Significance of a Text to the Audience/ Readers Experience - Essay Example

Significance of a Text to the Audience/ Reader’s Experience Readers usually have varied opinions and understanding of the textsauthors apply in their books or articles. This is because authors usually present their texts in a manner that can be termed as ambiguous so as to give readers the opportunity to read, understand and interpret texts in different ways and come up with different understandings and opinions. This implies that the understanding of a text is a significant part of reader’s or audience’s experience. This article, therefore, discusses how and to what extent authors establish sub-text to give different interpretations and meanings to the audience or readers in relation to Gabriel Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. Traditional values are well presented in both Marquez’s Chronicle of Death Foretold and Miller’s All my Sons. Miller presents that lack of traditional values gives an individual a negative reputation. Therefore, members of this community are expected to abide by their traditional values in order to protect their reputations. Love of the family is one of the key traditional values that the community cherishes so much. For instances, Joe Keller is a traditional father of the 1940s who presents himself as a man who loves his family so much. However, he also has a strong pride in his business. When his business partner, Steve Deever, realizes that there are some corrupt deals in his business, Keller decides to clear up this mess in order to protect his family reputation and business. In expressing his love the family Keller exclaims, “There’s nothing he could do that I wouldn’t forget. Because he’s my son…I am his father and he is my son, and if there is something bigger than that I’ll put a bullet in my head (Miller, 2011). In Chronicles of a Death Foretold, Marquez takes a cynical attitude towards traditional values. Marquez presents that traditional values are weak, and anybody who chooses to go against the community’s norms and traditions are not criticized. The conducts and behaviors of the characters are based on taboo immorality, which are neither positive leadership nor positive center. This implies that characters or rather the member of this community are unable to act in accordance to the community’s customs and regulations, but are guided by events. Additionally, they do not have a strong leader to guide them in the right direction that is dictated by the traditional values, but instead abide by the old cultural values that were created by a hypocritical church. This implies that the community does not have a significant basis of protecting their traditional values since its members are significantly influenced by changes. For instance, honor is one of the cultural values that this community takes seriously since its members believe that it is the fundamental moral trait that is required to bind its members. This cultural value is the cause of Santiago Nasar’s murder. Vicario brothers murder Santiago in order to bring forth honor to their sister. This is because she dishonored her family and married a man that her family did not approve. The fact Santiago broke her virginity he deserved death in order to restore honor to her. While responding to her brother about the person responsible for her pregnancy, Angela says, “Pedro Vicario, the more forceful of the brothers, picked her up by the waist and sat her on the dining room table. “Alright, girl,” he said to her, trembling with rage, “tell us who it was.” She only took the time necessary only to say the name” (García & Rabassa, 2003). This signifies that this murder was done on ethical grounds. This is contrary to other communities that perceive death as the worst evil that does not equal any other form of punishment. This is an indication that traditional values in this community are weak and they can easily get defied. The other theme portrayed in both novels is the matriarchal society. Miller in his novel appears to be uncertain about the manner in which society is matriarchal in the community, which he seems to present as equal. Men and women are observed to play same roles in a society that is expected to be male dominated. Both male and female are at liberty to choose whom they wish to marry. In the traditional societies, it was expected that the males of a given family make a decision of whom their sister or daughter should marry. In Miller’s novel, male were at liberty to decide whom they marry, and this applied to the women too. For instance, Ann is determined to pursue her dreams of marrying Chris; something she finally achieves. Most people discouraged Chris not to marry her because they perceived her as a materialistic woman, and she was just after Chris’ wealth. However, she wanted to marry Chris for love and companionship, but not his money. She tells her father that, “It’s wrong to pity a man like that. Father or no father, there’s only one way to look at him” (Miller, 2011). This excerpt implies that Ann does not love Chris money, but she want to marry him based on pure love. Audience learns that, in this community, marriage decision is purely based on mutual understanding between the involved parties, with little influence from any external force like family or friends. On the other hand, Marquez portrays female lead in a community that is male dominated. Angela Vicario’s decides to go against his father and brother’s wish and marry a man, Santiago, of her choice. This is an unethical act that was total not supported in this community. Her decision even caused Santiago his life. Angela’s brothers killed Santiago in order to restore honor to their sister. The bishop, who was capable of preventing this murder claims that, “The truth is that I didn’t know what to do, he told me. My first thought was that it wasn’t any business of mine but something for the civil authorities, but then I made up my mind to say something in passing to Placida Linero” (García & Rabassa, 2003). Both Marquez and Miller portray wealth as a significant tool that controls the communities in the texts. Marquez argues that wealth is something that is respected in spite of how it is acquired. Family and wealth determines personality of an individual. Vicario’s family believes that Bayardo San Roman has a high personality; something that they charge from the level of his wealth. This is the man they require their sister, Angela, to marry though she has never met her. He shows his wealth when he brings Angela a music box as a birthday present (García & Rabassa, 2003). Her family is interested in his wealth, but not how he acquires his wealth. On the author, Miller portrays that the community in his novel cares about how one gets wealth. Joe after realizing that Steve Deever has detected some corrupt deals in his business, he was willing to lie in order to pass down his business to his sons and provide his family with the lifestyle they deserved. He also provided a false statement in the court that Deever was responsible for the fake airplane parts. He tells the judge, “Don’t look at me like that, he didn’t tell me any more than he told you” (Miller, 2011). He even decides to sacrifice his life in order to protect his family. In summary, Miller’s and Marquez’s texts portray same themes that readers understand and interpret differently. These texts provide vivid examples of how sub-texts are significant part of reader’s or audience’s experience. The plot of Miller’s and Marquez’s novels are set in traditional societies that were highly male dominated. They also discuss same themes in these texts. However, they take different views and opinions to analyze the traditional communities in their texts, which in turn, give reader’s difference ideas about what the traditional society truly entailed. This significantly illustrates how sub-texts are significant parts of the reader’s experience. References García, M. G., & Rabassa, G. (2003). Chronicle of a death foretold: A novel. New York: Vintage International. Miller, Arthur. (2011). All My Sons. New York: Penguin Books Limited. Read More