WHAT IS INTERPRETATION?

Responding to a Story All of us respond in our own individual ways; whether to a story, person, food, etc. We bring our assumptions, expectations, biases, and values to all new experiences. We try to be objective whenever we see something new but our culture has conditioned us to see and perceive things the way we do.

We are like the seven blind men in the fable who touched different parts of an elephant; one feeling the tail described it as a rope while the one feeling the trunk said the elephant was like a tree.

When we read a literary work, the meaning is not fixed with a final objective. In some degree the work becomes what the reader sees in it. However, how do we come together to talk about literature if all of us perceive what we read in our own special way?

Can We Know the Author’s Intentions? For most literature we do not know what the author intended it to be or to mean. We could only read the story and draw some conclusions about what the author must have intended it to be.

Is it possible to find what the author mean? Probably, but not entirely. We could never recover the feelings and ideas of people living in the 17th century for instance. A writer may even hold different views at different stages in his or her life.

A writer’s repertoire-- assumptions, attitudes, values, and beliefs drawn from his culture--differs from the reader’s own repertoire. Males may even react to the story differently from females.

Having recognized this, we need to react to the whole story and not to bits and pieces that rather appeal or repel us.

The following guidelines may help: Read and re-read the story, paying attention to all the words Try to combine the details into a consistent whole Ask ourselves if our own experience confirms or rejects what the story seems to say Examine our responses and reactions to the story and try to account for them

No matter how closely we look, we will not be able to find certain pieces of information; certain blanks or gaps will remain. We can only offer guesses based on our understanding of others and based on our own nature because the story may not be explicit about these matters, and other readers may have different guesses.

There may also be indeterminacies in a story- passages that remain unclear - even to careful readers. There may be questions pertaining to accuracy of historical events and so on.

It could even be that after several readings, we may give it a counter-reading, a reading that challenges or replaces the more obvious meaning we might at first give it. We may interpret the story from a different standpoint or view, perhaps being more psychoanalytic.

The reader of a work of literature must spend some time before getting to the end, only then the gist of the work can be understood. The author may choose to reveal things bit by bit, however, each sentence may reveal something and conceal another at the same time.

This is what makes literature intriguing and enjoyable to read as the reader’s curiosity and attention are maintained at all times. This goes down well with the writer’s aim to wake up the readers and make them see reality.

In some ways, we must see the story differently. We must not let the reading of literature induce only stock responses, we must induce new and deeper responses. We must retain our prejudices, otherwise we may end as losers.

It is also worthy to share our feelings towards the story with colleagues so as to obtain a more consistent and general, if not precise, outlook of what the story mean.

Defining interpretation. Interpretation is a setting forth of one or more of the meanings of a work of literature. A work may have a single meaning as it had for the author, also the meaning(s) it had for its first readers, later readers and for us today.

Should we be concerned with the author’s intentions? There are difficulties to ascertain the intention of the authors especially for older works as they did not leave comments about their work. Even if they do, their statements may not be decisive.

What constitutes good interpretation? An essay will have to be coherent, plausible, and rhetorically effective. The essayist must convincingly argue a thesis— must point to evidence so that the reader will not only know what the essayist believes but will also understand why he believes it. You are therefore obliged to  offer reasonable supporting evidence  take account of what might be set forth as counterevidence to your thesis.

What does critical thinking involve? To criticise may mean to find fault but in literary studies it means to examine carefully. Critical thinking involves seeing an issue from all sides. It requires you to take a skeptical view (examining or exploring) of your own responses by questioning and testing them. This involves  openmindedness  intellectual curiosity  willingness to work