A Reasonable Interpretation

One of the things that made me initially nervous about this class was the idea that we might be taught to be unreasonable in the name of "emotionalism."

Let me clarify: I have noticed that sometimes when people place a lot of emphasis on personal experiences and emotions, they end up using that as an excuse to believe even the most ridiculous and outrageous things - things farfetched and unreasonable. I hesitate to say this, because on the other end of the spectrum I think that people who try to interpret ideas based on reason (and what can be proved scientifically) alone, are limiting themselves, too.

I still think I'm not making sense. Let me explain what I'm NOT trying to say. I'm not tyring to say that everyone in this class should come to the same conclusions at the end of the term. I'm not trying to say that we should ignore the emotional and personal part of reading and interpreting literature. But I am trying to say that, based on our personal experiences, and on our reason, we should come to the most plausible interpretations possible of the texts that we're reading. In other words, like Anderson says himself, some interpretations seem to be "better" than others.

And so, Anderson has calmed my nervousness a little.

We've already established that none of us can be objective in coming to this class and to these texts, and, thankfully, no one is asking us to be. In my opinion, however, I think it would be a mistake to use our subjectivity to arrive at conclusions/interpretations that are contrary to what we are reading. I think one of the great joys of literature is that authors are trying to say something, and we get to try to interpret what that something is. Whether or not we agree or disagree with the interpretaions is another thing entirely.

I'm not even saying that there is only ONE interpretation of these texts. But I think that some interpretations hold more validity than others, and we should be seeking out those interpretations - the interpretations that make sense according to what the author has written.

I will stop here, for fear that I have over-complicated this entry and confused people. But all I'm really saying is that we should look for the best interpretation of these texts, not excluding our biases, but being aware of them, and not using them as an excuse to ignore what the texts actually say. So there, I'll stop beating a dead horse and end this blog.