The point of many pieces literature is not to simply state a fact or message or moral. It guides the reader through a journey of independent thought and imagination, allowing the audience to use the piece as they wish. This is where ambiguity comes into play. As Foster emphasizes, no one can read a book the same way. If that was so, an author could write a work and be sure of what the audience would take out of it. But, because they cannot, authors can only provide the sufficient tools and the rest is up to the reader. I believe it is better this way, because each reader sees different lessons and themes in the same work, understanding and appreciating it in a way unique to them. While the main idea stays the same, ambiguity gives us room to make that idea our own.
Many authors utilize ambiguity purposefully in order to emphasize an idea or create a desired effect. For example, in The Handmaid’s Tale, the author; Margaret Atwood, chooses not to confirm where the main character is taken at the end of the novel, leaving the audience wondering whether she will meet a fateful or unfortunate end. By omitting this major detail, she is allowing readers to speculate and draw on clues from the novel to make their decision. Not everyone has the same opinions on the matter. Ambiguity, as shown by this example, can serve to encourage imagination and individuality, as well as intellectual and unique thought.
Many authors utilize ambiguity purposefully in order to emphasize an idea or create a desired effect. For example, in The Handmaid’s Tale, the author; Margaret Atwood, chooses not to confirm where the main character is taken at the end of the novel, leaving the audience wondering whether she will meet a fateful or unfortunate end. By omitting this major detail, she is allowing readers to speculate and draw on clues from the novel to make their decision. Not everyone has the same opinions on the matter. Ambiguity, as shown by this example, can serve to encourage imagination and individuality, as well as intellectual and unique thought.
I agree with what you said about ambiguity encouraging imagination. I feel that in analyzing texts in class and striving to get one singular moral or lesson from it we muffle the author's intentions for each individual reader to find their own interpretation and imaginative response to a text. I enjoyed your mention of The Handmaid's tale because I feel that is a popular method among many authors. However, the film industry has often ruined this imaginative response to many books with their choice to make their own response the definitive end of the story. Then people don't get to have their own response to the book because of how it is perceived on screen.
ReplyDeleteI believe that strictly fact can only go so far as to engage a reader throughout writing. I like how you entertain the idea that it's better for readers to have different interpretations because I believe it leads to more interesting discussion and thought. The variety of different things readers can take from literature is very interesting. I like how you referenced The Handmiad's Tale to support your opinion and how well Margaret Atwood used ambiguity to support a more enticing storyline made more for readers as individuals and how they can create an ending with their imagination and assumptions based on the previous text.
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