9/12/10

During this past week we learned the many different ways we read and interpret things. We discovered that language as a whole is a “system” and in order to understand the system we need to first understand language. The term Tmesis leads us to this better understanding. Tmesis is “putting something in the middle.” In order to understand the true meaning of anything you need to read between the lines or “fill in the gap.” In class we were given the quote, “Is not the most erotic portion of a body where the garment gapes?” (108). The small part of the woman’s body that is not covered may not be revealing anything, but our imagination fills in the rest and allows it to run wild. This situation is also true with reading text. When you read text you ultimately fill in the gaps with your own ideas. Although those ideas are not being revealed on paper, you’re input is what completes the sentence and gives it true meaning.

When we read anything, each person fills in the gaps in many different ways. “From one reading to the next, we never skip the same passage” (109). This is because we fill in these gaps depending on our own personal experiences and situations. You also have to take into account your current scenery and state of mind when interpreting these passages. This brings up the concept of intertexuality or, in laymen terms, that everything is derived from something else. When discussing the question,“Are there books which say what they mean….without depending directly on other books?,” we discovered that we are constantly learning from past experiences. All knowledge is drawn from previous knowledge. Because of this, as readers, we can never know what the author him/herself really meant. Therefore, true appreciation can never be completely achieved.

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