What’s your own cultural background?
What’s your own cultural background? writers do not usually aim at a narrow audience of like-minded people: they are not usually aiming to “preach to the converted”: indeed, the opposite case is truer.Different ideological perspectives and different cultural backgrounds: all readers also come to books with different personal histories, Writers are usually, when they are serious writers, aiming to add something new to people’s ways of viewing the world. They are very often writing because they do not find existing worldviews satisfactory, and they are very often aiming to say something to improve the way people understand the world.
We should also take some trouble to understand each of our texts in terms of its own cultural background, and to embrace the difficulties posed by the fact that each of them was written in a different cultural context from the one you inhabit.
Firstly, there are people who, through carelessness or ignorance, do not understand the literal aspects of the text. Bearing in mind what is said above, one hour to respond to the examination excerpt and the question asked, what should you be aiming to show your examinerYou must obviously understand every word in each text;
prejudices, tastes and emotional backgrounds.
you must comprehend accurately the plots of your texts; your interpretation of character must also fall somewhere within the agreed parameters.You can’t understand Catherine Earnshaw as a man in drag, for example, or Heathcliff as a weak-willed bookworm who has no passion in his soul.
We should also take some trouble to understand each of our texts in terms of its own cultural background, and to embrace the difficulties posed by the fact that each of them was written in a different cultural context from the one you inhabit.I hope these notes will help you to understand aspects of the novel Wuthering Heights, but I would be happiest if you use them as only a starting point to develop dynamic investigations of your own.Hence, it is by and large nonsensical to try to look for a correct answer. It is certainly a sterile way of reading and suggests that the reader who looks for such sterility does not know much about the business of writing or about the business of reading. Reading, for an experienced reader, is an exciting voyage of discovery, involving changes and readjustments, not confirmations of previously held views.
However, there are rules and expectations within literary study, and you would be foolish to ignore that fact when you study and particularly when you revise.
Firstly, there are people who, through carelessness or ignorance, do not understand the literal aspects of the text. You must obviously understand every word in each text; you must comprehend accurately the plots of your texts; and thinking about the fact that you are given your interpretation of character must also fall somewhere within the agreed parameters. (You can’t understand Catherine Earnshaw as a man in drag, for example, or Heathcliff as a weak-willed bookworm who has no passion in his soul.)