7. Where or how does ambiguity come into play in a reader’s experience? How might ambiguity work within a piece of literature (or art of any kind?) How does it impact our understanding, and appreciation of a text?
Ambiguity is involved in a reader’s experience because each part of a text does not only mean one definite thing. Because each reader will have different backgrounds and experiences each reader will get different things out of the same text. This does not mean that only one of the reader’s assumptions are true or correct. In fact, all reader’s assumptions can be correct. This is because ambiguity is a part of literature, which is a good thing. Without ambiguity we could not teach the same texts over and over again. Without ambiguity we could not discuss the various meanings of literature because there would only be one meaning. Ambiguity within a text allows each reader to apply their own experiences and backgrounds to each text they interact with. Because of this, we can each experience a text in different ways, which allows us as a whole to enjoy a text in different ways.
Response to Blog Response to Prompt #7
ReplyDeleteEmma, I love your ideas about ambiguity and I believe that they closely align with Foster’s views. It has been brought up that each individual experiences a text differently and even though a class of Advanced Placement literature students may agree on specific symbols and meaning behind the book, this is because of a combined understanding of the author’s writing style. Context is what allows us to collaboratively select data to bring meaning to the author’s storyline. You may find Alex Matthew’s “Blog Response to Prompt #5” interesting because it discusses how ambiguity and intertextuality distinguishes readers from the literate.
Anastasia Jones-Burdick