My reader response essay highlights the differences between Flannery O’Connor’s intended message as opposed to her audience’s received message in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” I point out that while her vulgar and blunt writing is meant to shock people into seeing grace, it often appalls the audience and distracts from her point. I use Hans Robert Jauss’ “horizon of expectations” theory to explain why this difference occurs.
The writing process for this essay was different than my others. Rather than looking for examples in a story to back up my argument, I used book reviews and quotes from my friends to back it up. I made no pre-writing bullet point either, and instead just jumped right into the writing process. Because of my rushing, I completely missed using a reader response theory, so that was included in my second draft. I researched Jauss’ “horizon of expectations” theory, and was able to include it into my argument without much trouble. After I included a reader-response theory, my essay made much more sense and was able to be submitted into my process portfolio.
