Macherey

For tomorrow’s class, we were asked to read “A Theory of Literary Production” by Pierre Macherey. When discussing explicit and implicit, there are certain words that do not necessarily need to be said, and this is called the unconscious. When getting in a silly fight with my brother I always win the arguments, but not because I yell at him, but because I give him the silent treatment and it always pushes him to give in first and say he’s sorry to me. I think by not speaking to him, it makes him think more about the situation and what was said, and therefore realize that our fight is pointless. Macherey states, “Silence shapes all speech” (Macherey 17). Speech develops itself in the unspoken and silence reveals speech and shapes what it is saying. In many situations silence is more effective than words or non-verbal communication because it stands for something more and allows the audience to look more deeply into what has been said. Macherey also says that speech eventually runs out of stuff to say but silence is always doing the speaking. Silence is not only used between people, but it is also used in text through simile and metaphors. A lot of the time in writing you don’t have to actually write something out word for word to relay a message, but rather simply use a metaphor to get the message across, and this way is often times more effective.

On page 19, he says, “it is impossible to dissemble the truth of language”. This statement reminded me of our discussion last class on Saussure when he says that language is meaningless because it’s based on our thoughts, which is arbitrary and “without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula” (Saussure 5).

This reading made me think about relationships I have with my friends and family. I have learned in the past that I have discovered so much about a person’s personality, morals, etc. more from their actions compared to what they have said. People can say what they want but I feel like when people are silent, that is when you can see who a person truly is.

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