Response journals can be formal (academic) or informal. At least once a week I want you to write a formal response (typically 1 ½ pages). Two or three other times a week you should jot down your ideas and feelings, predictions, memories or analogies as you see fit (often ½ -1 page). A formal response is typically introduced by summarize a portion of the novel or text that drew your attention. Notice that I said a portion of the text. As writers we always narrow our topic so that we can go into depth about our opinion. Selecting appropriate details is one of the skills you will be trying to fine-tune. Next often in a paragraph of its own stands the thesis, your opinion about what you read. This response can take the form of agreeing or disagreeing with the text, of being surprised by information or actions in the text, of noting your own guesses as to where the plot will go next, of reacting to a character’s motives or personality, of relating parts to occurrences in your own life, of applying this information to other information you learned elsewhere to judge its merit, etc. In other words, there is no one way to respond to a text. Useful approaches to developing a thesis based on The Spider’s Web by Peter Tremayne as exemplar, include: It seems incredible that women had so many rights before the Age of “Enlightenment”? (next step: narrow) Just looking at the occupations that were open to women makes it all sound unreal. (next step: open this smaller issue & narrow more) If we examine look at women’s roles in the military maybe we can understand why we’ve had to regain privileges we once had. (next step: new paragraph on women historically in war vs. peace times) I really like Menma as a character. (next step: why?) His cursing makes him so real. (next step: how so?) Too many books have such artificial people that you can’t relate to them. (next step: new paragraph about your reality and the people in it like Menma) It’s interesting that Tremayne opens a novel on such gloomy notes as a stormy night and an ugly man. (next step: concede to other views, reassert your opinion) While he has protective images like the stag and the village structure to balance the dark side, I’m still uncomfortable with Menma as my first main character. (next step: open for development—more typical approaches) Usually, I become that first characters like in my favorite books x & y. (next step: new paragraph on what you like about those books). While I’ve barely read any of the book, I do have questions about the importance of some of the details presented so far. (next step: generalize the type of questions) Has Tremayne given us clues to the murderer already? (next step: try to organize the details) I believe there are already three possible murderers offered. (next step: a paragraph for each) Using Menma, a clear but disagreeable character, to open the books brings to mind some of the advertising strategies I’ve heard about. Is this a hook? (next: define hook, illustrate it, then show how Menma may be one in body paragraphs) Menma reminds me of a neighbor I once had. We all used to play tricks on him to hear him complain. (next: narrative—I remember this one time. . .) Given the title, The Spider’s Web, I have to believe that Menma is just a fly caught in the web, especially if the moaner leaves before the constables arrive. The moaner might also be a fly. It will be interesting to see who this powerful, poisonous spider is. (next: describe how Menma looks to be an easy target, then the moaner, and then a possible killer) The stag is an interesting image. I wonder what it represents. (next: possibilities) In the main part of your response entry you want to practice moving from your opinion to details that support it to the logical explanation of those details. For example, going back to the first thesis: If we look at women’s roles in the military throughout time, we can see women have always been there when needed. In Ireland, Bodicaei was a great clan-leader and warrior-queen, who prevented the Roman’s from moving beyond Hadrian’s Wall. Later in France, Joan of Arc rallied the French to reclaim their land. In World War II, many American women joined the army, navy, and airforce. Then, why have women had to fight for re-entry into these units? Perhaps the answer lies in some inherent motivation that is uniquely feminine. I will call it magnanimity. It seems that women are unwilling to provoke a fight and find ways toward peace at resolution. Had Bodicaei’s daughter not been raped by a Roman soldier and had the Roman been willing to hand him over to her for prosecution, there would have been no war. The woman was provoked without course to any other resolution. While Joan of Arc’s was a religious calling, it was also in that sense forced upon her and she died for it. In America , once WWII was over, a resolution of the conflict, women were willing to let go of their wartime jobs to keep the peace on the homefront.
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