World War II while they were in a depression. If it wasn’t for this setting I may have not felt so bad for Gregor when he was going to loose his job because he couldn’t go to work. But because of this setting I felt bad for him. Without that extra source of income Gregor’s family may not have been able to pay off their debt or pay their rent, they may not have been able to afford to put food on the table. So the setting of this story played a huge roll in how the reader feels about Gregor.
As was reading this story I felt myself feeling sorry for Gregor and his family. They are not a very wealthy family that is just barely scraping by. They are have to have their son Gregor work just to pay off their debt. The character that I dislike the most is the Manager. He comes into the story trying to act like he is all big and bad but really he isn’t. He threatens to take away Gregor’s job which would be taking away one of their sources of income. But when he finds out what is really going on he runs away because he is afraid. Overall I really enjoyed reading part of this story, and am looking forward to reading the rest of it in the future.