Our class discussion last week on Macherey and Barthes theory was very interesting and got me thinking a lot about where the meaning of words and symbols really come from. And how the meaning of anything and everything comes from personal interpretation.
“So the real trap of language is its tacit positiveness which makes it into a truly active insistence: the error belongs as much with the one who reveals it as it does with the one who asks the first questions, the critic” (19 Macherey).
This quote represents the idea that all meaning comes from the critic and not necessarily the author. This same idea of active interpretation can be found in language as well. We were asked what the word “gap” represented and the Gap clothing store, a gap in communication, and the phrase “mind the gap” commonly said in London all came up. Words and symbols are inactive however we, the critics are the ones who make the words come to life, and our interpretation creates the meaning.
While I was studying abroad in London, I found myself constantly surprised at how different the same language could be in two separate countries. The same words and phrases were meant to represent a very different meaning. It was somewhat difficult to adjust to this at first but I began to have an open mind to British English and was able to adapt to it well. My favorite example was “Are you okay?” a phrase that is said out of concern and hope that you are not feeling down or hurt in American English. However, in British English this phrase is said constantly every day and is just another way of saying hello and casually asking how your day is going. The meaning to everything truly does lie in the gap of the language or in the hands of the critic.
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