I enjoyed Macherey's reading and found it very interesting. Though hard to understand at times, as I read on my questions were eventually solved. I found what Macherey had to say about space and silence very insightful and something I can agree with.

He writes, "...to know what the writer is saying, it is not enough to let him speak, for his speech is hollow and can never be completed at its own level."....."Critical discourse does not attempt to complete the book, for theory begins from that incompleteness which is so radical that it cannot be located."(16)

To me, this is saying that with words you can only say so much. Then, it is up to the reader to take what you have given them and theorize it and apply it their newly acquired knowledge. "In its every particle, the work manifests, uncovers, what it cannot say. This silence gives it life (16)." This is saying that in a piece of work, things will be left unsaid because they are actually unexplainable and the reader will have to take their perception of the reading and formulate their own theory.

Silence truly is important. In my opinion, one never regrets saying too little but they will majority of the time regret saying too much. Words are just words. They are not self sufficient. Though they are powerful, the idea they are trying to convey must be followed by an action or demonstration that shows that your audience understands and knows how to apply this idea you have presented to them.

In conclusion, I agree that we need to focus more on the unspoken rather then the spoken. While they can co-exist, the silence in the unspoken is what is important. "Speech eventually has nothing more to tell us: We investigate silence, for it is the silence that is doing the speaking (16)."

“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work.”

Rachel Mayfield