A critical analysis of online readers' reviews on mysticamy's the soul eater's possession

Abstract

Readers, especially in the current generation right now, not only entertain themselves by reading physical copies of literary pieces, but also use online literature as well such as web novels. Since they are now in the digital age where applications can also make reading accessible anywhere and anytime, this has contributed to the new age of literature. To understand the current trends in literature, this study focused on the literary approaches and theories that can be gleaned in the characters, languages, and symbolism found in MysticAmy's The Soul Eater's Possession with the help of the readers' online evaluations. This study analyzed the readers' online responses in MysticAmy's literary piece The Soul Eater's Possession. It uses various literary theories and approaches that can help extract data and observations from the gathered evaluations of the readers. Specifically, it aimed to determine the following; 1. What are the different online responses in the readers' reviews as seen in the: a. characters, b. language, and; c. symbolism? 2. How are M.H Abrams' theories reflected on the readers' online responses on MysticAmy's The Soul Eater's Possession? The research adaopted a qualitative research method, applying thematic approaches to the study. The researcher analyzed and observed her literary work titled "The Soul Eater's Possession" by applying literary approaches to identify the work. Furthermore, online reviews and also comments left by the readers supported the reader's response approach, formalistic approach, and M.H Abrams' literary theories, giving more input about the author's work. The following are the major findings of the study: 1. M.H Abrams' Literary Theories are evidently seen in the online responses of the readers in terms of characters, language, and symbolism. 2. The researcher uses various literary theories such as reader's response, mythological/archetypal, and schema theory to gather more data other than using the mother theory, M.H Abrams's Literary Theories. In light of the findings of the study, the following conclusions are drawn: 1. The author of the literary piece unconsciously applied the archetypes for her characters, language, and symbolism and that the readers were also keen to observe them through their online responses. 2. The readers often related to the text through the literary piece's significant human experiences (SHE) portrayed by the characters' feelings and situations. Based on the findings and conclusions, the following are the recommendations: 1. Writers and future researchers may add other literary theories and approaches to apply when it comes to analyzing online responses. However, writers and future researchers can also not limit themselves to characters, language, and symbolism, but explore other elements as well. 2. Writers and future researchers can also apply other literary approaches not mentioned to not limit themselves to possible outcomes that may arise in their future research. 3. Other researchers can conduct future studies on The differences between online literature vs. common literature (books, PDFs, etc.) to raise awareness of the rising online literary works with contemporary themes found on websites like Web novel, Good novel, Wattpad, Tapas, etc. Researchers who would like to conduct future studies on online literature can suggest guides on how to publish one's work online and how to write according to what most people find interesting online. 4. There is a need for an online writers ‘guide for aspiring authors to have a guide when it comes to creating their story/stories online.