Readers and Subjects

As we read about the author and reader, I feel it is imperative to discuss two things: the self, and philosophy. In chapter four of The Theory Toolbox, we have read a story about some ideas proposed, such as: “I am completely unique and unaffected by culture” (pg. 44).  Immediately, I think of the idea of a “nonconformist”, a self proclaimed individual who is separate from any and all cultural influences or pressures. Here’s the catch: By recognizing what is “opposite” of the culture and adapting to it, they are powerfully enforcing the norms by which they are choosing to be different from in their recognition.

I also feel strongly about the idea of the I and the self. Here is the philosophy piece of it. I feel these ideas are separate from one another and must be discussed differently. The I is always a part of our self, however, the I, though existent in every moment of every day of our life, is constantly growing and changing. The “I” I used when I was seven was the same self I am now, but my “I” has changed and grown drastically.

One of my favorite examples of this has been in my experience of reading The Catcher in the Rye. I have read this novel three times. Each experience has been profoundly different from the others, though the book (literally the same copy) has remained unchanged. The first time I read this novel was my freshman year of high school. I was eager to add classic fiction to my repertoire and was excited to read a book I had heard so much about. Below, I have included each experience and what stood out to me the most/what I gained from reading it:

Spring Freshman Year of high school. (Age 15)

1.     Ambiguity and Limbo of Holden’s experience

2.     Desire for adulthood

3.     Struggle between forced out childhood into adulthood

Spring Senior Year of high school (Age 18)

4.     Holden is relatable as a memory

5.     Focus on relationships

a.     Death of Allie

b.     Hiring the Prostitute

Fall First Year of College (Age 19)

6.     Relate to the setting

a.     Changing environment and its affect on mentality

7.     Contrasting social climates confirms the universality of the work.

8.     Holden’s struggle with conformity and hypocrisy.

Each reading left me feeling as though I had just read an entirely different novel. The second time I read the book, I did not even remember the death of Allie from my first reading. This showed me a tremendous amount about how much I had learned about how to read and also how much more aware I was of (for lack of better explanation) things that impact people.

I was the same person that read the novel each time, but my context for absorbing it was different in each setting. If my context did not impact the way I read literature, I feel confident that each reading would have remained static and unchanging. Context and personal experience is crucial to reading a work, and I would argue it is crucial in authoring a work too.

            I really love how much I feel literary theory relates to philosophical theories and ideas.

In Logic, we are currently discussing recognizing arguments. Our professor has been taking portions of famous arguments from authors like Ayn Rand, Aristotle, etc. and putting portions of them before us. As novice philosophers, most of the students are not unfamiliar with the distinct and specific philosophies of the specific author, nor are we well versed in the argument as a whole. So we are stuck in limbo. Can we deduce the presence of an argument from the brief paragraphs we are given? Can we know or find the conclusion of the supposed argument having not read the entire chapter/argument nor fully understanding the mission and beliefs of the philosophers themselves? Again, context is crucial. For the sake of the purpose of learning to recognize arguments, we tried to treat each paragraph as its own idea, “free-standing” as Fish would say, from any context or author. We tried, but found that it was nearly impossible to make a decision without any context.

I felt a close connection with the story Fish shares about the poetry experiment he performs. I think it is an amazing and interesting look into the lenses in which we view our world.