Reader Response on Ray Bradbury's "The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone"

Paper I wrote for my Methods of Literary Analysis class.

Reader Response criticism is exactly as it sounds. Each individual reader has their own interpretation of a text and therefore, when it comes time to write or discuss, each response will be different from others. The reader's thoughts in this specific criticism is especially important. Since everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and analysis, no one can be wrong in their opinions. A text can influence readers by appealing to ethos, or how we perceive the person speaking; logos, readers using logic; or pathos, our emotions (Lynn, 70). A reader response paper can be done in two ways, either subjectively or receptively. Readers can connect with a text on a personal level and even use "I" or write in general terms i.e. try to think how other readers will respond. Whichever of the two approaches is used, readers need to read actively, making notes and asking questions; "focus on details and ask how your response would change if the details were changed; and finally, decide on your purpose: a subjective or receptive response" (Lynn, 99). Reader response criticism is very flexible and provides writers with a lot of freedom.

Ray Bradbury's story "The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone" begins with rumors of Dudley Stone's "death" 20 years ago. Arguments of whether the famous writer is alive or not leads Mr. Douglass to travel 300 miles to ask Stone why he hasn't written a book in 25 years.  Surprised to find him alive, Stone invites Douglass inside his home and they soon begin to talk about the "murder" of Stone. The story didn't interest me until this point where Stone tells Douglass about almost being murdered by his "friend" John Oatis Kendall. Both were writers, but as it turned out, Stone was better and famous unlike Kendall.

Kendallcan only be described as a jealous individual. This part in the story reminded me of a real-life incident I heard where someone actually ended up killing their "friend" right before graduation out of jealousy! Shouldn't real friends want the best for each other? Instead, Kendallthought the only way to become famous and be put in the headlines is to "be known for a lifetime and beyond as the man who killed Dudley Stone! (Bradbury, 656). Given a moment before being shot at, Stone made a deal with Kendall. Stone promised to never write again in return for Kendallto spare his life, which explained his absence from his writing career for 25 years! Stone even put fire to one of his books he was working on just to prove he was serious to Kendallwhile giving him the other copy of his book for Kendallto do whatever he wants with it. Not only did Stone get a chance to live longer, he justified it to himself by thinking that others will be happy with him, including his friend Kendall and his wife Lena(Bradbury, 658). At the end, Stone got to live, while Kendallbelieved that Stone would not write anymore. Like a true friend, Stone did keep his promise.

A passage that struck me as interesting and realistic was when Stone explained to Douglass that by having his life spared, Kendallhad actually broadened Stone's horizons. "I [Stone] was grateful. Do you really understand that word? Grateful he had let me live when he had it in his hand to annihilate me forever" (Bradbury, 659). Stone continues on to say that before this encounter with Kendall, he had just been writing about living, but now he himself wanted to live and do things instead of just writing about them. It wasn’t until his near death experience, that Stone realized there is more to life than just his (writing) career. Stone learned to live more than before. He ran for the board of education, mayor, sheriff, etc. and won; climbed hills and painted pictures, traveled around the world three times, had a son, and finally got a telescope (Bradbury, 659). Stone apparently didn't regret his decision to stop writing in return for living life as much as possible.

I found this story true to life, especially for people today who are so busy accumulating wealth, status, fame, power, etc. yet fail to enjoy the simple things in life and being grateful for what they have. I have realized that people, including myself, don't truly value something until we lose it, or in the case of Stone, come close to losing it. I had seen a video called "Life is Like a Cup of Coffee" which is about a group of alumni, highly established in their careers, visiting an old professor. They started to complain about stress in life and work until their professor offered coffee to the group. He came back with a pot of coffee and different cups. Everyone picked their cups and the professor commented that all the nice looking and expensive cups were taken, leaving the plain, cheap cups behind.

While it is normal for everyone to want the best for themselves, we compare what we have to others. This, he said, is the source of all their problems. "Life is the coffee; the jobs, money, and position in society are the cups. Sometimes by concentrating only on the cups, we fail to enjoy the coffee. The happiest people don’t have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything. So live simply…" (Life). Stone's realization to live life fully and be grateful reminded me of this story were we should all learn to not focus so much on "the cups" but on "the coffee".

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray. "The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone." Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales. 1st ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. 651-61. Print.

Life Is Like A Cup of Coffee. YouTube. Spiritual-Short-Stories.com, 6 Feb. 2009. Web. 15 Jan.        2012. PLC46EAACE90513B89&index=48&feature=plpp_video>.

Lynn, Steven. "Creating the Text: Reader-Response Criticism." Texts and Contexts: Writing   About Literature with Critical Theory. 6th ed. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 70+. Print.