Thinking about texts using a feminist framework . . .

 One of the things that most interests me about “Pagan Night” is how readers often respond to Sunny. They either pity her or hate her – maybe a bit of both. She’s usually read as spineless, submissive, unintelligent, anti-feminist, etc. A feminist reading that utilizes reader response criticism, particularly reception theory, intrigues me. After all, our current frameworks for understanding feminism are going to influence individual readings of texts; mass responses to texts are going to influence the kind of reputation a given text develops. Reader response principles and feminism thus often work together. I believe, were Sunny written some time ago (minus the elements that make the story modern), readers would perhaps sympathize with her as stuck rather than dislike her or condemn her as  That is, they might see her as a product of her  (older, old-fashioned, etc.) culture and has not been trained or bred to be self-sufficient or to see herself as successfully independent. As such, she doesn’t have the agency to enact the change readers nearly universally want for Sunny – for her to leave Dalton in the dust and raise her baby.  Reception theory closely mirrors Marxist criticism in the sense that both keenly emphasize the monopolizing effect of one’s circumstances. Both theories suggest that the culture into which one is born and raised greatly influences the individual – in reception theory, we acknowledge this influence on our reading process; in Marxist criticism we acknowledge the influence on ourselves as people (as readers, too) and on characters.  For the Marxist critic, circumstances = consciousness; that is, you are a product of your environment. You do not determine who you are; society does (largely through economic position, your work, and other elements that define one’s social class).

Above, I start tying reception theory, feminist criticism, and Marxist criticism together. You’re probably noting how natural it is to begin mixing elements of different schools of theory together. While I think it’s best to concentrate on one at a time as you’re learning, you’ll probably find that some “mixing” will become natural for you, too. In the next few posts, I will deal with several texts solely using feminism. Up first? "Pagan Night".