Your Literary Response Journal should convince me that you have read and thought carefully about each assigned literary work. If your understanding of the work is "wrong," yet your journal clearly proves that you read (or misread), you may well receive full credit. Your grade is based on content -- what you have to say, how well you say it, your thoughts and feelings about the literature, and your explanation of the logic that led to your interpretation.

Your grade is also based on following directions. I will not penalize you for grammar and usage errors -- but to receive credit, you MUST include the following in every LRJ:

the literary work's title in quotation marks
the writer's name
a quotation from the work -- integrated with your own sentence, properly punctuated, and commented upon as necessary to show why you cited that particular passage. No Quote Lumps!
specific references to the piece of literature
careful thought

After you've included the five MUSTs above, you may choose any of these MAYBEs to guide
your response. You may even choose the same one every time. Consider the possibilities:

1. a general statement of the literary work's content, a summary or a paraphrase
2. an analysis of a major character -- flat/round, static/dynamic, internal / external conflicts, dominant traits, significant actions, personal relationships
3. a comparison / contrast of related characters -- protagonist / antagonist, foils, doubles, stereotypes, stock characters
4. a discussion of the role(s) played by minor character(s)
5. an analysis of elements of plot (exposition, narrative hook, rising action, climax / turning point, falling action, resolution) or plot patterns
6. an analysis of a poem's speaker or a story's narrator
7. an analysis of the effect of setting -- time, place, circumstances
8. an analysis of the work's symbolism
9. a discussion of the validity and development of the theme(s)
10. a discussion of the title's significance
11. a detailed response to a specific word, phrase, line, sentence, passage, or scene
12. a very limited or general comparison to another story, song, poem, play, movie
13. a close analysis of the writer's style -- figurative language, imagery, sentence structure, specific word choices, or connotation and denotation
14. an examination of poetic techniques used, such as simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, allusion
15. a transformation of the literary work to another form, such as a cartoon, a news story, a letter, a play, a commercial, a soap opera, a fable
16. an original poem developing in some way from the assigned work
17. a discussion of the writer's life and its relevance to the work
18. a statement relating the work to your experience or ideas
19. an explanation of problems you had in understanding the work
20. your opinion of the work, good or bad, supported by specific references from the work

Length: Approximately 1/2 to 1 page long for each LRJ
Format: Blue or black ink, front side of the paper only
Due: Beginning of the hour in the blue wire basket on my desk.