{"id":81,"date":"2008-02-17T13:58:59","date_gmt":"2008-02-17T18:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/02\/17\/blau-and-finding-the-right-meaning\/"},"modified":"2008-02-17T13:58:59","modified_gmt":"2008-02-17T18:58:59","slug":"blau-and-finding-the-right-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/02\/17\/blau-and-finding-the-right-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Blau and Finding the “Right” Meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sheridan Blau’s The Literature Workshop<\/em> is a two-pronged approach to address the various issues encountered in a literature course.\u00a0 The author begins by analyzing the various challenges that arise when students and teachers interact with a given text.\u00a0 Having explored those difficulties, the author moves on to provide concrete examples of assignments and activities for teachers and learners.\u00a0 However, I found the discussion in Chapter 3 to be particularly interesting and insightful.\u00a0 Blau brings up some of the difficulties with asserting that a single meaning is “correct” when dealing with a specific text.<\/p>\n

Blau uses Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz<\/em> to illustrate the cultural effects on literary interpretation.\u00a0 Before the 1980s, most students tended to view the poem as an expression of warmth and a fond recollection of the past.\u00a0 Students growing up in the 1980s and today generally read the poem as symbolizing abuse.\u00a0 This is a compelling argument against the idea of a single meaning within a text.\u00a0 To a large extent, the reader is a result of his or her cultural background.\u00a0 I remember reading this poem in the 1980s.\u00a0 At the time, I thought it was clearly about the author’s love for his father.\u00a0 Predictably, half of the class brought up issues of abuse or the idea of a strained relationship.\u00a0 Even more frustrating was the teacher’s decision to move on to another text without any discussion. These clashes in interpretation are at the heart of literature.\u00a0 Discussions are vital whenever a text is explored; otherwise, students tend to file the poem away as simply “something else they had to read”.\u00a0 In my case, the potential for learning was never realized.<\/p>\n

Blau’s comparison of the literary field to other disciplines is also enlightening.\u00a0 This is the first time I’ve seen this particular argument made, and it mirrors my own views on learning.\u00a0 Blau implies a number of interesting parallels between literature and other fields, such as law.\u00a0 Courts are considered the final word on a particular issue, usually an interpretation of a piece of law.\u00a0 However, these courts often have split decisions with nearly half of the judges voting against the majority.\u00a0 It should come as no surprise that the idea of finding a universal and singular meaning from any text is problematic.\u00a0 Yet many instructors fail to recognize this parallel and continue to teach the “correct interpretation” of a particular text.\u00a0 This argument strikes me as especially powerful because it broadens the definition of a text.\u00a0 Most students view literature as a specific field, but the reality is that every piece of writing can be considered a text.<\/p>\n

My view on the matter of a “single interpretation” is close to Blau’s argument.\u00a0 When I was an undergraduate, many of my literature courses were straightforward lecture-and-repeat classes.\u00a0 The meaning of the text was explained, and my task was to recite this meaning on the test using textual examples as support.\u00a0 I didn’t see a problem with this approach because I simply used the so-called “single meaning” provided by the instructor as a springboard to arrive at my own personal interpretation.\u00a0 On the tests, I simply repeated what was expected.\u00a0 Internally, my views on a specific text were often different than the accepted “single meaning”.<\/p>\n

As a teacher, I realize that students have different learning styles and may not be able to use the “single meaning” to internally create their ideas.\u00a0 Interpretations should be weighed and discussed during class, and the emphasis on any one reading of a text should be debated. \u00a0It seems to me that the goal of the literature classroom is similar to the goal of courts: an interpretation must be made based on textual evidence.\u00a0 One of the overarching aims of college is to encourage students to think critically, and the multiple meanings derived from text serve as a perfect opportunity.<\/p>\n

–Francois Guidry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sheridan Blau’s The Literature Workshop is a two-pronged approach to address the various issues encountered in a literature course.\u00a0 The author begins by analyzing the various challenges that arise when students and teachers interact with a given text.\u00a0 Having explored those difficulties, the author moves on to provide concrete examples of assignments and activities for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2008\/610\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}