In your own words, summarize what reader response analysis is, and what steps are involved.
Reader Response Analysis has to do with the interpretation of text. Our experiences and opinions are important to what we get out of what we read. Our past, and the judgments we have made about life influence our thoughts. These thoughts are a big part of what how we perceive everything we encounter. When we read, we draw from past knowledge. This knowledge is gained from what we have learned in the past, because of what we have done. Our experiences are different from those around us; therefore we tend to interpret life, and particularly what we read in different ways. In the same way, what we read also influences our future experiences, thoughts, and perceptions. A cycle is formed. This cycle is called Reader Response; the way that we respond to what we read. Reader Response Analysis is analyzing what we have read, and responding appropriately to that.
How can Reader Response open our eyes to more truth as we read?
The human brain is continually gathering and sorting new information and making decisions and judgments. This information comes from everything we do. The more that we do, and the more we experience, the more information we gather. Everyone is gathering information from all around them, all the time, but it’s all different according to each of our individual experiences. Therefore, humans interpret different things in different ways to each other. According to what information we have gathered in the past, we can gather more information as we go. One of the ways we can do this is through what we read. Truth is one type of information that we can gather from what we read. Truth also has to be interpreted, but we generally define truth as information that is factual, and is widely accepted. Though truth can also be interpreted in different ways by different people with different experiences, it is very useful type of information to add to our ‘bank of knowledge’. Those who are aware of the impact that their experiences have on them are often more open to the gathering of new and different information. One truth that can be gathered by having a wide variety of experiences, especially in literature, is the truth of God’s impact on our lives and the beauty that he has given us in the form of truth.
Why is it important for you to interact/connect with literature?
It is important to interact with literature because of the information you will gain from the experience as a direct result. Interaction and making connections are their own independent ways of giving you new experiences. It is from these experiences that you will gain knowledge. The experiences will also help you to relate to other experiences. Literature is a particularly important part of our world today. It is part of our main method of communication; therefore it is something that most of us interact with everyday. Because it is such a big part in our lives, many of our experiences and knowledge is gained from it. If we don’t interact of connect with literature, our ‘bank of knowledge’ will not satisfy our need for inquiry. To understand or comprehend what we are learning or experiencing, it is important for us to be aware of the process that our brains are undertaking. This process is Reader Response.
Reflect on a book or story you have read recently and what new truth about the world you learned from that narrative.
Recently, I have been reading books from around the time of the middle ages and just a little bit after wards. One in particular, a book called A True and Faithful Narrative opened my eyes to many new truths. My eyes were opened to the culture of the people in that time, but especially the importance of history for us today. I realized that this is exactly what Reader Response is, except that we are not learning from our own experiences, but the experiences of those who came before us. It was a new way of thinking things through, but I was then able to relate some of the truths in this book and take them into my own life. One of the main topics of the book was the interaction between beauty and knowledge. The women in that time were treated merely as pretty faces, not as ones who could rival the knowledge of men. I related this to a verse in the bible that I had read about beauty. Proverbs 31:30 speaks of how real knowledge and worth has to do with fear in the Lord, beauty plays no part in the grand scheme of things, which is something that the main character in the book learnt as she went along.
No comments:
Post a Comment