Quotation Responses (Explained)

The Assignment:

Many of the nights that you are assigned reading, you are also responsible to complete a quotation response assignment. Please pick out two important quotations from the reading and respond to each quotation in three to five sentences. Post these responses in separate blog entries. Please give the book/story and the page numbers from the reading at the beginning of each response. Come to class prepared to explain why you picked the quote that you did, what the quote means, and what the quote tells you about the story/book. I will grade your quotation responses on a √+, √, √- scale. I will let you know if I feel like you are slacking on these assignments or if your responses are particularly noteworthy, but otherwise, I will not normally comment on individual quote responses.

Quotation Response Example:

Raymond Carver Are These Actual Miles?
Page: 586

“‘I had to go without when I was a kid,’ she says. ‘these kids are not going to do without,’ … She joins all the book clubs. … They enroll in the record clubs for something to play on the new stereo. They sign up for it all. … They buy what they want. If they can’t pay, they charge. They sign up.”

Because of hardship as a child, Toni feels she always needs more to make up for what she missed. This leads her to live beyond her means. Continually consuming material goods to reaffirm her status in the world and prove to herself that she is better than her parents were.

Raymond Carver Are These Actual Miles?
Page: 588

“‘He said personally he’d rather be classified a robber or a rapist than a bankrupt. He’s nice enough, thought.’”

Criminals are naturally social outcasts, yet the car dealer would rather be a criminal than be bankrupt. This shows that he believes money is more important than morality, or that being outcast for criminal behavior is less painful than being outcast for something as shameful as financial failure. Criminals are insane, desperate, or the product of a bad environment; therefore exceptions are made for them. To be bankrupt, however, is one’s own fault and something to be laughed at.