Comparison

Reader-response critics claim that there is no one correct response to a story but all responses are correct, as long as the basics of the story are grasped. Reader-response critics do not have a set way to interpret themes of stories like new critics but inste

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Unfortunately for Crosman, using Stacy’s response to prove that different reader interpretations can be valid and helpful failed.

To show that readers make the meaning of literary texts, Crosman and one of his students (Stacy) read "A Rose for Emily" for the first time to compare each others reader response. It is impossible to have a valid comparison of responses when the fundamentals of a text are not grasped and there lies the problem with Crosman’s argument. ad they concentrate on how and why readers interpret themes differently. Crosman’s response, although tainted by knowledge of the story, was that Emily was an old, hateful woman that murdered and slept with a dead body. Reader response theory is based on the idea that the reader can comprehend the basics of a text. Crosman claimed that Stacy’s response helped him realize that he was wrong to be sexist in his reading and he had missed some of the good qualities in Emily. The idea of reader-responses can be traced back to the Western culture of ancient Greeks and Romans but it hit the main stream in the seventies with Stanley Fish’s theory stating that literature exists and signifies when it is read. Stacy compared her grandmother’s life to that of Emily’s which, in her eyes, was one of endurance, faith, and love. Although Stacy missed the main point of the story, Crosman believed that her response was helpful and was just as valid as his response. Another reader-response critic, Wolfgang Iser, is known for his Gaps that are in the text. Crosman went on to say that he had viewed this story through sexist eyes in that all women are mean, menacing, and inferior to men. In Stacy’s case she didn’t get the basics of the text, in fact she didn’t even realize that Emily had killed Homer Barron and slept with a his dead body for years. Iser suggests that texts contain gaps that the reader must fill in (explain) in their mind what the text is inciting.

Common topics in this essay:
Readers Meaning, Rose Emily, Emily Stacy, Unfortunately Crosman, Iser Gaps, Homer Barron, Stanley Fishs, Robert Crosman, Greeks Romans, reader response, reader-response critics, slept dead body, missed main, main story, valid helpful, readers meaning, stacy missed, stacy missed main, stacys response, interpret themes, missed main story, dead body,

Approximate Word count = 490
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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