Anna Wojakowska
In “Interaction between Text and Reader”, Wolfgang Iser describes the relationship between
the text and the reader as an interaction that is not meant to be a monologue nor is it
meant to be one-sided. The assumption is that it is a conversation between the text and the
reader. It should serve as a means of communication. There is no one, clear, indisputable
message being delivered. That is why he believes that readers are responsible for being
active in creating the meaning of the text themselves. They are meant to create and insert
their own ideas about the text to fill in the blanks. The text is simply incomplete without it.
The readers must use their imagination to truly figure out the meaning of the text. The
biggest challenge comes when the reader gets engaged with the multiplicity of characters’
perspectives in the text. Initially, the reader makes a hypothesis about the meaning and as
the text goes on and they find out more and more about it, they have to adjust their way of
thinking. They cannot be stuck on how they envisioned the story to go on or the character to
act. The reader also has to be mindful of their own expectations towards the text and
characters as well as the bias that comes from their own experiences. They cannot let those
things cloud their judgement and prevent them from seeing something from a different
perspective as it might also stop them from interpreting it correctly. They always have to
keep their mind open and be prepared to make adjustments depending on what they read.
[more specifically – they need to be open to the negotiation of the social norm or norms that
emerge or operate within the class of the perspectives coming from various characters] It is
also crucial to remember that the readers are not reading a story that is fixed in its meaning
but a couple of constantly changing viewpoints. The text consists of various separated
segments and viewpoints, as well as what is not said but only implied. The text is after all
meant to leave something to the imagination and allow the readers to be creative as well.
[this sentence and idea is good, but very general] Because of that, the readers have to make
an observation for themselves and they have to come to their own conclusions by
connecting all those parts with each other. It gives the readers an opportunity to clear up the
contradictions between those points of view and fill in the gaps with their own experiences
and viewpoints. That is why the text will be a different experience for different readers. The
meaning of the text is a combination of the text itself and the various interpretations of the
readers. No interpretation and the response to the text are the same which makes it
extremely interesting and worth exploring.
not bad, you get the main process; one problem: generality – a lot of your formulations,
although correct, operate on the level of the general and this text has a problem getting
down to something more specific; one aspect of this problem: you don’t quote from the
source text at all; example of the more specific approach – what happens to the reader as far
as their perception of the operative moral norm(s) is concerned?
grade: 4
