This document discusses reader response theory, which focuses on how readers actively make meaning from texts based on their own backgrounds and experiences. It provides definitions and history of the theory, explaining how readers construct meaning through being "ideal readers" or "implied readers" by filling in gaps. The document also discusses interpretive communities of readers, the role of readers and literature, and advantages of the reader response approach. It concludes by briefly summarizing the plot of the Harry Potter stories to provide an example.

1. Reader Response
I. Definition
Reader response is a theory that focuses on the reader reaction to
literature works. The reader-response criticism had some special interest for the
readers because; critics should also know why we, as a reader, have different
responses. They assumed that they should know the reader’s backgrounds to
understand what causes and why they respond in a certain way to some
literature works. They also see how the reader-response criticism’s point of view
on how the audiences read situation on what they are reading that time. It has
raise a several questions about how they know the way the readers read a book
and what are they reading in the first place until they can response in such
certain way.
II. History
This theory appeared in the late 1960s and the 1970s but the role of the
reader or audience of a literary work or performance has been recognized since
classical times (Habib, 2005, p. 708). However, people didn’t know how
important the role of the reader is. They thought readers consumed passively
what they read. For example Plato knew that people’s mind could be directed to
a good or bad behavior by poetry. While Aristotle thought that: a tragedy must
inspire the purgative emotions of fear and pity (Habib, 2005, p. 708). In the past,
they thought that the readers only has one response, which is the author’s
prediction what would they response. Reader-response theory is a reaction
against formalism and objectivism. This theory is a restoration of an old and
more traditional knowledge of an audience’s important role to such literary or
rhetorical situation. According to Virginia Woolf, Louise Rosenblatt, and Wayne
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2. Booth, reader response had its elements. They said that the author of a literature
text uses certain ways to create certain effects to their readers or to guide their
reaction.
III. How the Readers Construct the Meaning.
a. Ideal Reader
Stanley Fish stands that the ideal reader responds to challenges and
mysteries with relish and take the reading process deeper (Parker, 2008, pp.
280). He said that ideal reader is the one that has patience in confronting a book
that starting with a sentence that raises our expectations about the process of
the sentence itself. For example Sienna Mercer’s novel My Sister the Vampire:
Switched begins with the following one-sentence paragraph: “Here we go, Olivia
Abbot thought as her mother’s car pulled away from the curb.” As an ideal
reader we will not immediately left the novel without trying to know who Olivia
Abbot is, and why she said that sentence as soon as her mother left. But an ideal
reader is the one who expects to find more about who Olivia Abbot is, why her
mother left her, and the other mysteries behind the first one-sentence
paragraph. They also wonder whether or not it is important for the next
paragraph or chapter, how and when they will find the answers of all their
questions, and whether or not it is going to change the interpretation of the
work itself.
b. Implied reader
Wolfgang Iser stands that the text is sets up “gaps,” inviting the readers
to fill in the gaps and inviting readers then to compare how they fill in the gaps to
the way that the text itself eventually fills or does not fills in the same gaps
(Parker, 2008, pp. 280-281). He called this implied reader. Iser imply that there
are two important part of reading process, that reading is temporal activity and
the gaps. Reading as an temporal activity means that we cannot read one time
and understand them immediately, but we will keep some parts of our first
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3. reading in our brain, and then we will able to connect it to another background if
some parts that we read before reappear in another background. Gaps mean
unwritten implications or expectations in the text that is supposed to make the
reader frustrated or extremely curious. Because when the story is completed,
the reader will not have an imagination. So the gaps are helping the reader to be
creative and active and eventually will work things out on their reading
themselves.
For example, Joanne K. Rowling’s novel Harry Potter: and the sorcerer’s
stone, when the Professor Quirrell, the teacher of the defense of dark magic first
introduce himself as an stutter, innocent, and a coward person whose wearing a
turban. The reader usually wondering why the professor wears that, is it a
culture from where he came from? Or is it hiding something? The reader will
think about it for a second and try to guess it by themselves, because in this case
the writer wasn’t explaining about it, this is called ‘the gaps.’ But then, at the
end of the story it finally reveals that Professor Quirrell is indeed hiding
something in that turban but he is not as innocent as the reader think he was.
These way readers can compare about their prejudice and the actual story was
about.
Even though Fish and Iser’s theory about reader is not exactly the same
but the main point is that reading is a process how the text incites the reader’s
mind and the way they respond to it and then test the incitement by keeping to
read the text until they find the answer.
IV. Interpretive Communities
Fish wrote an essay “Interpreting the Variorum” (1976) he introduced his
own notions of “interpretive communities,” it is a group of ideal readers who
possess both linguistic competence by having knowledge of syntactic and
semantic knowledge required for reading and familiar with general literary
conventions. Fish argues that what constrains interpretations is not fixed
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4. meaning in linguistic system but the practices and assumptions of an institution.
It is not the linguistic system that gives determinacy to the meaning of an
utterance but rather the context of the utterance (Habib, 2005, p. 734). What
Fish mean is that linguistic method cannot be used to some several explanation
in particular literary work, dialogue, or sentence. Because every explanation is
always sticks by its context. Reader-response critic’s job is to study many kinds of
different readers’ reactions and the way they project the meaning based on their
way to read literature work.
As we know, we are a different individual being and often disagree with
others about particular literature meaning. Fish suggested that these difference
or controversies over meaning are not meant to be solved but to be experienced.
In this case, there is no right or wrong answer to reader response. Because Fish
said that “any procedure that attempts to determine which of a number of
readings is correct will necessarily fail.” According to Fish meaning is not
somehow contained in the text but is created within the reader’s experience
(Habib, 2005, p. 734). For example, there is a sentence in a novel that mention
about the atmosphere in Australia. Then there are these two people that read
the same sentence but have a complete different experience in Australia. For the
first person who had nice experience, automatically will comment and respond
with good reaction and the opposite with the second person who had a bad
experience in Australia. So it can be concluded that, according to Fish, it is
impossible to determine which critics is wrong and right because everybody has
their own mind and their own personal experience.
V. The role of the readers
• A reader should not passively accept a text, but should actively make
meaning of the work.
• No work of literature ever comes alive until it is read and contemplated
by the reader. The reader “completes” the work.
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5. • The reader builds a connection with the text by reflecting on his/her
mental perceptions based upon the text.
• The reader seeks common ground with other readers while learning from
each person’s unique response to the literature (Wishart, 2010)
VI. The role of literature works
• Any literary work cannot be enjoyed unless a reader becomes actively
involved in the words woven together.
• Instead of a literary work standing alone, a literary work is coordinately as
important as the reader.
• The literary work depends upon the reader to assimilate and actualize the
text.
• The literary work serves as a vehicle with a built-in GPS, while the reader
drives the work to the final destination. Both work in concert to arrive at
an understanding. (Wishart, 2010)
VII. Advantages
a. Reader Response allows readers to interpret the text in various ways.
b. Reader Response allows readers to bring: personality traits, memories of
the past and present experiences to the text.
c. Reader Response forces the readers to look past the words of the text,
and search for deeper meanings.
d. Reader Response allows readers to see different perspectives of others
while reading.
e. Reader response criticism focuses on the importance of the reader and
their individual response to the text. (Edwards, McIntyre, & Glabb)
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6. VIII. Synopsis of the Harry Potter Stories
The story of Harry Potter begins as he is about to celebrate is eleventh
birthday. Up until this time, Harry’s birthdays have come and gone like any
other day; they have been nothing worth celebrating. You see, Harry has lived
in a cupboard under the stairs in his Uncle Vernon’s and Aunt Petunia’s house.
He has never received a birthday present worth remembering. His very few
possessions have been the hand-me-downs of his cousin Dudley. Harry has
never known why the Dursley’s have never treated him well. All he knows is
that his mother and father died in a car crash and he came to live with the
Dursley’s when he just one year old.
But all things will forever change on Harry’s eleventh birthday. He
learns from a letter, given to him by an unknown, very large person name
Hagrid, that he is not just a regular person. He learns that like his mother and
father, he too is a wizard. Harry’s life changes in an instant. The letter he
receives is an acceptance and invitation to study at Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Upon arriving at Hogwarts, Harry is sorted into the Gryffindor House
by the Sorting Hat. At Hogwarts, Harry will learn what it means to be Wizard.
He will learn many things about wizardry from his teachers and Head Master,
Dumbledore. He will learn that not all people come from wizard families. Some
called Muggles, will also study at Hogwarts. For the first time, he will meet and
make friends. Hermione Granger (Muggle born) and Ron Weasley (Wizard ),
will help Harry through a most challenging first year at Hogwarts.
Harry’s first year at Hogwarts will be challenging as he comes to learn
more about his past and the death of his parents. Not only did Harry learn on
his eleventh birthday that he was a wizard, but he also learned that his parents
died at the hands of a wizard practicing dark magic: Voldemort. And although,
Voldemort attempted to kill Harry, something saved him. Instead of Harry
dying, Voldemort lost his powers. Harry is reminded of that fateful night each
time he looks in the mirror and sees a lightning bolt scar on his forehead and as
others greet him famously wherever he goes.
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7. Harry will experience many life threatening situations during his first
year. These situations will arise as he comes to learn more about Voldemort and
those that follow him. Every experience Harry, Hermione, and Ron will find
themselves in, will bring Harry closer to the one that must not be named,
Voldemort. (Mitchell & Ward, 2001)
Harry Potter saga is a famous and popular novel written by Joanne K.
Rowling. Most people interested in it because of the theme. Theme of witches
and wizards is out of ordinary and it seems like a fairy tale which they read when
they were kids, however it is different story, not a real story that people should
scary. The plot runs smoothly so that they can easily understand it. The story tells
that we can achieve much higher and better level if we try as good as possible.
They also like stories of the underdog coming out on top and stories of goodness
against evil or badness.
Nevertheless, Harry Potter has controversy which began after the third
novel published. Some group of people around the world, especially in US and
Europe, said that Harry Potter is books of occultism. The reasons are there are
some vocabularies that mentioned in the novel are the real name of real demons
such as Azkaban, Circe, and Slytherin. Another reason is the story is not in
accordance with the bible. Rowling said in her books that Harry’s witchcraft is
good but in the Bible said that all witchcrafts are evil. It means that there is no
good witches, including Harry Potter, because evil is a bad creature. And they
think that if every Christian child that has curiosity wants to know more about
Harry Potter’s novel, they would find it on internet and eventually becoming
anti-Christ.
In the first paragraph, we can see that this is the good response from the
readers that had curiosity about new things and they triggered to find out what
story it is about. And on the second paragraph, we could see that it’s a response
from people who has a great faith (in this case Christian) and they didn’t like the
idea of this novel because they thought that Rowling is believed and agreed in
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8. idea of occultism. Even though the author herself said that she doesn’t believe
in occultism.
This is the example of two different responses from two different
backgrounds. People from the good response are mostly liberal person. Which
mean they know that the story is only fiction and they know they don’t have to
believe in it. While the other one is taking the novel seriously, they believe that
other people will be affected with the evilness that the novel offered to them.
As critics said, the idea of the novel affected one’s mind or personality is not
always right. They said that all the readers have different responses because they
have different personalities, backgrounds, and a mind of their own.
Even though there are some people who praise and opposed Harry
Potter, but the point is these two opinions is a result of their own interpretation.
And as Fish said it was useless to determine which one is right or wrong, because
if we do that we will not come to the conclusion. Instead of solving this problem
we should embrace it and make it to be our new experience for such a new point
of view.
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9. References
Habib, M. A. (2005). Modern Literary Criticism and Theory: A History. Malden: Blackwell
Publishing.
Parker, R. D. (2008). How to Interprete Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural
Studies. Oxford University Press.
Foundation, P. (n.d.). Poetry Foundation. Retrieved February 19, 2013, from Reader-
response theory: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/glossary-
term/Reader-response%20theory
Adrienne Mitchell; Rolanda Ward. (2001, Fall). Wesley Wildman's Weird Wild World
Wide Web Site. Retrieved February 20, 2013, from Synopsis of the Harry
Potter Stories:
http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/theo1/projects/2
001_mitchellward/synopsis.htm
Wishart, C. (2010). You Complete Me. Retrieved February 20, 2013, from Reader
Response Theory: www.easyliteracy.com/readerresponsetheory.ppt
Edwards, K., McIntyre, A., & Glabb, F. (n.d.). Advantages & Disadvantages. Retrieved
February 20, 2013, from Reader Response:
http://readerresponsecriticism.weebly.com/advantagesdisadvantages.html
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