experiment goes bananas
Matt Kozusko (mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu)
Wed, 10 Feb 1999 15:37:49 -0500
I'm reposting this, for those who indidcated interest. It appears not
to have
made it to the list first time...
I wrote, from amidst the green mists and little explosions and bunsen
burners and beakers of my Salinger laboratory:
> Tomorrow, in my freshman comp classes, we will discuss it. I have
> whited-out the final four words on the student copies again and will
> begin by asking them to fill in an ending. Report forthcoming.
Roughly three fifths of the classes supposed that Seymour shot Muriel (I
believe
I am, once again, vindicated). But some readers were more creative. I
left the
story at "fired a bullet," followed by an ellipses, and asked them to
supply where the
bullet went:
"into his 'normal' foot"
"out the window at Sybil"
"I think the bullet goes into the luggage"
the student who was looking ahead to "The Laughing Man":
"He shot his wife, then turned the gun on himself. However, he only
grazed the side of his head, leaving himself horribly disfigured"
and finally, the student who didn't read the story, mistook the
experiment for a quiz, and figured the question must be a trick:
"I don't think anyone gets shot"
--
Matt Kozusko mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu