Jonathan Culler’s book Literary Theory discuses meaning in chapter 4. When he discusses meaning Culler claims that meaning is based on differences. He says, “We have different kinds of meaning, but one thing we can say in general is that meaning is based on difference” (Culler, 56). By reading a specific work a person creates their own interpretation of the text and what they perceive the authors writing as being. Now one key word that we have read and also watched a movie on in class is related to the term Communism and specifically its Marxism. Marxism was founded and created by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels as an economic system that would create equality within a country. Marxism is based on the idea that there is equality amongst everyone in society and regardless of how much work a person works or does they will always make the same amount of money and receive the same amount of supplies as everyone else. Communism sounds like a good idea but it demotes the idea of working hard for a better life and thus destroys the idea of working hard to achieve a goal or dream. In particular, Marxism matters because it was the creation of an economic system that failed to work and almost caused a nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Relating Marxism back to Culler’s point, Marxism worked well on paper but when it came to individual’s needs it failed as people are not willing to work hard if their hard work is not going to get them anywhere in life. Marxism is an important keyword because without Marxism the Berlin wall would not have come down in 1989. Additionally, there would also be no Red Scare or McCarythism in America and even the Cold War would have possibly never happened without the term Marxism. My interpretation of Marxism is that it is responsible for almost causing a nuclear war, it separated East and West Berlin, and lastly it helped promote how important achieving the American Dream was.
Another keyword that Jonathan Culler discusses is interpretation. In particular, interpretation is what gives meaning to writing and to a text. Interpretation specifically comes from the reader and through these interpretations the reader creates their own opinions and perspectives based on the text that they just read. Interpretation brings about individuality and meaning to every word. As an example, in the Intentional Fallacy the text discusses how the reader, the author, and the text are all separate from one another in the way that they are meant to be viewed. As an example of this in my poetry class, Professor Perabo asked our class to think about the word “love” and then describe what we perceived love as being within our own heads. It was amazing to see and listen to the different perspectives based on just one word. I perceived love as being a big red heart while one of my classmates saw love as two people getting married and someone else saw love as being a mother’s love for their child. Now one thing about interpretation is that it can change over time. In Benjamin Walter’s text, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction he discusses that over time artwork changes, “Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element; its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be” (Walter, 714). My interpretation of this quote is that as time passes one individual might have a different interpretation of a text over time. Their perception of a text or work of art might be very different from age 18 in comparison to age 35. The individual may notice more cracks in the art or see the artwork as being smaller than what it used to look like. Not only does interpretation create meaning in the text but it creates individuality and expressing one’s own thoughts and ideas.