An Essay About Cristina Garcia’s Monkey Hunting
Unfortunately, I am only taking one English course this semester at my university. The course is Reading & Writing About Literature which is required for both English majors and Education majors, as it goes over some of the most common literary theories used to analyze texts.
One of the literary theories we looked at was Reader Response theory, which was created in response to New Criticism, which essentially claimed that there was a correct way to read and interpret all texts, except for poetry. Instead, Reader response theory claims that text needs a reader with memories and personality in order to have meaning. This means that all interpretations of texts are considered valid and correct.
To begin a Reader Response essay, one must ask themselves a bunch of questions: How do I respond to the text? How do other readers respond to the text? What social/cultural codes are affecting my response? Are there gaps in the text that I have filled in? For my essay about Monkey Hunting, I focused on how I responded to the text, specifically the character of Chen Fang who is born in Shanghai in the early 20th century as a girl and raised as a boy. Specifically, I focus on how Chen Fang’s story critiques the significance of gender roles in many cultures.
This Essay is Not Perfect…
I received an A on this essay, but it is not perfect. There were still plenty of comments from my professor about certain grammatical errors, and mostly the way I interchange the words “sex” and “gender.” Since writing this essay, my professor has clarified the meanings of both sex and gender for me. Generally, sex refers to one’s reproductive functions and the division of people based on these biological factors. Whereas gender refers to the presentation of societal/cultural characteristics aligned with either being a woman or a man.
All of that being said, here is my essay on the critique of gender roles through Chen Fang’s character in Cristina Garcia’s novel, Monkey Hunting.