Prompt #4

While reading any text, the reader is working to understand the writer’s piece as a whole, whether it be taking the words on the page for their literal meaning or looking for the deeper meanings of the piece; from the way the author constructed the piece using specific devices or his purpose for writing as a whole. For the reader, this means they are using all of their past experiences and knowledge as a whole to interact with a text and extract meaning from words on a page, whether their experiences are vast or minimal. This creates a large variety of interpretations, both due to reader experience and the element of ambiguity within literature. This is a complicated process for the reader, but authors have to account for this vast array of interpretation levels and create a piece that can be consumed by all.

Often times the author must make some elements of symbolism more obvious in order to appeal to a more general audience so that they can have a level of enjoyment somewhat comparable to that of a symbolism fanatic. This means that the author must use their creative minds in both creating the piece, and putting themselves in the vast array of reader’s minds to make sure that their text is understandable and enjoyable for anybody ranging from the general audience to the literature fanatic. This creates a relationship where the author is giving up on some complicated elements they would prefer to keep in the story in order to allow a broader audience to take in their writing, and hopefully give their best effort to find the meaning they are trying to convey through the text.