SOCRATIC DISCUSSION OVER THE TEXT RENDERING OF THE EXCERPT FROM THE BLUEST EYE BY TONI MORRISON & “MY PAPA’S WALTZ” BY THEODORE ROETHKE.

Debrief:  What was your perception of the excerpt from The Bluest Eye and “My Papa’s Waltz” influenced by?  Has your perception changed due to your participation in the Socratic discussion?

Learning Targets for Tuesday, September 1st: Today I will… Develop an understanding of Reader Response Criticism by actively participating in a discussion over the literary theory as well as create notes that synthesize the information presented into organized chunks of information. Examine my understanding of “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke by actively participating in a discussion over my perception of the piece as well as what led me to my conclusions.

Reader Response : the search for meaning

Literary Analysis = a quest for meaning Q: Where can the true MEANING of a story, poem, or play be found?

Literary Analysis = a quest for meaning A: True MEANING can be found somewhere between the author, the text, and the reader.

A text begins with an author The author creates the text with ideas, personality, experiences, literary identity, a message, etc... I know what I mean… author

A text begins with an author Does true meaning exist in the author’s mind ?

TEXT The author leaves the TEXT for readers to explore a Stimulus a Blueprint Cues/Clues Critical input Author’s ideas Language The TEXT provides:

The author leaves the TEXT for readers to explore Does the true meaning exist in the text? Is there one meaning waiting for discovery?

READER The READER encounters the text Readers bring their...  Personality  Language  Culture  Values  Family structure  Experiences  Education  Gender to the text. What does this mean? The meaning is that the poor can overcome oppression! Clearly, this means the economic system is collapsing!

READER The READER encounters the text One book, many shades of meaning

Readers in general have the same question…

What does this [poem, story, novel] mean?

Meaning Meaning = Text + Reader

Reader-Response Criticism Text<  Meaning<  Reader the reader and text interact Meaning can only exist when the reader and text interact. The text alone does not have meaning. Each reader constructs his/her own meaning for a text. All interpretations are valid All interpretations are valid as long as the reader can provide textual evidence for support. However, a few RULES apply...

Wait! Can any interpretation be correct? What if the reader has the wrong meaning?

Reader-Response Criticism Readers play a big part in determining meaning, but not all interpretations are valid. A few rules apply to readers when interpreting texts. rules

RULES of Reader Response Criticism Rule #1: Rule #1: Do not ADD anything to the text. Rule #2: Rule #2: Do not IGNORE parts of the text. Rule #3: Rule #3: Do not CHANGE parts of the text. and as long as readers can provide textual evidence, As long as readers do not manipulate the text to “fit” a contrived interpretation, and as long as readers can provide textual evidence, then any interpretation can be “valid” or “correct.”

Do not ADD Rule #1: Do not ADD anything to the text. Let’s say that you like happy endings. You want each story to end harmoniously, and you feel that one can make a happy ending out of any situation. If you interpret the ending of every story to be a positive one, are you breaking one of the reader response rules? or is your interpretation valid?

Sorry, but not all endings can be happy ones. YES, you are breaking one of the reader response rules by making everything end happily., your interpretation is not valid. NO, your interpretation is not valid. Regardless of how much you want to see the positive, you cannot ADD WHAT IS NOT THERE to the text in order to make the ending a happy one.

Rule #2: Rule #2: Do not IGNORE parts of the text. You’re reading a story in which the main character makes his living by defrauding the elderly and stealing their retirement money.  He lies to his elderly clients who trust him and shows little remorse for his crimes. However, he demonstrates an amazing ability to empathize with disabled people and often volunteers his time and resources to help the disabled.

Rule #2: Rule #2: Do not IGNORE parts of the text. When writing an essay about the story, you paint the character as a cold-hearted predator and never mention his concern for the disabled. If you present only the character’s crimes, are you breaking one of the reader response rules? or is your interpretation valid ? Rat

Sorry, but not even bad guys have attributes. YES, you are breaking one of the reader response rules by ignoring the character’s attributes., your interpretation is not valid. NO, your interpretation is not valid. Regardless of how much you dislike a character, you cannot ignore what you don’t want to acknowledge.

Rule #3 : Rule #3 : Do not CHANGE parts of the text. This one seems obvious—you cannot change the text. Most of the time, text-changing occurs in error. Be sure you have a solid understanding of the text before interpreting it. Don’t try to make me something I’m not!

Reader-Response is one type of Literary Criticism that helps readers make sense of the text.

Literary Criticism Literature is examined from many different angles and viewpoints. We will continue to explore different types of literary criticism this semester. Note how the wavy texture expresses the chaos of modern life… I thought someone threw spaghetti at the canvas…

Remember that texts can have more than one meaning.

Reader Response Literary Criticism Assignment 1. Utilizing your understanding of what qualifies criticism as Reader – Response, find a publication of this type of criticism over your summer reading novel. 2. Critically read and annotate the publication. Please type your paragraph and submit at the beginning of class Thursday, 9/3 3. Then, in a well – developed paragraph, please explain how this piece has enhanced, changed, or unaltered your interpretation of the text. You must explain your analysis thoroughly with support from both pieces (novel and criticism). Please type your paragraph and submit at the beginning of class Thursday, 9/3.