Applying Reader Response Theory to “Things that Fly”

Category	It Says 	I Think	And So…	
Plot (plot summary)	Narrator is at home, feeling depressed. Goes to his parents’ house on a mountain. Watches birds and squirrels with his father. Wants a magic revelation. Goes back home, still depressed. Dreams about trying to save Superman. 	Wanting a “magic revelation” is sort of like when I used to have to write a test that I hadn’t studied for and I wished the answers would magically appear. I didn’t work for that knowledge though. 	The narrator is really wallowing in his depression right now. He wants to find an answer for his suffering but he hasn’t learned the lesson yet. 	
Conflict (types of conflict)	

			
Narrative POV
(type of narrator)	

			
Characters
(names, traits, types)	

			
Setting
Location, time, mood, atmosphere	

			
Theme 
Universal truth, overall point being made