In-Class synchronous reading response
For One (1) of the questions below, produce 500 – 750 word reading response. Remember: your assignment must ANALYZE the text. Don’t bother with summary; you won’t have time. You can assume that your reader will be familiar with the text.
1.One of the most fascinating thins about King’s Carrie is that, through its epistolary structure and polyvocal form, the author forces readers to come to their own conclusions about the titular character.
So…who (or what) is Carrie? Is she a victim? A villain? An anti-heroine? A divine punishment for the inhabitants of Chamberlain? All of these? Something else?
Make an argument for how readers should interpret the protagonist of the novel. Why do you feel the way you do about Carrie—and why should we listen to you? BE sure to provide textual support from the text and include proper MLA citations.
2.Poe has often been called a master of the macabre. Much has been made of the use of narrators in his stories (e.g., “The Black Cat” or “The Tell-Tale Heart”) Analyze his use of narration in “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.”
3.Horror is a much-maligned genre; some have even claimed that it’s inherently sadistic, immoral, and/or pornographic. In his essay “why we crave scary movies,” King writes: “The mythic horror movie, like the sick joke, has a dirty job to do. It deliberately appeals to all that is worst in us.”
Defend OR refute King’s statement using either Carrie or Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.” Be sure to provide evidence from the text.
4.In her essay on Stephen King’s novel Misery, scholar Kathleen Lant argues that King’s representations of female characters are particularly problematic. (In fact, Lant heavily implies that the author is a misogynist.) However, some have viewed Carrie as a quintessentially feminist text. How feminist is King’s book? How are women portrayed in the novel, and what can we take from this?