Why do we have to write these papers?

I ask you to write reaction papers so that you will actively engage with stories.  Certainly, I want you to experience the unmediated pleasure of entering the imagined worlds and experiences the writers create, but I also want you to THINK about the stories as works of art that stimulate your critical imaginations in different ways and CONSIDER the choices the writers have made when writing the stories.  What effects is s/he trying to create, why did s/he choose to have a character behave this way instead of that, why did s/he choose this word instead of that?  Here's a link to some strategies that Steve Price and I put together that are designed to help students become more active readers (Reading About Literature)--some of the strategies might also help you write your response papers.

What should we write about?

Occasionally, I will e-mail suggested topics for specific stories, but below is a list of general topics that should work for any story.  Let me know if you have trouble with or questions about topics.

• What is the central conflict of the story, how does the author use complications to increase the tension, and how is it resolved?
• How does the author use symbolism (or some other literary device) to develop a particular theme in the story?
• How would a particular type of critic react to this story (psychoanalytic, feminist, Marxist, etc.)  What issues/topics would be most important to him/her and ultimately what would she have to say about the story?
• What does this story reveal about the history/culture out of which it is written?  What conclusions could one draw about the times during which the story was written?
• How is a character particularly well drawn/developed?  What makes the character so interesting?  What techniques/strategies does the author do to make the character compelling?
• In Edgar Allan Poe's review of Hawthorne's Twice Told Tales, Poe writes that  "a certain unique or single effect [is] to be wrought out" (Cassill and Bausch 1007)  in skillfully written tales.  Explain what you think the author's desired effect is and how s/he uses the different parts of his/her story to achieve this effect.
• If you were going to teach this story to a group of high school students, what part would you emphasize and why?  What lessons would you want them to learn or what concepts would you want them to understand by teaching the story in this way?
• The questions on xxx-xxxiii in The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction might give you some helpful prompts as well.

What are you looking for in these papers?

The main features that I'm looking for are 1) that you have thought about the story for a while and maybe even reread it, 2) that you are attempting to explain how the story operates on readers or what/how it means (that you make an interpretation and not just an observation), 3) that you support your response with evidence (DIRECT QUOTES FROM THE STORY) and 4) that you have taken care to write your response clearly and carefully.  These are the criteria I will use when grading your papers.

How long do they have to be? When are they due?

How should we format them?

Reaction papers should be one, single-spaced, typed page (400-500 words).  I will randomly assign you to two groups (Alpha & Omega--see syllabus), and you must write seven reaction papers over the course of the term.  You should also send electronic copies of the reaction papers as attachments to me by 9AM on the day of class. 

Format:  Put the following header in the upper, left-hand corner:

Your Name
English 350-The Short Story
Rob Hale
Date (August 31, 2004)

The title of your paper should be the words Reaction Paper, the number of which RP it is, a colon, and then a title that signals what your reaction paper is about.  For example,

Reaction Paper 1:  "House of Usher" as a Tale of Sexual Repression