The Written Word 2

In our last episode, we discovered the mission of proper interpretation requires clues. Some clues necessary for understanding the written word are word meaning, literary context and historical and cultural background.

Now that you've explored your own paragraph with these three clues, lets look at two other clues.
First, our cultural glasses.

We tend to interpret things from views we have formed as we grow. Our experiences in life, our family's world view and our country's perspective all contribute to our cultural glasses. The interesting thing is that once our cultural glasses are developed, we not only see THROUGH them, but we also tend to use them for interpretation.

For the sake of illustration, lets consider what that would mean in the case of a dog or a cat.

If a cat could think and communicate with words, he would see things from a "cat-ish" perspective. Through his "cat glasses," lets say. Things of highest value to him would include comfort, food, warmth. Perhaps he would also enjoy a chase now and then, whether it be a bird or another cat. But beyond these, not much else interests a cat. He wears, "cat cultural glasses." Yet he doesn't even realize it.

You may object, "Well of course he doesn't realize it, he's a cat!" Precisely! Without even knowing it, sometimes our cultural glasses distort our interpretation of the written word. Now here is a comparison of our cultural glasses: Eastern thought versus Western thought.

Eastern Thought: We live in time.
Western Thought: We live in space.

Eastern Thought: We are always at rest.
Western Thought: We are always on the move.

Eastern Thought: We like to contemplate.
Western Thought: We like to act.

Eastern Thought: We accept the world as it is.
Western Thought: We try to change the world to our liking.

Eastern Thought: Religion is our first love.
Western Thought: Science is our passion.

As you can see, we need to be aware of the cultural glasses we see through when we look at the written word.

Now, one more clue of interpretation: the type of literature or genre has a great deal to do with how we interpret the written word.

We interpret books on ancient history differently than we would Arabian Nights, or Greek mythology, or works of Shakespeare. The way we read a comic strip is different than the way we read a travel advertisement, or a front-page news story.

Our two new clues, genre, and our cultural glasses, need consideration, then, in our mission of proper interpretation.