This essay investigates experienced intensity through character description and development in Stephen King’s Cell. The thesis of the essay is that a deliberately produced narrative indeterminacy, used mainly on the level of character descriptions, is what produces intensity by holding the readers of Cell in suspense, i.e., in a state of uncertainty. While King might stretch the fundamentals of the classic horror genre, he does not abandon them, experimenting with a genre that makes the readers wonder what to expect next, thereby creating suspenseful questions. Since the focus of the essay is the readers’ reactions on character descriptions, I apply reader response theory and the works of Norman Holland, David Bleich and Yvonne Leffler. The result of the investigation shows that narrative techniques, such as placing brief descriptions of characters in the course of events in the narrative together with altered norms and normality allow the readers to experience heightened emotions and feelings. King alters norms and normality, and presents character descriptions in a fashion that is unexpected; thus the readers do not know exactly how to relate to these character descriptions.

This essay aims to examine the applicability and relevance of subjective reader response in relation to second language (L2) motivation within literature education in the classroom of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). With support from previous research within the field of reader response theory (RRT), this essay argues that a subjective reader response approach contributes to increasing students’ motivation in relation to literature education Thus, this essay answers the following questions: 1) Does subjective reader response contribute to creating motivation among students in EFL (literature) teaching, and if so, how can this theory be implemented? 2) Does subjective reader response support students’ construction of what Zoltán Dörnyei refers to as “Ideal L2 self”? 3) What are the main benefits of using a reader response approach? The results support the hypothesis that a subjective reader response approach contributes to increasing students’ motivation in relation to literature education. Additionally, the study shows that the self-explorative nature of subjective reader response enables students to construct their “Ideal L2 self”.