2 Lit Crit Examples

Example 1:

I found a section about a Kurt Vonnegut story and I couldn't pass that up. I read slaughterhouse five in high school and it's still one of my favorites. Anyways, bias aside, this section is interesting because it has pictures of unrelated paintings and other pieces of art which reflect moods of the story. At one spot it says, "Have students describe the mood conveyed by the colors in the this painting. Have them think of movement. What other aspects of the painting reflect the meaning of Vonnegut's story?" I believe this might be an example of Poststructuralist reader response due to the heavy handed nature of the artwork almost forcing the student to feel what the author wants them to feel; steering their mood in a way. I would actually add another step to this lesson and first have them read the story without the illustrations and artwork and then go back and look at certain scenes with the pictures and compare their reading experiences. This would allow them to compare two types of art and at the same time view how they can work together to create a certain feeling.

Example 2:

"Thinking Through the Literature" asks students to read a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks about a woman confiding in her mother about her lover who has gone to war. and then asks a series of questions such as,

-"What can you conclude about the speaker and her attitude toward war?
-"The speaker describes death as a rival, calling it coquettish and beautiful. What do you think she means?
-"What kind of answer do you think the mother might give to the question, "Where is happiness?"

I like this example because in my opinion this is the best way to teach poetry. I would definitely teach my students close reading skills before going into something like this, but asking open ended questions about such a short piece of writing can most times open up limitless discussion possibilities. This an example of individualized reader response because there are no right or wrong interpretations in these questions and in some ways helps the students to relate to character in the poem.