Writing about Literature: An Investigation into Students’ Consciousness about Gender Roles from their Essays about Literature

Abstract

Research on students’ essays about Literature has emphasized writing skills and competencies but has yet to focus on investigating students’ mindsets. In this research, students’ attitudes about gender consciousness were scrutinized using a different approach from the conventional ones: written responses to Literature. The study is grounded in one critical approach to Literature, reader-response criticism, which concentrates on a significant component of a literary work: the reader. This research utilized the short story Mr. Know-All by W. Somerset Maugham to explore students’ thoughts about gender roles and investigate the means they employed to express their opinions about the given topic. The study used the qualitative method – inductive thematic analysis – to analyze the collected data. Findings reveal students’ progressive minds about gender matters, balanced viewpoints about marriage, and keener awareness in choosing the means to express their opinions.