#poor lux

[therogue704]

Not me being sad about Steela Gerrera's death again

[callisteios]

bye bye england!

[luxlightly]

Reading comprehension and literary analysis 101: Interpretation vs Intent vs Readings

So, after making my post about the two headed calf poem, there's been pretty extensive argument in the notes about whether or not "all interpretations are valid". The main issue causing the argument is that what we're taught (at least in the American school system, which is what I have the most knowledge of) about "interpretations" is extremely lacking if not outright false. Here, I'm going to break down what an interpretation is and how it differs from author intent, opinion, and "readings".

The first and most important thing to remember about discussion of basically any field of study is that it is meant to have a use. We learn things in the American school system to answer questions on tests, not to utilize the knowledge.

It's a bit like learning how to hold a screwdriver but never being explained that you can use it to tighten screws. You use tools for a purpose, be they physical tools or intellectual. Sure, you could use a screwdriver to hammer in a nail, but it's not going to be as effective and may even hinder your progress.

Literary analysis is also a tool. We use it to extract meaning from works and to expand our understanding of topics, of other people, of ourselves, and of the world around us. An analysis that gives a false impression of these things is, like the screwdriver being used as a hammer, not helpful and even actively hindering.

Understanding that, we should understand these facets of literary analysis, using the short example story.

"Steve eats 10 apples every day. Bob hates Steve."

1: The text

This is the exact words as they appear. Many times, the only thing we are presented with when we read a piece of literature is the text itself. This can limit our understanding significantly.

2: Context

The physical, cultural, emotional, and historical circumstances in which the work was written

3: Intent

What the author, at the time of writing, intended for the audience to understand the piece to mean

4: Interpretation

A deduction about what the piece means, what can be gathered from it, and what significance it has, based on evidence from the text.

5: Reading

A reading is an interpretation of the text through a certain cultural lens (ie: a queer reading, a feminist reading).

6: Opinion

A purely subjective judgement of the quality of a work based on individual preference

So the text of our piece is "Steve eats 10 apples every day. Bob hates Steve."

From only that, we can make any number of interpretations, supported in varying degrees by the text.

Interpretation 1: "Bob doesn't like that Steve eats so many apples." While the text does not directly tell us that Steve's enjoyment of apples is related to Bob's dislike, it's a reasonable jump of logic to make since his eating of apples is mentioned just before the statement about Bob's dislike for him.

Interpretation 2: "Bob hates apples". This is more of a jump from the text than the first, but could still be defended. We know Bob hates Steve and we know Steve eats apples. It could be argued that it's the apples Bob really hates.

Interpretation 3: "Bob likes oranges". This interpretation isn't supported by the text at all. It doesn't help us better understand the text. As a tool, it serves no purpose. Is it "valid" in the sense that you're allowed to believe it's true? Sure. But it doesn't function as the tool it's intended to be and therefore isn't useful to discussion of the piece.

Which brings us to Context.

Let's say this piece was written during the Great Apple Famine where only the very richest people could afford apples and we know the author grew up very poor during this period of time.

This changes how we understand the piece. It would be understood instantly by those reading the piece at the time of writing that Steve must be very rich to afford so many apples. It would not have needed to be stated outright in the text because the context in which it was written was the same in which it was being read.

Knowing that now, it changes what our interpretations may be. Bob may hate Steve because he is wealthy. Bob may hate Steve because he is jealous of his wealth or of the apples themselves. It could be a statement on greed. Or it could still just be about apples. But our toolbox for understanding and gaining meaning from the work has expanded significantly.

Intent:

We rarely get to know exactly what an author's intent for a work is, especially an older work where the author is no longer alive. Many interpretations, therefore, are attempts to understand the author's intent. However, they don't need to be and, in fact, can often be more useful when they are not.

For example, there's an interesting message in our example story about how the excessive displays of wealth of the rich leads to resentment from the less wealthy and how scarcity is a constructed state. These interesting interpretations help us better understand the world and other people.

But let's consider, then, that, shockingly, the author's actual intended message was "Bob likes oranges", something we've established is not evident in the text or particularly useful to discussion of the work. The author is just not good at writing.

In this case, we actually come away with something more meaningful and useful to us when we do not focus on the author's intent. Intent gives us more context for the piece, but is not the end goal of literary discussion.

A reading often entirely and purposefully discards author intent and instead identifies and recontextualizes the text through a specific lens.

For example, let's do a quick religious reading of the text.

"Apples are symbols of original sin in the Christian Bible. We can therefore read Steve as representing one who frequently engages in sinful activity and Bob as being distainful of him for his sinfulness."

It's important to remember that readings like this often are fully aware they are not the intended original meaning of the work. They're just another tool. For example, this reading might help us understand how, even without meaning to, the author may associate apples with sin or negativity. What does that say about the use of that symbolism in our society and how inescapable it is? Or maybe it wouldn't help with that. But the point is that, whether or not it succeeds, it's a tool for better understanding or world and the people in it.

As for opinions, they can't be wrong or right because they are subjective. They aren't judged on any real metric. They can be somewhat helpful in judging a work but ultimately are just a personal feeling. They, unlike interpretation and readings, are not tools for understanding.

So what does this all mean in relation to the two headed cow poem?

If the author's intent is to show how life is precious, even if it's fleeting, does interpreting it as "mankind is cruel to things that are different" really help us in understanding the work and the world around us? If the interpretation contradicts the intent so completely that it's entirely lost, then this new message is what we have to judge and does "mankind is cruel" really tell us anything true about the world or the piece? Or is it just needless pessimism? What does "valid" even mean or matter in the context of literary analysis?

At some point, certain interpretations become counter productive to discussion of the piece. No one can stop you from interpreting something a certain way, but at some point you're using a screwdriver as a hammer and you're just putting holes in the wall.

[anotherrosesthatfell]

I can’t unthink the ‘Im going to kill your family’ meme with killer and crescent😭

LMAO-

Which is why Palette gotta make Killer stay away from Crescent-

[disastertriowriting]

Padme: Man, they look like a real handful. How do you deal with them? Anakin, watching Lux screaming, Obi-Wan trying to set a sleeping Satine on fire, and Ahsoka choking on air: I don't know either.

[fireandiceland]

I feel like we’re missing out on the fact that aph bulgaria is a poor little meow meow like he’s a sopping wet kitten of a man and I love him

[itzcherrybonbon]

"It's fine, I'll do it myself."

Welp, someone's gonna be erased from existence today.

[Inspired by this. Kokomi (Genshin Impact) meme art by hayaroB, I think. Hopefully Google hasn't lied to me.]

E.L.A Palette by @anotherrosesthatfell

E.L.A Artemis by me

[salmonidos]

Thinking abt that time I dreamt Saturn from Team Galactic (pokemon) said BLM and trans rights bcs his boss Cyrus was a bigot and then I told him not to worry about him bcs he was actually inside a videogame. And he had an existential crisis breakdown and I was like oops wait what did I just do. And then I woke up very sad that I had destroyed his sense of reality so I tried to go back to the dream and IT WORKED and he was looking longingly to the horizon and told me that it was okay that he'd rather know. That he had bigger plans now. But he looked kinda depressed.

[moonfromearth]

Willow had barely been there for two minutes when Lux was yelling at her about something. This only escalated into a full on argument, while Emmett simply watched.

[clownpi]

Oh my god, Pow-Pow is so head over heels for Lux in the Alligator Fic while not even realizing it...I’m dying, she’s way too cute.

Vi is internally screaming, Pow-Pow too pure. Also I doubt Lux would understand any kind of Shovel talk from Vi (No idea if Vi even would given how terrifying Lux’s family is...). 

Also random thought, would Lux like animal crackers, but cry about eating them? Or would she like animal crackers and use them as springboards for more animal facts? Like:

Lux: [Intently staring at a Zebra animal cracker before biting off its head] That’s what a lion would do to it to secure a kill.

Caitlyn: …

??? What do you guys think? I feel it’s the later. Also, if Runeterra doesn’t have animal crackers I’m just going to assume Lux’s family made them a thing just for Lux.

[sigzaisoup]

Nothing like only sleeping for 3 hours, waking up feeling like shit, and immediately starting a new wip with hard hurt comfort.

Poor Sigma is absolutely going through it all because I don't feel well lmaoo

[friendlylocalwhumper]

Lux with exhaustion, comfort, and a blanket nest? Poor boy deserves some Genuine Soft 🥺 Thanks, I very much enjoy your blog n your writing 💙

"This, this... this is n-, nice," He murmurs into the blanket bunched up and pressed to his lips. It smells like all the rest of the blankets under and around him - like fresh laundry, still a little warm. He threw all the sheets and comforters into the wash, dried them, and then tossed them onto the bed and leapt into the pile before it all cooled down.

The heat of the fluffy blankets seeps into his shoulder and soothes the aches that gather along the fault lines of old fractures, and in swollen muscles. He's been working all day to make the room nice: scooting furniture out of the way to sweep out the dust underneath, wiping the windows, steaming the curtains, changing the lightbulbs. It's all culminated in this moment where he gets to flop. Gets to snuggle under his clean warm blankets, gets to push tangled curls up off the back of his neck and tuck himself tightly against pillows to keep his hair out of the way.

In the safety under the comforter that he's wiggled under, Lux lets his hands roam under his shirt. His fingertips graze over raised, knotted scars. His mind wanders as he remembers the pain and blood that faded until all that was left, every time, was just a line across his skin, rough and odd to the touch but not overwhelming. He scratches his belly idly to get rid of the itch that settles over his scars when his skin is too dry or memories are awoken without him knowing it.

This scar to the left of his belly button was from a knife. It was twisted in his gut. He has no idea how he survived that long enough to get his magic working and heal it up. Lux twists and slides a hand around his side to find some of the whip marks that reach around from his back, and doesn't flinch into the pillow at the thought the cracking sound that came just before stinging and blood and a scream. He's not scared at all right now.

"Yesterday was, was... it was hard," Whispers the warlock to the empty room. "So hard. But. B-but... I, but I'm okay today."

[trollcafe]

Its so hard trying to date and have a job when nobody can look at your face :’( I think he makes it work though! Shame, ‘cos he’s so handsome <3 

[anotherrosesthatfell]

Alphonse sure did a good job at making killer not hate him😀👍

Yeah... (this is Killer opinion on Alphonse 💀)

He deceived Killer so bad omfg...

[peachfruitcake]

I wanna post about my doll collection

[changeling-rin]

(Random Anon, here to make more downfall timelines)

Soo now the Links are in a timeline where *rolls a random number generator* Lux fails. How do they react to it?

"So," Gen steeples his fingers. "I propose that we have Cia incarcerated for attempted... ah, illicit relations with a clearly uninterested party. All in favor?"

"Did you know that your vocabulary goes through the roof when you're ticked off?"

"Yes I did and that's not the point here. All in favor?"

It's unanimous. Elsewhere, Cia gets the sudden and distinct impression that she's in for a bad time