Reading for Interpretation

Reading for Interpretation

What Ideas Give the Text Significance?

With reading to understand, you were mostly concerned with understanding what the text says literally. When reading for interpretation, however, you will be concerned primarily with explaining what the text means - its significance. Significance refers to the ideas that give us insight into ourselves, the world around us, or the author's message. Just remember, as you begin to interpret texts that your literal reading must come first. You have to understand what a text says before you can begin to interpret what a text means.

Match

Match the type of reading and their meaning

• Reading for Understanding

• Reading for Interpretation

• Reading for Style

what the text says literally

what the text means

why the text was created the way it is

• what the text says literally

• what the text means

• why the text was created the way it is

An interesting way to get at the difference between understanding what a text says and interpreting what a text means is to think about retelling a dream to someone. You might summarize what happened in your dream, but inevitably your listener will ask, "But what does it mean?"

The explanation of what your dream means is the interpretation: the significance the text has to your life or the world around you.

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​What does it mean to interpret?

If we were reading the image just for understanding, we would describe the figures, their gestures, their placement in the image, and so on. Interpretation requires that we make some kind of statement about what the image might mean - why Steve McCurry, the artist, made them. The artist himself offers this interpretation of his own work: "Readers are seldom lonely or bored, because reading is a refuge and an enlightenment."

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Inferences

When reading for interpretation, focus on having a reasonable explanation for why you think your conclusion - or inference - is accurate. An inference is a reasonable conclusion drawn by looking at many pieces of available evidence.

A key point to understand here is that inferences can be wrong, just like a hypothesis you might take in a science experiment that turns out to be incorrect based on the evidence you collected. Making an interpretation when reading works in a similar way: you make your best guess based on what you read, but you should be prepared to amend your conclusion based on additional information.

You are probably already familiar with the idea of interpretation when it comes to poetry, fiction, drama, and mythology. We use the term theme to refer to the meaning of a literary work. For example, think about the story of Cinderella.

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​Theme

If reading for understanding, we might summarize the plot of the movie.

Reading for interpretation, however, requires that we think about what it means, not just what we see. In this case, an interpretation of the theme of the story could be that true love has no regard for wealth, class, or position within a family.

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​Theme

With literature, it is important to recognize that there can be more than one reasonable inference about a text's meaning.

We could also interpret Cinderella as an example of the brutal and dehumanizing lengths women are forced to go to in order to be the "perfect bride". We could say the tiny shoe and the fact that the two stepsisters had to cut off parts of their feet (yup, in the original story, that is what happened) to fit into it shows that the culture of this fairy tale values petiteness and obedience in females over all else.

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​Theme

Look at these movie posters from various film versions of the story of Cinderella. What differences and similarities do you see among them? Draw an interpretation about what each might be trying to communicate to its viewers about the character of Cinderella.

One of the most common reading challenges occurs when we are unfamiliar with the context of a text. Similarly, one of the easiest ways to misread a text when interpreting is to not understand the context. For instance, look at the painting here by Catherine Adelaide Sparkes called Orpheus and Euridice.

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What if you don't know the context?

Without any context about the two figures in the painting and their story, you might summarize this painting by saying that it shows a man who has wrapped himself in a bedsheet and is trying to wrestle a female ghost. You might interpret this as a painting showing how loneliness can cause people to do crazy things and let their imagination get the better of them.

That interpretation, however, would be incorrect.

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What if you don't know the context?

To avoid this, we probably need more information about the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. This painting depecits the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, a renowned musician, and his wife Eurydice, who died on their wedding night. Overcome with grief, Orpheus goes to the Underworld and, through his song, pleads with the rulers there to let her go with him. They agree on one condition: he cannot look at her until they are completely outside of the Underworld. This image captures the moment when Orpheus gives in to temptation and looks backward, and as a result, Eurydice must return to the Underworld.

With context, we could probably draw an interpretation about the dangers of wanting something so much that desire overpowers reason and patience.

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What if you don't know the context?

Multiple Choice

Read this poem:

In the City of Night by John Gould Fletcher

Towards the end of night

Life swelters in its gore,

The roaring wheels run down,

The flames of the gas no more

Stab at the iron sky

In hissing mockery:

And the city takes such rest

As its torn nerves know best.

What is the MAIN IDEA in the text? (aka reading for understanding)

• The poet is describing a peaceful and serene city environment.

• The poet describes the harsh conditions of the city.

• The poet celebrates the vibrancy of city life at night.

• The poet is describing the beauty of nature in urban settings.

Multiple Choice

Read this poem:

In the City of Night by John Gould Fletcher

Towards the end of night

Life swelters in its gore,

The roaring wheels run down,

The flames of the gas no more

Stab at the iron sky

In hissing mockery:

And the city takes such rest

As its torn nerves know best.

What is the MAIN IDEA in the text? (aka reading for understanding)

• City Life is peaceful and serene.

• City life is in reality a harsh existence.

• The vibrant people you meet in the city can enhance your life.

• There is beauty in an urban setting.

Multiple Choice

Read the poem below:

The Tropics in New York

by Claude McKay

Bananas ripe and green, and ginger root

Cocoa in pods and alligator pears,

And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit,

Fit for the highest prize at parish fairs,

Set in the window, bringing memories

of fruit-trees laden by low-singing rills,

And dewy dawns, and mystical skies

In benediction over nun-like hills.

What is the MAIN IDEA? (aka reading for understanding?

• The poet describes a bustling city life in New York.

• The poet focuses on the challenges of urban living.

• The poet is critical of modern agriculture practices.

• The poet is expressing nostalgia for the speaker's tropical homeland and the beauty of its natural fruits.

Multiple Choice

Read the poem below:

The Tropics in New York

by Claude McKay

Bananas ripe and green, and ginger root

Cocoa in pods and alligator pears,

And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit,

Fit for the highest prize at parish fairs,

Set in the window, bringing memories

of fruit-trees laden by low-singing rills,

And dewy dawns, and mystical skies

In benediction over nun-like hills.

What is the THEME? (aka reading for interpretation)?

• Farming is bad for the environment

• Fruits in the city can be a pleasant reminder of a person's home culture.

• It should be celebrated how modern cities have become.

• As the seasons change, people's feelings about cities change.