Of course, one by one their plans backfire and they are either defeated by Sora or reading response essay by the Heartless, which is a rather adult-centered way of dealing with bad adults. There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail. Additionally, Annabelle is in love with Boris, but because her mother made her get those ugly, nasty braces, Boris will never get past who she was in the past and take notice of her, reading response essay. Although he is a good character, he has no power to stand up for what he believed and felt strongly for. In some ways, this is probably a pretty ambiguous ending.
What is a Reading Response Essay?
Virginia has been a university English instructor for over 20 years. She specializes in helping people write essays faster and easier. The Reader Response Essay: Where the Reader Meets the Text. Your response to a piece of writing is your opinion, reading response essay. It is usually fine to use "I" in your essay. PublicDomainPictures, C0 via Pixabay, reading response essay. Your introduction will be paragraphs. For this essay, because you want to give both information about the subject and also briefly summarize the article you are responding to, you probably need at least two paragraphs.
In all introductions, you want to:. Paragraph One. The way this works is that you tell half of a story or conversation in the introduction and then tell the rest of the story in the conclusion. Or you could open with a dilemma or problem and then close with a reading response essay. Another approach is to retell the same story in the conclusion with a different usually better ending. How to Become a Republican. My analysis of a Harvard study that reported that watching 4th of July parades makes people vote Republican, reading response essay. Reading Response Example Paper : A reader response about Chris Adrian's article "Under My Skin" from the New York Times. Rea der Response to "Let's Stop Scaring Ourselves" by Michael Crichton.
Reading Response to "Why We Crave Horror Movies" by Stephan King. Paragraph 2 : After your introduction, transition by explaining what the author of the article you have written has to say about this topic. Briefly explain the main points of the article that you want to talk about. Then you will give your thesis. Johnson gives statistics showing that talking on a cell phone is as dangerous as driving drunk. Moreover, she points out the increasing number of accidents caused by cell phone use. Her conclusion is that we need to personally decide not to use a cell phone while driving and that we need to educate our friends and family to give up cell phones while driving, too, reading response essay.
Agree I agree with Johnson because I have observed many people driving dangerously while talking on cell phones and have even been in an accident myself reading response essay talking on the phone. Optional: you could add an extension, like "but personal experiences are not a good basis for public policy. We need to have laws prohibiting the use reading response essay cell phones while driving. Remember that all essays have three main parts: introduction, body, reading response essay, and conclusion. There are many ways to write a good essay, but I will give you a general guide to follow which will help you to organize your ideas. Here you will argue your thesis and give support for your ideas from your personal experience and your own thinking and reading.
Jones argues Jones explains Jones warns Jones suggests Jones advises Jones contends Jones investigates Jones asks. For more on using Author Tags, reading response essay, see my article Other Words for Said, reading response essay. Reading response essay sample list is below. Contrary to what you may have learned in previous writing classes, you should not repeat or summarize your arguments in the conclusion. Instead, you need to actually conclude your arguments. You can often use the same type of technique that you use in an introduction. You can also:. Paragraph 1 : Dramatic re-telling of a personal story of picking up my cell phone and then realizing that I am going to crash into another car. Stop the story right before the crash. Paragraph 2 : Like most people, reading response essay, I thought I was a good enough driver to handle using reading response essay cell phone while driving.
I found out I was wrong. According to Johnson, we should not use our phones while driving and should educate others not to use them either. Johnson cites statistics showing that talking on a cell phone is as dangerous as driving drunk. Her conclusion is that we need to personally decide not to use a cell phone while driving and that we need to reading response essay our reading response essay and family to give up using cell phones while driving too. Each of these statements would be the topic sentence of one of the body paragraphs. For the first one, reading response essay, I also give examples of the type of arguments and support I would use to write that reading response essay and prove my point.
Laws reading response essay people realize that cell phone driving is dangerous. Below is an example of some support I could use to back up reading response essay idea—you can use ideas from the article but do not repeat the article. I would return to my personal story and pick it up where I left off. I do crash and there is a lot of damage to my car, but no one is hurt. End with an appeal to the reader to do the same, but to also support legislation to prohibit cell phone use while driving. Responding personally to an article is usually the start of any analysis of writing, so it is a good first paper type to write.
However, unlike a review or evaluation paper, your purpose in reading response essay response paper is not to tell someone else whether or not they should read this article. Instead, reading response essay, your purpose is to explain your reaction and to give reasons this will be the body of your paper why you reacted that way. Doing an evaluation paper would take the reading response a step further and is probably one of the papers you will do next in your course. Question: My reading response paper is about a short story that we read in our class.
Our assignment is to write a response to the story and express our opinion, Can you explain how to do this? Answer: I'm glad you've asked whether a reading response paper can be about a piece of literature, reading response essay. You can actually use many of the same techniques in writing about a short story as you do in writing about non-fiction articles. Here is a step-by-step:. Begin your paper with a reading response essay description of the story, using the author and full title of the story to start. Here is an example:. In the short story, "I'm Afraid of Bears" by Jon Junko, a young man in college named Ben goes on a camping trip with friends to overcome his fear of being outside which started when he was bit in the head by a bear while sleeping in a tent with his parents when he was eight.
Ben's journey on this camping trip parallels his journey through his fears to overcome them and includes End this paragraph with a thesis sentence which tells your main response and opinion about the story. Junko's story is engaging, and his character of Ben is believable, authentic and relatable; moreover, I found the story suspenseful and was moved to think about how I needed to confront and overcome my fears. In this "roadmap thesis," you can give yourself and your reader an outline of everything you will be talking about in the paper. So turn these ideas into topic sentences.
Conclude your paper with why you liked or did not like the story and maybe what you will continue to think about or do after having read the story, reading response essay. If the class discussion also influenced you, you can talk about that as well. Question: Where should a response-to-literature essay identify the author and title of the literary work being discussed? Answer: You need to identify the author and title of the literary work as soon as you start talking about them in your essay, which is usually in the introduction. Generally, you will also tell the main point of the literature at the same time, so you might want to put this at the end of the first paragraph or the beginning of the second paragraph.
You can put it in the very first sentence if it is a short essay, but generally, you may want to start with a bit more of an interesting introduction. Answer: There is no particular word count required for this sort of paper. Your instructor will probably have this information for you, reading response essay. However, I usually assign at least a page essay to make sure the students do a thorough job. Hi Dae--what you are describing is a personal experience essay. You can find my instructions on that by Googling that title and my name. Is it the same process as the one demonstrated above? Excellent post!!!. The strategy you have posted on this technology helped me to get into the next level and had lot of information in it, reading response essay.
You should start by identifying the book and author and giving reading response essay sentence which tells your main reaction. Ideally, that sentence will tell two different ideas so you can do one in the first paragraph and the other in the second paragraph, reading response essay. You can tell what you liked and what you disliked, two things you liked, how you felt about the plot and how you felt about the way it was written, or two other aspects of the story. Here is an example: I really enjoyed Anthony Trollope's novel Can You Forgive Her? because of the interesting female characters and the description of the life of the upper classes in 19th century England.
Then the rest of the first paragraph who talk about why I liked the female characters and what I liked about them. The second paragraph would explain why l liked learning about 19th century England, reading response essay. It would help to conclude with what you learned from the book or how it changed your way of thinking about something. Note: You should underline or italicize the title of a novel but I can't do that in the question widget. My task is to write a response to our favourite book in 2 paragraphs could you please help with that. Hi Ms. Virginia Thank you very much for this wonderful explanations. it is really helpful for my assignment. It is one of my favorite topics that has been explained clearly, reading response essay.
I once again appreciate your efforts. Reading response essay Daisy, I'm very glad this is helping you and I hope you will look at my other articles for help on your assignments. virginia thanks soo much for this., reading response essay.
my life story essay
In Neverland , children live with no parents, do as they please, and fight their own battles. There are Indians, mermaids, and pirates. It is a great adventurous place for children to live when they do not wish to be interpellated into a role in society by their parents. There, the adult pirates treat the children as worthy adversaries. This indicates that the adult pirates believe that the children do, indeed, have their own agency. The pirates do not indicate for a moment that these are only children and easily defeated. Rather, they wait in ambush for Peter Pan and Wendy to attempt to rescue the boys. Wendy shows Peter that she is entirely capable of brandishing a sword against the pirates.
Here, Wendy is displaying her own agency and letting him know that she will not need protection any more than the boys. Then, Peter tricks the pirates into releasing the other children. This shows that the children in the scene are much more cleaver than the adults. Afterward, a great fight scene ensues between the children and the pirates. The pirates sword fight with them as if they were adults. In fact, the children manage to defeat the pirates and escape unharmed, once again indicating that they have their own agency in that they are clever and able to take care of themselves.
When there is a problem, they figure out a way to get out of it on their own. They do not rely on adults to solve their problems. In spite of all of the agency the children display during the Neverland scenes, I would argue that this film is adult centered. After being in the Neverland for a while, Wendy realizes that she does not belong there and chooses to return to the safety of her family. Even the Lost Boys desperately want a parental figure in their lives, and they end up returning home with Wendy and her brothers to live with their parents. Wendy has been interpellated by her parents after all. She realizes that she wants her life that she left behind.
The power that Wendy felt at the beginning of the film seemed repressive to her; however, it has become ideological. She now sees that her happiness lies in the role that her family has been trying to establish for her. In the end, all of the children have parents except one. And, all of the children seem happy except one — Peter Pan. While it is odd to think of a film having both interpellation and agency, I am suggesting just that. However, I am also suggesting that there are two separate worlds in this film in which the two issues occur.
Interpellation clearly occurs in the beginning of the film while the children are with their parents and Aunt Millicent. They are taught how life should be and who they should be when they grow up. The Neverland world is a place where children have agency. It is clear to the adults and children in Neverland that children are to be taken seriously and treated as equals. However, in the end, the children choose interpellation over agency and return to the nursery and their home with their parents. In this film, the children have been interpellated to believe that their role at home will be much more fulfilling and rewarding than the agency available to them by remaining children forever in Neverland.
In closing, Peter Pan is a complicated film that displays agency and interpellation. While it displays both, the film is adult centered, as the children end up interpellated into the roles their families wished for them. Resisting Interpellation: Beauty and the Beast. As a little girl, I pretended I was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I wanted desperately to find my prince charming. I danced around to the songs, and I would have loved a castle filled with enchanted creatures, or a library filled with books up to the ceiling. Years later, after watching the same story unfold, I can honestly say that Belle could be a role model for me in the way she lived her life. Her personality is one of strength, open-mindedness, and abundant love. Throughout her story, Belle is faced with opposition and obstacles that push her to define and think about who she is.
A major way of society interpellating a person is by shunning the marriage or union between people with huge differences. Society applauds when the normal path is taken, whether it is a marriage between a man and woman, or the relationship between two people of the same race. Belle, a human, and the Beast, a human enslaved in a beast-like body, are blinded to reality by their love. In the garden playing with birds, the Beast and Belle come to realize that they care for each other, despite the hesitations that first accompanied their situation. This movie also expresses distaste for interpellation in the sense that it expresses the acceptance of things not of the norm.
It basically says that you do not have to settle for the town football hero, just because you are the cheerleader. Instead, you can hold out, find a person with whom your souls connect, and live happily ever after. For example, when the Beast releases Belle as his prisoner, he gives her the freedom to truly love him. It is only through this relinquishing, that Belle can understand her true feelings. By naming a person, the parent is predetermining their child to answer and identify with that name. The name Belle translates to beautiful or beauty from the French language.
Bell though, almost seems unaware of her good looks. For example, while Belle walks through town, her head buried in a story, she is oblivious to all the commotion she is bringing about. The rose, while beautiful and seemingly fragile, has managed to live for ten years. While it is enchanted, the rose must still be protected, and is held in high regard. Belle, similarly, is beautiful and dainty, but strong. She earns respect through her decisions, and does not need to be taken care of. She is strong enough to find her father, strong enough to give her life for his, and strong enough to stand up to the Beast.
Belle also questions the interpellated messages she receives from the general public. Belle breaks these traditions in numerous ways. She also does not try to hide the fact that she loves to read. She sat on a fountain, in the middle of the town, and sang about her love of books. Indeed, there is a different way to live life, at least for Belle. Unlike many women, Belle is not one to be influenced by appearances, good or bad. She does not fall into the trap of liking the cool guy, just because everyone else does. While her first reaction to the Beast is terror, she does not actually fear him. If she feared him, she would not have spoken out to the Beast like she did. Not intimidated by his looks, she talks to him like the mean-spirited person he is. This showcases the amount of agency Belle has determined is rightfully hers.
Some may feel that Belle is the typical young lady, looking to find her prince. After all, her favorite part of the book she reads by the fountain is when the girl meets her prince, but does not know it yet. I would argue that the books she finds so intriguing are an escape. While the particular storyline read by the fountain does predict the outcome of the movie, it also illustrates and shows how Belle is feeling. She feels trapped, like the only way she can escape her suffocating world is to read about others where there is adventure and romance. She may want the romance and the white knight on the horse, but she is not willing to compromise who she is inherently, for the gain of something she does not deem true and worthy.
She wants to be a person, first and foremost, and have someone understand what she feels. Belle avoids the interpellation of her peers and society through staying true to herself, and, in the end, she gets her prince. She does not succumb to the prodding of Gaston, and even her father in the beginning, to marry and become a mainstream household wife. Instead, she uses her ability to love truly to find the man, or beast, with which she is meant to be. These children who praise a movie that is clearly derogatory, and gross degrades the ethical teachings they should be learning.
The stereotype for children is that they should learn valuable, and critical lessons that will help them in life. The movie also demeans authority figures such as, the government, the president, teachers, principles, parents etc. One of the best examples of this idea of carnivalesque is when Cartman defies his authority figures. While sitting in class Mr. Unwilling to cooperate, Cartman instead curses at the teacher and is sent to the office. In the office, he again curses at the principle. Both authority figures are surprised by these acts of defiance; they do not know how to punish this behavior. Instead, Cartman is free to say and do what he pleases, to whomever.
This scene depicts the role reversal of authority. It is Cartman who holds the power, and not the typical adult authority figure. They are repeatedly unsuccessful. This is the essence of carnivalesque , as it uses absurdity and humor to undermine what is normally revered. South Park proves to be a progressive movie for a number of reasons. As Stan approaches his town he is singing about how wonderful it is, and how people treat each other well. However, it is obvious, that the people are actually pushy, rude and hateful towards one another. It depicts the innocence of nature, and a song about love, happiness, and people getting along. As the song continues, it drastically changes from pleasant, to disturbing and silly.
People are cursing one another, babies are being thrown through windows, and homeless men are drinking on the side of the road. Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny all have a great amount of power within this movie, as they defy their parents and curse at authority figures. However, this movie also gives a great amount of power to a woman. His hilarious, uncommon voice greatly shows carnivalesque. Unlike a normal baby, Stewie not only can speak his mind, but he also can do it articulately, like an adult. In fact, he is smarter, more talkative and wiser than the stupid immature dad, Peter, in the show.
Repeatedly, he disrupts his parents from making love in order to stop them from creating another baby. In one scene Stewie walks into his room, hits a button on the wall, which collapses and shows a hidden spaceship behind it. Stewie succeeds and the parents never end up having a baby. Symbolically, the spaceship represents all the power Stewie has in his life. Such a complicated, high-tech machine for a baby to control signifies how he has the command to manipulate what he pleases. By inhibiting their chances of creating a baby, Stewie clearly portrays the carnivalesque idea of role reversal. Parents are normally the ones that direct the life of their baby. However, Stewie diminishes this norm, which is an apparent depiction of carnivalesque ideas.
In one scene Homer becomes jealous when he hears Flanders has given everyone a Christmas gift. He therefore begins to plan on how he will buy everyone a car to exceed Flanders act of generosity. Just remember the spirit of the season. Once again, the roles are being reversed. Lisa, a little girl, has to explain an extremely important concept to her father. In addition, this episode depicts Homer to be as dumb as a cat or dog. All three Homer, the cat and the dog are wearing Christmas sweaters. As the dog and cat roll on the ground biting at theirs, so does Homer. Carnivalesque often portrays these types of role reversals, and undermining of authority.
Stereotypically, the male adult figure is one that carries the most knowledge, power and authority. However, Homer truly acts like a child. He is selfish, silly and immature. Instead this intelligent and powerful status is given to a seven or either year old girl. Carnivalesque is depicted, as a complete opposite role reversal is apparent. The strong characters in these two shows are the children, Stewie and Lisa. These shows dramatically change what is normally viewed as traditional. Parents no longer teach their kids, rather the children teach them. They are merely reversed. These thoughts encourage us, as the audience, to rethink what we consider as normal. However, all three portray these concepts beautifully.
From role reversal, to degrading authority, and to using humorous situations, voices, and bodily functions to mock the revered, these shows are carnivalesque. In addition, they break the stereotype that creates a conservative work. Instead they are progressive as they challenge us to rethink what should be, and uniquely see the ideas that contradict our norms. The fairy tale Snow-white and Rose-red , by the Grimm brothers, is an excellent example of a conservative, adult-centered text. In this text, the agency is with the adults and the children are seen as nostalgic images of childhood. Snow-white and Rose-red prove that children are good and follow the direction of adult figures even when the adult may not be present.
The conservative nature of this text is overwhelming. The author is not challenging children to do anything; but rather teaching them that if they are obedient then they will be happy. the sweetest and best children in the world, always diligent and always cheerful. they always walked about hand in hand whenever they went out together. they drew round the fire, while the mother put on her spectacles and read aloud from a big book and the two girls listened and sat and span. the tender-hearted children. The old mother lived for many years peacefully with her children.
The text does not wish for children to challenge the things that their mother tells them to do. The text reinforces a sense of good behavior and family closeness. In this family, the mother is the one with the authority and all of the agency. The girls are attentive to the instructions of their mother and follow them with haste. In an adult-centered text, children understand that adults know better than children so they must follow what adults say. This shows the readers that children should listen to their mothers or other adult figures because, of course, they know more than a child. This adult-centered trait is highly visible throughout the text.
Yet another image of the children, in this adult-centered text, is when they follow the directions of their mother even when she is not there. The mother has engrained the children with the importance of being kind to everyone. They show kindness to the dwarf throughout the story even though he was not nice to them. You have torn my thin little coat all to shreds, useless, awkward hussies that you are! This does not deter the girls from their kind-heartedness and helping anyone in need. This is an excellent example of an adult-centered trait. Snow-white and Rose-red are perfect symbols of the nostalgic childhood images who end up being rewarded for their good nature and kind hearts. The authors are showing that if a child is obedient and good then they will surely receive a reward in the end.
There are many attributes of an adult-centered text that this story has which contributes to the conservative nature of the text. This text is extremely conservative and adult-centered in various ways. This fairytale encompasses some of the topics we have discussed in class. It not only is incredibly child centered, but it also is progressive. The Grimm brothers depicted both Hansel and Grethel as smart, capable people. As Hansel dropped pebble after pebble on the road to help them find their way home, the wife noticed that he consistently looked back at the house. Therefore, his plan worked and he and his sister are able to find their way home after being left in the woods.
By, having the ability to outsmart the adults, Hansel proved to have a great amount of agency. He not only had the courage to secretly plot against them, but also managed to trick them into believing he was just a childish boy fantasizing about his cat. His lie about the cat is significant because it shows that he understands adults have these assumptions that children are childlike in their thinking. Grethel also had her moment of greatness when she tricked the witch. Smartly, Grethel told the old witch she did not understand how to get in the oven. Ultimately, the witch was engulfed in flames resulting in her ruin. Like Hansel, Grethel is depicted as a stronger, smarter character than the adults, especially the witch, within this fairytale.
Both children easily trick the adults. In addition, they have the power to find their way through the woods at the end of the story with no pebbles or bread to guide them. The two children truly have an enormous amount of agency as they not only can outsmart the adults, but also can manipulate nature to help them. It is as if Hansel and Grethel gain more confidence, and agency as they manipulate and conquer every obstacle crossing their path. Another example of why this text is child-centered is how the adults are depicted. First, it is important to note that it is only the children who have names. In addition, the adults are all portrayed as selfish, weak, and evil.
The wild animals would soon come and tear them to pieces! Then we must all four die of hunger, thou mayest as well plane the planks for our coffins. The father barely stood up for his children, and let his wife send them to their deaths. He merely gave into her, even though it was clear that he loved his children dearly. Although he is a good character, he has no power to stand up for what he believed and felt strongly for. Therefore, it is apparent, that all three adults in this story are perceived as evil or weak, making this a truly child-centered text. She believed that they could never locate their way out of the woods because they were mere children, and would have no adult to guide them. However, they break these assumptions by finding their way through the forest not once, but twice.
This is extremely progressive, because it challenges some of the stereotypical assumptions about childhood. Children are often thought of as very dependent on their parents and innocent; however, Hansel and Grethel clearly do not need their parents to find their way. They are also far from naïve. In fact, the children not only found their way through the confusing woods and saved themselves from the horrid witch, but they also saved their father. In a more conservative text the father would have been the savior; however, it is Hansel and Grethel who hold all the power and save the day. It challenges assumptions about children, and gives children a great amount of agency.
Hansel and Grethel are depicted as capable strong characters, whereas the adults are seen as evil and weak. The children also reject the norms of childhood that suggest life for a child is simple and fun, as they understand their lives are complex, and they work hard to control the situations around them. from Final Exam. By there same token, there are certain things that are expected of a girl to maintain her societal femininity. From a young age, we are lead to believe that boys are the dominant, more powerful sex. Females are portrayed as care takers and are often seen as being more compassionate and caring then males are. Men are expected to rougher and less sensitive. The men are expected to work hard to bring home money to support their families.
Females are often portrayed as being more in touch with their emotions. None of these ideas applies to any one person any more so then do personality traits, but our society interpellates these ideas into our minds every minute of every day. The following passage is from my paper on the Goonies , in which I highlight some examples of the interpellation typical female and male roles in this movie. The boys seem to be portrayed in the usual ways, as being mischievous and thrill seeking, while the girls are shown as weak and scared.
The oldest girl, Andy, seems more concerned with her crush throughout the movie then she does with finding the gold and taking an active role in the adventure. There is a point in the movie where Mikey tells Andy that she may want to hold his hand because it was dark up ahead and it may be dangerous. This is another example of the girls and the guys being put into common roles that society has created for them. As we have been told since we were young children through fairy tales and everyday life, men are supposed to take care of females and be there to protect them. This statement reaffirms the idea of interpellation of typical male and female roles in this film. The developers son is driving a convertible and wearing his letter jacket and has two girls in his car, while Brent is wearing ratty old sweats and is riding his little brothers bike.
Interpellation is shown in the idea that the rich kids are cool and popular, while the poor kids are unpopular and outcasts. At the end of the movie, when the family realizes they have enough money to save their home, they come together and hug each other and really show affection towards each other for the first time in the movie. Again, interpellation is shown in that money and material things bring happiness. Children who are born into wealth and privilege are showcased in reality television and documentaries, further rubbing our noses in the fact that there are parents who can provide for their children in ways that you or I could never imagine from a material standpoint. Our culture seems to go out of its way to display this quality, to make those who have more feel better about themselves and those who have less feel worse.
I think this reoccurring theme is strong in the Goonies. As described in the excerpt Mikeys family is portrayed as poor and unhappy. The rich family holds the happiness of the poor family in its hands. The rich family has all of the agency while the poor family has none. Like in our society, the poor are at the mercy of the rich. the government, our parents, the president, are inherently good and always right—they the powers that be do this to try and keep us in our place. They want to keep power in the hands of those who have always had it, and usually on of the only ways to do that is to interpellate society to believe that that is where the power and authority belong in the first place.
In fact, I always hated princesses and pink for that matter. Below are some detailed examples of interpellation that I found in this particular version of the story:. He is stopped along the way by a strange old man. The picture of the old man in this story is interesting because the old man is dressed rather uniquely. I think that this shows interpellation because it shows that strange people dress differently from normal people. In the United States , we assert ourselves and are identity at first impression, based solely on our clothing.
Like I said in the paper, distinctions between strange and normal are made all of the time based on clothing. If I were to dread lock my hair, someone might look at me and think I was perhaps dirty or unprofessional, when my goal is doing so was only to embrace a low maintenance lifestyle. We make assumptions like the previous constantly, based on appearance alone. We are interpellated to believe that we must dress certain ways for certain occasions. After Jack climbs the beanstalk, he finds the giants wife, who just returned from picking flowers. He asks her for something to eat and she says that she will make him something to eat, but that they must be fast because her husband gets home soon. She is patiently waiting for her husband to get home and is picking flowers to pass the time and she is the one who does all of the cooking for her husband.
The wife also seems to be at the mercy of her husband. In the story she invites Jack inside but warns him that her husband likes to eat little boys. Interpellation is shown in the idea that the giant has the control over his wife and her opinion on the welfare of Jack is irrelevant to him. As soon as the giant gets home, he demands dinner and his wife, who has already had it prepared, brings it to him right away. The female giant seems to act like a servant to her husband; throughout the story he demands things and she brings them for him right away. It is also interesting that the husband is only concerned with eating, sleeping and money, which is a very typical depiction of males. Kingdom Hearts as a Child-Centered Text.
In the Playstation 2 game Kingdom Hearts , players are introduced to a young boy named Sora who is thrown into a struggle to save not one, but multiple worlds from a mysterious force known as the Heartless. Sora finds himself suddenly wielding a magical weapon called the Keyblade , which just happens to be the only thing that can fight the Heartless, and an artifact that Donald Duck and Goofy have been ordered by Mickey Mouse to find. Sora has a different mission- he is looking for his two best friends, Riku and Kairi , who disappeared when his world was destroyed by the Heartless.
Together, Sora , Donald and Goofy venture to different worlds, meet many other Disney characters, and battle the Heartless in hopes of restoring balance to the worlds. At first, Kingdom Hearts appears to be a light fairy-tale about good fighting evil, but it soon becomes apparent that Sora and childlike characters like Donald and Goofy are dealing with issues not typically found in adult-centered texts, and more importantly, they are doing it without the aid of just, authoritative adults. The adults in Kingdom Hearts are a far cry from the knowledgeable, caring, strong individuals typically found in adult-centered texts. The first major group of adults consists of the villains from various Disney movies who are working together with the Heartless to take over their worlds.
This group includes such characters as Jafar , Captain Hook and Maleficent, all of which are most likely already infamous to the player for their deeds in their respective films. The game presents them as completely irredeemable- they are evil, corrupt, and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, even if it means dealing with the mysterious Heartless. Of course, one by one their plans backfire and they are either defeated by Sora or betrayed by the Heartless, which is a rather adult-centered way of dealing with bad adults. However, the second major group of adults makes up for this.
These characters are the heroes that the villains originally battled- Aladdin, Tarzan and Jack Skellington , for example. Upon arriving in Halloween Town , for example, Sora , Donald and Goofy are shocked to see that Jack has recruited the Heartless in the annual Halloween festival. In addition to these two groups of adults, Kingdom Hearts features adults that appear to be in positions of authority, but in reality have little or no power over children. In the world of The Little Mermaid , King Triton has lost much of his control over Ariel- the scene where he originally destroys all of her treasures becomes much less devastating in the game, where he only destroys an item that is later revealed to be useless anyway.
His mother is heard once at the beginning of the game, where she calls him for dinner, but the same exact scene shows Sora sneaking out of the house through his bedroom window. Mickey Mouse is the closest thing to a central authority figure the game has because he is the main reason why Donald and Goofy are exploring the worlds, and thus, the reason why Sora is brought along. However, it is interesting to note that Mickey is more of a childlike character than an adult, due to his being an animal. In addition to Mickey Mouse, Donald and Goofy are also very childlike. Donald still has a short temper and is very annoyed at the idea of the legendary Keyblade Master being a kid. He and Sora do not get along very well, but their arguments are small and childish, and they usually make amends shortly after.
Goofy tries hard to be the mediator between the two, but he usually ends up doing what Donald tells him to avoid causing more trouble. However, Goofy soon realizes that Sora is too good a friend to just abandon and has a change of heart. Sora himself also has a huge amount of agency, possibly more than anyone else in the game. His agency is represented by the Keyblade , which is regarded as a symbol of great power in every world he visits. When he loses it, he can only get it back by realizing that its strength comes from his heart.
Sora receives the Keyblade by resisting the Heartless when his world is destroyed- it recognizes that he is strong and good-hearted. When he learns of his destiny as the Keyblade Master, he embraces it rather than running from such a huge responsibility, if only because he hopes that it will lead him to his missing friends. However, he realizes that he is being used to hurt his friends and fights back. In an attempt to atone for the things he did while working for the villains, Riku offers to help Sora seal off the Heartless, but this act will leave him trapped with the Heartless as a result. Sora is distressed at the thought of being separated again, but Riku insists, and his confidence in Sora allows them to seal away the Heartless.
Kingdom Hearts still has some elements common to adult-centered texts, one of which is the mostly conservative plot. Sora is trying to restore the norm instead of change it, and the forces trying to cause change and disrupt the balance are the Heartless and the Disney villains. Sora also learns lessons throughout the game by interacting with the various characters within the Disney worlds. The lessons are highly didactic and Sora ultimately accepts them, but at the end of the game, it is clear to the player that he is still given the choice of acknowledging them or not.
Finally, there is the question of what the Heartless truly represent. There is no doubt that the Heartless are pure evil- they corrupt everything they touch and bring out the very worst in anyone who deals with them. Then again, the Heartless could also represent a more child-centered view- that children have the ability to resist evil. Sora wields the Keyblade , which is the only weapon that can truly stop the Heartless, and he gains it by resisting the darkness. Meanwhile, Riku , who is a few years older than Sora and therefore less childlike, willingly joins the Heartless. Also, the adults who indulge in the evil perpetrated by the Heartless end up being defeated, or worse, completely swallowed by the darkness.
However, the game makes it clear that it is not childlike innocence that allows Sora , Donald and Goofy to effectively fight the Heartless- as a child-centered theme, the Heartless represent a false sense of maturity and power that can only be overcome by a strong sense of right and wrong, friendship, and courageousness, which the trio have gained by working together. Riku also realizes this after being used by the Heartless, and therefore he also gains the ability to fight them. While Kingdom Hearts features didactic lessons and a conservative storyline, the focus of the game lies with the childlike characters.
Sora has only enlisted himself in the fight against the Heartless because he hopes it will lead him to his friends. The Disney characters he meets throughout his journey act more childlike than he does, and even Mickey Mouse, the central authority figure of the game, is childlike. While there are some adult-centric ideas present in Kingdom Hearts , the game is mostly a child-centered text because the children and childlike characters act with a great amount of agency and deal with things that are typically not associated with common assumptions about childhood, while adult figures are either powerless, bad, or flawed and complicated themselves.
The simple story relates an incident of a flood that enables Princess Molly the Messy, a member of a tidy and neat royal family, to rescue her them through her messiness, and ultimately shows the value of her individuality. The main area where Tyler strays from classic patterns involves the message of the story. In fact, Tyler even suggests that messiness may not only come in handy, but it could also be a means of rescue. Thus, Molly never disobeys her parents because a specific request, which she could obey, is never present. In essence, Tyler portrays Molly as innocent and kindhearted, sharing her space and using all she has for good, even though her disorderly ways would typically be naughty behavior. Tyler spins a web of opposites, showing innocence in a slovenly room.
Clearly, a messy room relates almost universally to all children who might enjoy a tale about this quality. However, Tyler treats messiness much differently than many parents would by showing its benefits, not its repulsiveness. Most children posses messiness seemingly inherently and would revel in a book about their way of life. Tyler provides a character to identify with, no matter who the young reader is. Tumble Tower represents an interesting blend of standard formats and counter-culture messages. Though the story is didactic, its message teaches the individuality of personality in children. Even though the movie is one of the most popular Disney films it shows some underlying examples of interpellation.
There are also some issues of agency that display the intricate way that Mary Poppins changes the degree of agency in the household. When watching the film and trying to figure out who has agency over whom it seemed difficult because of the fact that there are several characters that are involved. When the film begins everything seems to be typical when it comes to agency. Banks is the man of the house and tells everyone what to do and everyone in return obeys him. The first song Mr. Banks sings is about how proud he was of how orderly his life was. He felt that it was his duty to give commands and do everything in the exact order that they were supposed to be done in a stereotypical sense.
It seemed that all was in order and that order was given by Mr. Banks alone. The minute that Mary Poppins comes into their door the agency is taken away from Mr. Banks immediately. Even though he has no idea that he no longer has power because of the fact that Mary Poppins is wise enough to know that if she lets him think that he tells her what to do and that he comes up with all of the ideas then he will never know. This does create a slight fight for power between Mr. Banks and Mary Poppins because Mary always has to stay one step ahead of Mr. Banks and he is always a very close step behind her. When the dynamics of the household become so happy and seemingly perfect Mr.
Banks is angry because he can almost feel himself losing his power which is what causes him to become so bossy. When things involve Jane and Michael they are not directly given any agency but seems to be able to take some of the agency away in certain circumstances. Anytime they seemed to disobey an adult it was either a misunderstanding or they were quickly turned around. The only obvious time that agency was displayed by the children was when Michael was at the bank and he was adamant that his money go to feeding the birds instead of in the bank.
When Mary, Bert and the children jumped into the picture they were able to go out on their own for awhile without supervision but that would be the person with the agency allowing them to have a little leeway. Mary gave them chances to be their own judge but she was always there to pull them back and take over when things were out of hand. She allowed agency to be taken when there was a lesson to be taught in letting them go. After Mary has accomplished what she came to do, which would be to show the family how to be a family and how to have fun and take the time they have and cherish it, she allowed the agency to be taken back by Mr.
It was very interesting to see how manipulative Mary could be when dealing with people and getting her way; it was apparent that she was an expert at stealing agency from others. This film drips with interpellation even though it is not always obvious. The first example that comes up is the fact that Mr. Banks has the final say in everything and that is played out as if it should be that way. I found it ironic that the spunk Mrs. Banks had when Mr. Banks was not around was astounding but that changed as soon as he enters the picture.
Banks is home she is extremely submissive. For example when she is leaving the house to go to a protest Mr. Though there may be some sarcasm meant by the writers of the film it still says to society that it is okay to have your own opinions as a women but when it comes to her husband she better be obedient and believe what he says. Banks opinions are totally contradictory to things that Mr. Banks says but when she talks to him she agrees with everything he says. Her description is rosy cheeks, never cross or cheery disposition, she is thin, and this is what most would consider very ladylike as well; this all points to what women are continuously told to be.
When Mary, Bert and the children are in the painting and they get on Merry-go-round horses Mary rode the lavender one with a smug ladylike look on its face, Jane rode the pink one with long eyelashes, Michael rode the blue one with slit eyes and Bert rode the orange one. Even though this was a small detail of the movie it still displays what girls and boys should be like and what colors they should wear. When the children went to the bank with their father the whole trip was centered on Michael, even though Jane went along he was the one that was supposed to invest his money and see what his dad does. The thought of Jane investing her money in the bank was never even thought of or even the idea that she had any money. Men are supposed to take care of all the money and be the ones that earn it and that is what the whole bank trip reinforced.
Michael always seems to be the one taking the action, in the end when they go fly a kite Michael is the one flying it with his father and Jane and Mrs. Banks are in the background watching. The film interpellates us to think that the men are supposed to be the ones acting on their feelings and saving people and even thinking. The only dominant role that a women plays in the film are the cook, maid and nanny; Mary Poppins is a controversial character because of her ability to do as she pleases even around men but she still plays right into the stereotype that the male should be in the dominant seat. The film does seem to have a hint of sarcasm about the role of the women as stated earlier but in the end it seems to be just a bit of humor that does not disprove the interpellation.
Things seem to all fall into the stereotypical place that society likes for them to be in both in terms of agency and interpellation. It seems as if in this case interpellation coincides with agency which seems to put the happy ending to the movie. The movie is about a colony of ants that spends most of its time gathering grain for the grasshoppers, who intimidate and frighten them into doing it. It leaves the ants little time to gather food for themselves before the rainy season begins, but it is a part of their culture, and so they continue to repeat the tradition year after year. In the beginning of the movie, the ants are preparing their yearly offering when it is ruined by Flik , an ant in the colony. The grasshoppers are very angry and demand that they gather twice the amount of food before the last leaf falls.
He finds what he thinks are warrior bugs, but are actually circus bugs, who in turn think that Flik is a talent scout. They travel back with him to the colony, impress everyone, and then discover their real purpose for being there. They end up staying however, and the ants come up with a plan to keep away the grasshoppers—they make a bird to scare them. They all work together, but in the end their plan is foiled. Flik , however, stands up for the colony, the grasshoppers are scared away, and the head grasshopper, Hopper, gets eaten by a bird. In the end the ants no longer have to gather food for the grasshoppers—only themselves. The first character I wanted to talk about that demonstrates resistance of interpellation is Flik. The main problem is that through trying to make things better for the colony, he brings in new ideas that the colony is not willing to accept.
You wanna help us build this thing, then get rid of that machine, get back in line, and pick grain like everyone else! He is almost repressively interpellated , in that the other ants try to force him to act like everyone else. An example of this is while the ants are in line to deposit their grains onto the pile; a leaf falls on the path of the line, and the ant it falls in front of freaks out. When that is impossible, they flip out. Flik resists interpellation, which also provides him with agency. There are several examples of this throughout the movie, one of which is the way that he stands up to Hopper. In this way, Flik gains agency because he acts on behalf of himself and admits that he resisted interpellation purposefully.
Another example of Flik gaining agency is when he left the colony. The colony did not like that someone tried to be different than what was expected of them, and were willing to punish Flik because of it—another example of how their interpellation is repressive. Flik , however, decides to go off on his own to try again to help his colony. He acts as a free agent in that sense—it was his idea to leave, although he did have to get permission. Another resister of interpellation is the ladybug. He usually gets pretty angry when this happens, and tries to inform the other bugs that he is a male and being a ladybug does not necessarily make him a lady. In the end, however, he becomes more feminine, due to his affiliation with the Blueberries.
In contrast is Heimlich, the caterpillar who desperately wants to fit in with his species by growing wings and becoming a butterfly. However, he is incredibly happy because as a caterpillar, he wanted so badly to go through the same transformation that other caterpillars go through—due to ideological interpellation. In this way, Heimlich is a foil for the ladybug—they represent opposing desires and goals. Additionally, Dot is a marked contrast to her sister, Atta. Dot is very rebellious and attempts to gain agency in a few ways, the first of which is trying to use her wings to fly before they were fully grown. However, her desire to fly could also be attributed to interpellation—she wants to be able to do what everyone else is able to.
But Dot also demonstrates agency by leading the Blueberries into hiding from the grasshoppers when they come to collect their grain at the end of the season. She goes on her own to find Flik to bring him back and help the rest of the colony—and this time she is able to fly. Her ability to fly and the complete growth of her wings can be interpreted as a symbol of her independence and power. When she finds Flik , she gives him a rock to represent a seed to remind him of what he told her in the beginning of the movie: she may be just a small seed, but she will one day grow into a big, strong tree and be able to do anything. So Dot, the little girl, teaches Flik , the young man, a lesson, which helps her to gain agency.
Atta is ideologically interpellated to believe that she must be infallible in order to govern the colony. She seems very rule-oriented and unable to function unless she knows what it is she is expected to do. She seems to be unable to simply observe a situation and come up with an answer—she has to know what was done in the past, what her mother did, etc. However, by the end of the movie, Atta gains agency, in that she is crowned as Queen by her mother, who apparently decides that she is ready. Atta also resists interpellation—she saves Flik by grabbing him and flying off with him.
He tells her to fly away from the ant hill while it is raining which is very dangerous for the ants , and she responds that the ant hill is the other way. Some of the characters in the movie resisted interpellation in a healthy way, and some were interpellated in a healthy way, but some were also interpellated in an unhealthy way. Meta-textual sources call attention to themselves as a created thing by being self-referential, breaking the fourth wall or defamiliarizing their audience. This causes the source, whether it is television, movies or books to recognize itself as what it is, and for the audience to also realize that they are indeed only an audience and are not actually a part of what they are witnessing.
Meta-textual sources do not offer the experience in which one gets lost in what they are watching or reading, instead it causes the audience to do the opposite and remember exactly what it is that they are doing. This paper will reflect some of these meta-textual ideas by giving examples of ways these ideas can be portrayed. When watching Full House as a kid I felt as if I was right there on stage with DJ, Stephanie and Michelle. I loved the close nit family that they shared and when watching it nearly every night on television after school, I began to feel a part of it as well.
Those girls were my sisters and the experiences they went through seemed to always be exactly what I was feeling as well. Sitting in the middle of my living room floor I would be completely engrossed in what was happening on TV that I would not even remember where I actually was. The final episode was tragic because it seemed like my family was leaving me forever; however, that alone was not enough but the editor of the series probably made the biggest mistake it ever could. Once the episode was over, without any commercial interruptions, the cast lined up across the kitchen floor and took a bow and I heard the roar of an audience.
The camera paneled up, through the fourth wall of the set and showed me what I never knew had existed, because there, giving a standing ovation, were tons of fans of the show watching as the cast took their final bow. Not once in any episode had I ever wondered why I had never seen that fourth wall of the kitchen, bedroom, living room or garage, instead it seemed like I was actually there in the midst of it all with the fourth wall behind me. Finding out that Full House was actually a television show and that Michelle, Stephanie and DJ were all actors and were not related to each other or me in any way completely broke my heart, and I still have not forgotten that feeling to this day.
Breaking the fourth wall completely ruins the feeling of getting lost in the episode, and takes away all closeness the audience ever shared with the cast. In the movie Monty-Python and the Holy Grail, the cast chooses to act without the use of many props, or the ones that you would typically expect, and also the plot and scene location is oddly chosen; yet, the movie gives off the appearance that all of this is taking place during medieval times. The main character is acting as if he is the King, and goes throughout the countryside, not on horseback but followed by his sidekick with clinking coconuts, claiming that he needs to find the Holy Grail.
Watching throughout the entire movie the audience is thinking that they have been taken back in time, until the very end when cop cars pull up to the actors, get out and start arresting them. The director closes the scene and all of the extra characters in the background take a knee and rest while the cops are asking what is going on. The main character claims that they are just filming a movie, however the cops still shut down their attempts anyway. This is a prime example of a movie being self-referential because it dedicated an entire scene to show the audience that they are not back in medieval times, but are actually in the rural countryside of modern day Europe. The first scary movie that I ever saw was Scream when I was about eleven years old.
I had never been more terrified in my life, and the first time I saw little through cracked fingers over my face. But as I continued to watch it, literally over ten times, and as the sequels came out they became my favorite and always promised a good scare. Then during the first few years of high school, stupid comedies began to be the biggest blockbuster hits and with these came the release of Scary Movie. At first it did not seem appealing to me, but eventually I was dragged by one of my friends and this comedy brought about an entire new meaning to my favorite scary movie series.
Seeing that goofy looking scream mask with the tongue sticking out, and watching the horrible acting of a girl running from the killer completely defamiliarized me to the movies that I loved most. I wish I had never seen those movies because then I would still be able to sit down and watch them and get a good scare every now and then. If one knows that what they are going to be seeing is funny, fictional and is established in order to provide them with a good laugh, then I feel that meta-textual sources are capable of providing great entertainment for the people that experience it.
The book does have an emotionally powerful story that shows a tree sacrificing itself over the years to make the boy happy. In many ways the tree is like the boys mother, who would sacrifice anything for their child just to bring them happiness. The tree having human qualities, such as speech and the ability to feel emotions, gives the book a fantasy aspect which is one of the common assumptions found by Nodelman. The tree being represented as a mother figure is used to challenge many of the common assumptions. The tree starts out loving the boy for no apparent reason besides he is there like a mother would love a newborn baby. As a child the boy plays all the time with the tree and as he grows up he begins to only come to the tree when he wants something. The tree acts as an old woman being visited by her son in a retirement home, asking the boy to spend time with it by climbing up the trunk and swinging from the vines, only to have him wanting material objects.
Instead of money and the old family house, the boy takes the trees precious apples and the majority of the trees body to build a house and a boat. The ending is bittersweet for the tree which gets what it wanted all along, to just be with the boy, but the tree has been reduced to an old stump because of him. The tree is like an old woman who sacrificed her medication money for their son and is dying because of it, but still feels happiness to have that same son come and visit them. The ambiguous ending does challenge the assumption of teaching valuable lessons about life in a fun way. I am very tired. The image of the only human character in the book being shown right before death is definitely not a typical happily ever after ending. The two characters in The Giving Tree rely on each for different things.
The Tree relies on the boy for his happiness and company, while the Boy relies on the Tree for the different objects it can provide him. The two are on common grounds at the end when the only thing the Tree can offer the boy is a seat and its company, and all the boy wants is a place to sit. The Boy does love the tree, but smiles while carving his name into the tree which would hurt a living emotional creature such as the tree. The trees desperation for love seems rather pathetic as it willing gives up its body to him, also the fact that everything it gives up was its own idea and not the Boys adds to her desperation. A positive role model would be confident and show dignity, which are two qualities that neither of these characters posses. At the start of the story when the Boy is actually a boy, he seems like more of a role model possessing innocent qualities much like the children reading the book would contain.
The child innocence the boy possessed is the only stage of the Boys life any child could truly understand. The desires for a wife and a home are things which children never desire. But they are aware of these things from interacting with the adults in their life, just not able to fully comprehend the need for such grown up things. A child could most likely understand the Tree and its need to make the Boy happy since many children would do anything to make their parents happy. One of the most disturbing ways that the Tree tries to make the boy happy is when it tells him to cut it down so he can make a boat out of it.
This leaves the tree as nothing more but a stump, which is what is left of a tree after it was chopped down and killed. Moreover, I'm curious about that story. If I get brave enough, the next time I'm in line at the water slide, I may ask the girl in front of me to tell me about her tattooed wings. Nande--I am so glad that my article helped you know what to do on your paper. My main goal is to help people feel that writing is something they can do! I was feeling really about writing my varsity response paper and this really helped calm me down and put my thoughts in order. Thank you ever so much! I have recently started a web site, the info you provide on this site has helped me greatly. There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.
by Erich Fromm. Thanks MsDora! I have found that this very important type of essay is sometimes difficult for students to write. Great to know this helped donnah. I actually wrote this for my class but haven't yet given them the link. This is awesome! I was just planning a lesson today for my 11th grade class on responding to an article. This is helpful advice. Voted up, pinned and shared. Thanks kissayer! I have been teaching college English for about 20 years and started writing my own materials for students because the books don't always explain clearly how to write different kinds of essays. I posted them on Hubpages mostly so my current and former students would have access to them.
So I've been really surprised at the fact they've become my top Hubs. Then when I did Google searches, I realized why. Not too many resources exist to explain how to write more easily. Thanks for the sharing! Thanks kittyjj. I have written before on this subject and been absolutely astounded to have so many people look at those Hubs. So I looked at the Google search results and reallized there were not many other instructions on the internet for this sort of essay. That is why I've been trying to give more help. Fabulous Hub! I have a lot of friends who are in university and come to me for tips as I'm a writer, and I will definitely send them a link to your hub as well! Bookmarked and voted up : So useful!
Wow, this is a great hub! Very useful! I am going to bookmark it and have my kids to read it too. Thank you for sharing! Voted up and useful! This article did wonders for my confidence. Reading response essays don't seem like the terribly difficult task I once thought they were. I'm actually looking forward to writing them now because I get to express my opinions throughout the paper. This article was very informative and entertaining. The content was useful and I am sure it will come in handy very soon! I enjoyed reading about a guy that had second thoughts about getting a tattoo because it was such a new perspective on tattoos, most of the time we only hear people talk in full confidence.
Marine Biology. Electrical Engineering. Computer Science. Medical Science. Writing Tutorials. Performing Arts. Visual Arts. Student Life. Vocational Training. Standardized Tests. Online Learning. Social Sciences. Legal Studies. Political Science. Introduction Conclusion tell a personal story finish your personal story explain the history of the topic ask the reader what they think tell why you found this interesting suggest why this article might interest the reader explain what you expected the article to be about tell how you were surprised by the article tell what you generally feel about this topic tell how article changed the way you thought, or reinforced what you already thought explain what most people believe tell what you believe or what you think the reader should believe.
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