1. In your own words, please summarize what Reader Response analysis is, and what steps are involved.
My definition of Reader Response Analysis: Reader Response is where the reader reads text and makes meaning from it based on their past experiences, emtions, feelings, and mood. They look at the text through their own unique lense of past experiences. Reader Response Analysis believes that text can't be read by the reader in an objective way.
Steps involved in Reader Response Analysis:
1) Reader reads the text.
2) As they read, they bring to the text their current: mood, feelings, emotions
3) As they continue reading, they consciously and unconciously make connections with the text based on their past experiences.
4) After they have finished reading a part of the text, the text means to them what their connections left in their mind.
*For reader response, it is impossible for the reader to read a certain piece of text without being actively involved inside their mind. Each person will get different meaning out of the text.
2. How can Reader Response open our eyes to more truth as we read?
Reader Response can open our eyes to the truth because in each story there is a theme. A theme is a message of truth that the author wants to convey to the reader. When we read and make connections to a certain aspect of the story, there's a big chance that we will end up connecting to the theme. (This is especially true in Universal Themes). Reader Response can also open our eyes because when we make personal meaning out the text, we can compare with what others connected to from the story and find overlapping truths about certain things that happen in alot of our lives. When we read a certain piece of text once by ourselves, what we connect to and pick up on as interesting won't necessarily be the same as what others connect to. So when you find the overlapping connections and similarities between you and another person who's read the same piece of text, you will be able to catch ideas that you didn't see before. Therefore, you will be able to see more truths using Reader Response. This is also especially true with the Bible. Psalm 27:4One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
In this verse above, reading it we can have many connections. We also think that God is beautiful in his perfect holiness and righteousness. So, the truth of the matter is that we may find God's beauty when we seek him in his temple throughout our entire life.
3. Why is it important for you to interact/connect with literature?
There are many reasons why it is important to interact/connect with literature. The main reason is so that you can experience the message of the author in the most interesting and captivating way. If you read a piece of text meant to cause a feeling of fear but you just skim read it like you would read a Science Textbook, you're not getting the message and/or the emotion the author is trying to convey. Then why read it at all if you're not going to experience it through Reader Response? You're wasting your precious time going through the motions when you were meant to go through the journey as first-hand as possible. If you don't connect with what you're reading, you honestly won't care about what the author is trying to say. You most likely won't remember what you've read, and you won't find any joy in what you're reading. However, if you're interacting with literature, its a different story altogether. When you are interacting, you will find yourself attatched to the characters and make personal connections to what you are reading along the way. You will have a better memory of what you read and actually make your reading worthwhile by understanding and appreciating the work the author put into the text to give you a journey through their piece of writing.
4. Reflect on a book or story you have read recently and what new truth about the world you learned from that narrative.
The story I've chosen isn't one I've read all that recently. Kate Chopin's book The Awakening was of major interest to me because I learned alot from it. In the Bible it clearly states that adultery is a major sin. However, in The Awakening, her point of view in finding true love after a reckless marriage is so heartfelt and purely passionatley that I can't help but sympathize with the latter. I learned that although something may seem easy to obey when we are young, when we grow up and have to actually face the same situation, the results may not be what we are anticipating right now. Even a fictional character was presented so honestly and realistically that I couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, if I were in her situation I might do the same thing. It wasn't a quick thought or an easy one to admit, but when I truly connected to the main character all of her faults and wants came into the light. They didn't seem evil or wanting to commit a sin but just a reasonable want for true love. Maybe the theme and content of some parts of the book were a little bit too mature for me but I felt like I connected on some deeper level with the main character. The man she befriends is her closest companion so naturally she loves him and says yes when he proposes. But after an empty life with children she doesn't particularly hate but definetly doesn't enjoy taking care of, the perfect young man enters into her life only to dissapear in the end of the book "for her own good." To me, the heart of the woman who finally understands what it means to love and let go was beautiful.
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