Boring Reading or Missing the Point?
Reading a book or poem and comprehending it can be two very different things. Many people read things all the time, and miss the entire point of whatever it was they just read. What makes interpreting literature so difficult?
Often times easy stories have very complicated meanings. Many short stories and some novels seem almost boring to readers who miss their true meaning. For writers who want to make a statement about a political situation, a social injustice, a cultural problem and so on, it is often more palatable to readers to disguise it within a deceptively simple storyline. Other works can be very interesting, and the reader takes it at face value, when in actuality it was a commentary on a similar situation the writer related their plot to.
One great example of a double meaning, and this is an easy one, is Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” The play focuses on a witch-hunt in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Innocent people are accused and persecuted for a crime that fellow townspeople have wrongly accused them of. This plot was conceived by Miller during the 1950's in the height of the McCarthy hearings. Instead of hunting for witches, average Americans were hunting out Communists. Paranoia was rampant, and anyone, including your neighbor or employer could be one. This kind of public speculation spurred Miller to write one of our best American plays. It is taught in many public schools and universities today because of its symbology.
Another great classic, Don Quixote, is actually a simple story. It was written by Cervantes almost in response to the literature of the times, whose plots were all about knights and damsels in distress. His epic was so incredibly long, it outdid any of the other romances, and is generally considered one of the best novels ever written. Its uncomplicated and universal plot can also be likened to many a social situation since it was written. It is a canvas on which we can draw similarities between the morals of the characters and those of any race, political party, country, business, etc.
Many of Hemingways’ pieces had hidden meanings. No one will ever accuse him of overusing dialogue, and for many readers they find that reading his work is dull because of the lack of conversation between characters. In actuality it only makes what the characters are saying that much more important. For the reader who reads over a Hemingway book once, for the story that is placed in front of them, they may or may not enjoy it. However, if the reader looks a little
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